#cates gotg

[vertigoartgore]

2019's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.5 #4 (LGY : #154) cover by cover artist David Marquez and colorist Dean White.

[kitausuret]

Flash Thompson Venom Recs

@vulpinesaint asked for some recommendations on getting into Flash-as-Venom, so I decided to put together a little guide. Mind you, this is geared towards already having familiarity with Eddie, and of course by extension the Venom Symbiote.

Now -- let me start by saying it may be helpful to see first where it all started going downhill for Eddie and the Symbiote (because we don't get to other hosts until after their breakup). Are any of those comics good? Not really!

But If you really wanted to you could check out Spectacular Spider-Man (2003, Jenkins/Ramos) #1-5 and Marvel Knights Spider-Man (2004, Millar/Cho) #5-12 or thereabouts, which will take you through the official breakup, Angelo Fortunato, and the introduction of Mac Gargan.

For a little taste of what the symbiote had been up to before Chosen Blond Man #2, I also recommend Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man (2009, Reed/Bachalo) #1-4 and Siege: Spider-Man (Reed/Santucci, one-shot, just because it's funny).

At the risk of being controversial I also rec the fabulous "New Ways to Die" arc (Amazing Spider-Man #568-573, Slott/Romita Jr.) for a peek at what's going on with Eddie during this time.

If you'd like a primer on Flash Thompson before you jump into Symbiote nonsense, you can check out Amazing Spider-Man #574, which is not a great issue but it is helpful to see what was going on with him. I also recommend the Amazing Spider-Man #622 B story "Stages of Grief" which IS really good and delightful.

Flash officially kicks off as Agent Venom in Amazing Spider-Man #654-654.1 (really -- there's a point-one issue). It's written by Dan Slott so it's not, you know, great, but if you've read Venom Inc. you know what to expect.

Venom (2011) is the real meat of Flash's time. He's kind of silly, as you can see, but for the most part I enjoyed this series. Does it have problems? Sure, but it's worth a read.. The first part (#1-27.1) is written by Rick Remender, and the second (#28-42) is by Cullen Bunn. The latter is, at least in my experience, better-loved for its introduction of Mania in #38, but they are both worth reading.

My personal highlights are: #2 (very good Flash/Symby at the end) #6-8 (Spider-Island tie-ins, you get to see what Eddie is up to) #13-14 (Circle of Four!!!) #17-22 (Savage Six, more fun with Eddie) #33-36 (esPECIALLY #35 oh my god #35 is everything to me. I'm normal don't look at me) #38-42 (Mania -- need I say more?)

I would also be remiss to leave out Superior Spider-Man (2013) #22-25 because while the story is.. meh..?? ...it does have some great Flash/Symby. I would live for them.

Agent Venom additionally appears in Secret Avengers (2010) and Thunderbolts (2013), but all I can really recommend here is the T-bolts Annual. It's a fun one.

And now we get into Cosmic Bullshit Shenanigans!

Flash and the Symbiote join up with the Guardians of the Galaxy (2013, Bendis) in #14, but are officially introduced in the Free Comic Book Day GotG special. My only recommendations here are #21-23, but they're big recommendations.

Once you've read #23, you can jump right into Venom: Space Knight #1-13 (R. Thompson), which is by FAR my favourite Venom series of all time and I'm not even joking. I can't even express how much I adore this series. WOMEN. I LOVE WOMEN. Just. Just read it. And then cry that it's only 13 issues

And from there, you know how it ends if you read Venom #150. Such was the end of Flash's time as Venom, but what a wild ride it was.

now we just need to get eddie on board with a third

If you're curious about Flash's story post-resurrection (he died, if you missed that from the Cates run) you can check out my little guide here, and also the most recent Carnage series by Torunn Grønbekk. What the future holds for Flash Thompson is up in the air (as it always is with Spidey's supporting cast) but I've got to have hope!

Happy reading!

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: April 2025

A real good month for TV but also not complaining about the movies I saw and books I read in April. Here's

……….FILM……….

Anora (2024) LOVE the slight of hand it uses for its narrative and character focus. So smooth and satisfying. You can feel each character's life continuing even when they're not in frame and if/when I watch this again I'll make a conscious effort to watch the ensemble in the background to see what they're up to cause you KNOW they're up to something.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003) A really warm movie that's rooting for its characters. The Christmas setting is great choice and it I'll always get behind a movie that goes for sincerity and kindness first.

……….TELEVISION……….

Andor (Episode 2.01 to 2.03) Not just good at Star Wars but good tv. Rich and complex characters thrown into puzzles with stakes. Love it so far and I hope execs and producers take note.

White Lotus (Episode 3.01 to 3.08) Never watched season 2 and didn't realize how much this season would call back to the others, but still a great character-focused series. How can you not love watching messy people make bad choices?

Severance (Episode 2.09 to 2.10) A really fantastic second season. Do I wish it had more of the crew spending time together? Of course. Is it a challenge to maintain the air of mystery and existential dread for more than a season? Absolutely. But do I love this shift between seasons? 100%. Still think that Cobel episode was a miss (both in episode and season pacing).

Common Side Effects (1.08 to 1.10) Great season of tv! Lots of questions remain but I feel like the heart of the show (the Marshall/Frances' and Copano/Harrington relationships) are always at the forefront of each episode. Solid use of animation and I'm glad it got renewed for a second season!

……….YOUTUBE……….

The Most Important Movie Of The 21st Century by Patrick H. Willems I don't often rank or have favourites, especially with movies, but Speed Racer is one of my favourite films. If you haven't seen it, watch it then watch this. VIDEO

……….READING……….

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie (Page 72 of 214) I've now read enough Christie to know what I like best about her work and because her characters tend to be rather flat (not always, but frequently) I tend to find the pre-murder stuff rather dull. This JUST got to the killing and I'm ready for Poirot to show up and make it more engaging.

Swords Against Death by Fritz Leiber (Complete) This series, focusing on two thieves named Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, is quickly becoming one of my all-time favourite fantasy collections. Each short story feels like a mini D&D adventure and both characters are, above all else, having fun. Can't recommend this enough.

Guardians of the Galaxy by Donny Cates Omnibus (Complete) I've really enjoyed Cates' smaller runs (SIlver Surfer: Black and Cosmic Ghost Rider: Baby Thanos Must Die) so I was really excited for this. Great characters, cosmic setting, what could go wrong? This was...fine. Felt more like a table-setting run for bigger and better adventures and didn't quite do it for me. Not bad, but perhaps not the best entrypoint for a new GotG reader.

Fantastic Four by Ryan North Vol. 3 and 4 by Ryan North, Alex Ross, Iban Coello, Ivan Fiorelli, and more (Complete) Just so much fun. It has dinosaurs, vampires, sentient social media, and really feels like a family-first comic. Truly something all-ages that doesn't mean "for kids". I think comic readers of any age will get something out of this series and I'm excited to read more!

Batman - One Bad Day: Penguin by John Ridley , Giuseppe Camuncoli, and Arif Prianto (Complete) This one felt different from the other One Bad Day comics I've read in that Penguin has already had the bad day. The premise and characters were great, but the execution could've used a little more meat. Not bad but not in the "reread" category either.

Batman - One Bad Day: Riddler by by Tom King, Mitch Gerads, and Clayton Cowles (Complete) Darker than I like my comics, but it really characterizes Riddler in an a way that piqued my interest. The art is also a standout and a solid ending. This, Clayface, and Mr. Freeze are my favourite reads from this series so far.

……….AUDIO……….

Bunky Becky Birthday Boy by Sleigh Bells (2025) Always been a Sleigh Bells fan and always will be. I long for the explosive propulsion of their early albums, but appreciate how cohesive this one plays. Is it my favourite? No. Am I glad it exists? Heck yeah.

……….GAMING……….

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The party is digging into some cult stuff and seeing how deep the corruption goes! Turns out the city of Oz is in a bit of a mess. You can read all about their adventures here.

And that's it. See you in May!

[rinahallowleaf]

hello friends! i really want a guardians of the galaxy comic.. like desperately and idk if i should just get marvel-verse: gotg since it’s not very expensive or save for gotg by brian michael bendis omnibus vol. 1? or get gotg vol 1 by al ewing? or the one by donny cates? plz help

[greenheros]

MY COMIC GEEKS AS OF JANUARY 25TH 2025

I have read 555 more comics since I last posted this in August.

I got into a really big marvel kick at one point.

Yeah…I just might like Captain America. Black Widow is so high due to the Cap comics though so is Bucky but I did try to read more of both of them and I did read a lot of Thor I want to read even more of his comics. If anyone has Hawkeye recs (Besides Freefall & Matt Fractions run I’ve already read them) and Green Arrow recs let me know.

I read Ed Brubaker’s entire cap run. Great run! Jason Aaron is from the Thor comics mostly and Mark Waid is mostly Cap. Donny Cates is due to Gotg comics and Venom. I read Joshua Williamson’s Green arrow run so that makes up the bulk of the count.

Whilst I do read online mostly SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC SHOP.

[raccoonfallsharder]

hiii hello! i main rocket in marvel rivals and got curious if someone wrote fics w him, found yours and now I'm absolutely obsessed🫶 you made me fall in love with rocket and the way you write is incredible, i feel so lucky that i still have lots of your fics to read :'3

is there any particular comics involving rocket that you like and/or you'd recommend? i think I've only read like 3 comics in my life lol but now i want to see more of rocket and know the context of some things i read in your fics.

i hope to see more of your writings 🫶 thank you for sharing them to the world 🫶🫶🫶

oh my GOD, nonnie ♡♡♡ i am so glad you're enjoying marvel rivals ~ and i'm so grateful it brought you to the fandom lol. thank you for the kind words, and for reading my silly stories! it truly means so much that you would come here and let me know, and i really appreciate it ♡♡ also, i love questions in general, but this is one of my favorite kinds of questions. thank you for asking!

a suggestion: if you are gonna binge-read and don't particularly care about having the physical comics in your hands, i highly recommend getting the Marvel Unlimited app (it's about $10 USD a month, i think). it's not always super-intuitive but i do believe all of these comics are on it! that said, i do have a lot of the comics in the first list in hardcopy because the art is ♡♡♡

I am also hoping some of the other folks out here will weigh in with their favorite recs (@mrwolfhare comes to mind as someone who has excellent insight into the best Rocket arcs and i would say like... an encyclopedic knowledge of the comics).

Here are some of my absolute faves though, in order from my most favorite to my least favorite (they are still all my favorites though):

Rocket Raccoon: Grounded. Rocket Raccoon (2016-2017) by Matthew Rosenberg and Jorge Coehlo. Prior to this arc, the Guardians come to Earth to assist with the evil du jour. Their ship ends up getting destroyed and they get into a fight, resulting in all the Guardians going their separate ways. This is Rocket's story of being grounded in New York City.

Rocket: The Blue River Score. Rocket (2017) by Al Ewing , Adam Gorham, etc. During (yet another?) fight amongst the Guardians, Rocket goes off on his own to sulk and runs into an old love interest, who cons him into getting involved in a classic heist.

Rocket Raccoon Vol. 1: A Chasing Tale. Rocket Raccoon (2014-2015) by Skottie Young and Jake Parker Rocket is hunted haunted by his past. This comic has some of the most beautifully-colored art and is just....fucking fun.

Rocket Raccoon Vol. 2: Storytailer. Rocket Raccoon (2014-2015) | by Skottie Young, Filipe Andrade, etc. Groot and Rocket recount some of their old adventures. This collection contains one of my favorite short arcs, The Cold.

Groot Groot (2015) by Jeff Loveness, Declan Shalvey, etc. Obviously, this comic is more Groot-centered than Rocket-centered but it's my favorite comic of all time and I still highly recommend.

Rocket Raccoon and Groot Vol. 1: Tricks of the Trade Rocket Raccoon and Groot (2016) by Skottie Young, Filipe Andrade, etc

Rocket Raccoon and Groot Vol. 2: Civil War II Rocket Raccoon and Groot (2016) by Nick Kocher, Michael Walsh, David Lopez.

in no particular order, i'd also recommend the following comics. (tbh a lot of times the other guardians bore me, and the gotg-ensemble comics below don't focus as heavily on rocket as i might like, but they do contain good rocket moments!)

Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) 1-12 by Donny Cates, Al Ewing, etc.

Guardians of The Galaxy: Then It's Us Guardians Of The Galaxy (2020-2021) by Al Ewing, Juann Cabal, etc.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Guardians of Infinity Guardians of the Galaxy (2015-2016) by Dan Abnett , Carlo Barberi, etc.

Star-Lord: Annihilation - Conquest Annihilation: Conquest (2014) by Keith Giffen, Nic Klein, etc.

Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Stay Fly Captain Marvel (2014-2015) by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Marcia Takara, etc.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 1: Grootfall & Vol. 2: Grootrise Guardians Of The Galaxy (2023-2024) by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, etc.

[fightingalgth8rs]

admin intro:

🌜Nova:

pronouns: she/they

sexuality: lesbian

fav shows: Merlin, doctor who, house, good omens, saiki k, ghost stories, horrible histories, staged and broadchurch.

fav movies: dead poets society, Shakespeare performances (especially anything involving David Tennant) what we did on our vacation, LA without a map, iron man 2, gotg,

fav music: crumb, will paquin, ozzy osbourne (thanks to @dtmsrpfcringe), fleet foxes, crane wives, Amelia day, Chappell roan, Paris Paloma, buttress.

when a post is from me I’ll put the tag 🌜nova on and I’m not sure how my co admin would like to do it but she’ll explain below!!!

🌞Meena:

She/they

Acespec Lesbian

Obsessed about Doctor who, Good Omens, A lot of films and shows (basically anything with David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Timothee Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett in it Or if it's directed by Luca Guadagnino!). Also I watch a lot of cartoons and animated movies! oops!

"Books.... we haven't talked about books"... um I love all kinds of books but sadly recently I have only been reading my Law coursebooks :(

Favorite music: I have old people's taste in music. So anything classic, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Folk Rock, you get the idea. Pop music is generally no-no except for Taylor Swift and Mitski

And like my co-admin said I'll be tagging my posts with a '🌞Meena'

[callmearcturus]

aw yeah lets do this

S-Tier, AKA the Legitimately Good Tier:

HAWKEYE: Maybe my favorite MCU thing I have ever watched.

+ If you let Jeremy Renner actually act and give him a script, he's fucking great. + Kate Bishop is a perfect mess and I love her, I love she's young and excitable but also takes things seriously, she feels like she's a work in progress, I love her. + MAYA. Holy shit the gravity well of this character, how her presence dictates any scene she is in. Truly stellar. + This entire miniseries is like an extended apology for Hawkeye in every other appearance. "Sorry we dropped the ball with this character so consistently, we will bring the A game here." + The importance of disability. I'm among the ppl who was upset that Hawkeye's disability was dropped, so the way it is centered over and over and over in this, how its practical, how it's funny, how it's sad, how it gives us the most devastatingly emotional scene in all of the MCU yes I am talking about the phone call scene, finally. Fucking finally. + Florence fucking Pugh and her entire charm offensive. + The car chase scene.

- The first episode is unfortunately REALLY slow. - Nah that's all I got. I love this one.

THOR: RAGNAROK

+ "Asgard isn't a place, it's a people" is maybe the most poignant message any MCU film has ever managed. + Literally the funniest movie, but also basically a repair job of character building for everyone in it. + The camerawork in this one makes me so happy. + Tom Hiddleston is given so much to do and he's there with heels on, spectacular. + The giant turret/pegging visual pun, god bless. + Cate Blanchett can kill me.

- uuuuuuuuh. It's not as good as Hawkeye. Yeah.

GOTG Vol 2

+ Sorry but I am a GOTG Truther, I really do think its the one storyline in the MCU that is allowed to get away with really fucking intense character drama because it's not considered "main line." There is a reason ppl rioted when they tried to remove Gunn, and I'm with them. + The only good thing Chris Pratt has done since Parks and Rec. + The way this storyline centers on death and grief is devastating. + Rocket Racoon is the best character in the MCU and we all know it.

- I think the initial treatment of Mantis is REALLY rough even though in the end I think it works, but that's a hell of a hump to get over.

A-TIER, AKA the Great for a MCU Flick Tier:

BLACK PANTHER

+ My biggest problem with the MCU is the creative desert of its set and costume design, the way it feels like nothing is given time to breathe in the creative process. BP is the antithesis of that. I would watch a four hour documentary just on the visual design of this movie, from the architecture to the costumes to the make-up, everything. I don't want to hear from the director or writers, I want to hear four hours of just the craftspeople talking about their work. It's monumental. + Best Villain in the MCU, bar none. + Only MCU film to move me to actual tears in the movie theatre.

- I loved this movie! For the life of me I could not tell you the plot. I understand the plot of every Mission Impossible film but I don't know the plot of this movie. - If this movie was allowed to cut, like, 20 minutes of action and replace it with more character drama, it'd be the best MCU film.

IRON MAN 3

+ The MCU Movie That Pulls Exactly Zero Punches About Being About Mental Health And PTSD Holy Shit + Rhodey and Pepper get so much to do and I like an ensemble piece so much + Shane Black is in love with RDJ and I'm so happy for him + Pepper gets to be a lil monsterfied and that's hot

- Doesn't have Sam Rockwell. - The plot is kinda fully secondary to the character work, which imo is fine, but yanno.

GOTG Vol 1

+ All the stuff I said about GOTG Vol 1

- It's not Vol 2, which benefits from having all the bedrock foundation built by this movie to spring from.

B-TIER, AKA It's Fine I Guess:

IRON MAN 1

It's good! It invented the wheel! Part of it are fucking agonizingly painful to watch in 2023 but it also has more heart than 80% of the franchise so.

IN A CAVE. WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS.

LOKI

Okay it feels shitty of me to judge this one on its technical faults bc apparently it was shot during the pandemic and that causes a lot of the issues with the camerawork, the awkward editing, and just how Weird everything was put together. But also it's REALLY stilted and awkward, which butts up against the good script and the better acting, so IDK man.

Owen Wilson is amazing. Even my mother thought the way they canonized Loki being bi was a cop-out. And the final twist pissed me off. I hope Season 2 is better.

THOR 1

I DUNNO WHAT TO TELL YOU, BUT KENNETH BRANAGH UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT.

DR STRANGE AND THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

This movie is a mess but once i figured out it was trying to be The MCU Does Gothic Horror, I was a lot more on board. It has all the flaws of the original Dr Strange and is hard to visually follow like most MCU films, but also has America Chavez, who I adore.

IRON MAN 2

It has Sam Rockwell, I don't give a fuck.

C-TIER, AKA I wish I cared but I do not 8C

DR STRANGE

I dunno I like the actual character of Strange weirdly, I like what a complete fucking asshole he is, I like his god complex and how he reacts to his disability as a surgeon. On the other hand what the fuck is Tilda Swinton doing here, this is just awful. My biggest issue with this film is that it didn't have to be this terrible but every decision made about it feels so fucking thoughtless and myopic.

WANDAVISION

yanno. i cannot even explain why i fell off this so hard. Like, this one Had Me all the way up to and including the Agatha reveal, but like the final episodes after that reveal somehow left me completely cold and uncaring. it's genuinely weird.

D-TIER, AKA Oh my god no thank you

AVENGERS

I hate the writing. Like, I haaaaate the writing. I feel like the only likeable relationship in this is Tony and Bruce, and that does not carry this movie. The quip-driven writing, the way the need for a joke supercedes naturalistic voices and dialogue making sense, it pisses me off. I hate the writing. Heartless movie.

BLACK WIDOW

oh my god i'm actively angry at this movie okay because for the first 20 minutes, I was like "wait, is this going to be a real movie," because it felt smaller, the action felt more realistic, that fight between the Widow and Yelena in the beginning felt like it could have been out of MI: Fallout, and the other fight between Natasha and Yelena in the safehouse was also good, I really thought for a few moments that this could be Good

and then it just took a hard right into The MCU Tries And Fails To Make MI: Fallout (They Even Stole The Mask Gag, What The Fuck Was That) and not only was I disappointed, I was like retroactively pissed for the 20 minutes when I had hope in my heart. If not for David Harbour's character, I would have just left in the middle of this movie.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

Its not at bad as Infinity War! Nebula and Rocket carried this movie on their fucking backs. But what do I know, I liked Renner's mohawk of sadness.

F-Tier, AKA Fuck This Movie

INFINITY WAR

Fuck this movie with a rusted steel dildo, fuck this entire fucking movie, I despise it. The writing is so actively fucking terrible I want to fistfight whoever is responsible. I fucking hate the attempts to humanize Thanos over how sad he is about the daughter he abused and then murdered, boo fucking hoo, I hate the joylessness of the superhero combinations, I hate the quip-driven writing, I hate this movie with a burning passion. This might be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Soulless and destitute.

[amemoryofwot]

Ok uhhh Borderlands trailer thoughts. Idk it looks fun I’m excited. Like, it’ll be something my brother and I go to and if it’s good great and if it’s bad like whatever. You can see Moxxi quickly and Marcus I’m pretty sure too. Jamie Lee Curtis (INSPIRED casting for Tannis btw) has her tits out. Cate Blanchett’s wig/CGI hair combo fighting for its life. The trailer vibes are more GotG tbh with using a classic rock song instead of the Heavy’s songs the games’ openers used but eh I can see that as a marketing angle. I am also a Jeff Lynne girlie so I am ok with the use of ELO

[lupin3germs]

Cover Art from Donny Cates GotG 2019, issue #10

I love how Groot makes flowers to express his pain/love. (When i find it, i’ll put the Groot vs Venom panel i liked)

Groot and Rocket have such a beautiful, symbolic relationship in the comics.

[zenwhoberi]

I really hope in a future comic (can be either a gotg run or a Rocket solo) they acknowledge the whole love triangle between Rocket, Lylla and Blackjack. We know Blackjack got divorced (implied to be due to trying to kill Rocket), but we haven't really seen Lylla in the present much at all. I'm hopeful vol 3 will spark a return for her without fridging her for synergy...

I really just wanna get the whole trio's thoughts on the matter and some closure, or at least a status quo. There are a lot of issues for them to unpack beyond romance and I think it'd be interesting to see how that whole situation shakes out. I especially want to see how Rocket's views on love and relationships have changed over time, from the Young solo to the Ewing solo to present.

IDK, I know the Halfworlder romance hasn't been much of a thing since the 70's, but I think there's real potential for a compelling story. And for the love of god, don't leave Wal out.

i can’t say i’m interested in the romance side of things at all really (animal divorce is so incredibly funny to me) but that being said i agree that something needs to be sorted out!!!

we’ve talked about rocket’s backstory before being an enormous mess. i’d be down for a rocket solo that’s really an ensemble of rocket and the halfworlders figuring out what happened to them and why and see throughout how it has affected them. what’s real, what’s not. it would be a good opportunity to clean up the mess somewhat while also giving rocket another solo opportunity. young’s series i wasn’t a fan of, ewing’s I liked ok enough but what i’m really craving is a rocket solo that plays who he is and what he is totally straight. for some reason writers manage that in the mainline series but when it comes to his solos there is always kind of…. a Bit going on? (that’s definitely not the word i’m looking for but it’s 1am here so if i think of the exact word that’s on the tip of my tongue in the morning I’ll edit this lmao).

it would also be an opportunity to shed light on lylla, blackjack, wal-rus. a modern update. it could definitely be really compelling with the right creative team. and i agree lylla would be the one i’m most concerned about if past synergy is anything to go by :/

so yeah i think even if i disagree on the romance aspect of it we both ultimately want the same thing in terms of the half-worlders making a comeback and being given a bit of depth, and what that would mean for rocket. obviously, with cates’ death of rocket plotline and also strange tales rocket’s backstory is obviously something that’s being played up as having a huge effect on him. i’m genuinely quite surprised none of this became a thing after rocket’s backstory being back in the spotlight from like 2014, again in 2019 and then alongside blackjack making a return in 2020. it’s kind of overdue

[rael-rider]

Guardians of the Galaxy #6

Wow this was so lackluster and it started really OK but just fizzled out and had no point. Also me ranting so if this isn’t your cup of tea then steer clear. I do say one or two nice things about this though.

Why does Rich even need a fricking energy rifle to fight the Black Order? Who by the way he totally wrecked in their own mini (Oh and he suddenly forgot who Proxima was, Marvel editors where you at?). Yes I know about New Warriors vol 1 #17 but Rich was so much weaker back then and he couldn’t do energy blasts back then (unless he was absorbing energy) and they were fighting Terrax IIRC so it made sense at least at that time for him to have an energy rifle.

What the hell was the point of this story? Also all that attention given to Cosmic Ghost Rider that had little to nothing to do with the main story, most of the actual Guardians not doing anything until the very end. Just give Cates a Cosmic Ghost Rider ongoing with Knull, Wraith, and symbiote OCs.

Everyone saw the Thanos implanting himself on Eros thing and dismissed it as being too obvious. Now Cates tries to do it for laughs when he has Eros proclaim “Oooh it was too obvious” like what? That doesn’t excuse that shitty decision.

Hela did nothing and she jobbed in the end, Knowhere is gone (what will Cosmo do now), but for what reason? Why? Way to fricking use that stupid black hole gun as a quick way to end the story. I also love how everyone really forgot or didn’t give a shit about the heroes that were in the black hole “Oh yeah they died” and they never mattered.

Whatever was being set up between Gamora and Nebula didn’t mattered.

Phyla acting weird “Oh you silly boys” what? Also her and Moondragon need to have their own personalities again and be more defined since they’re just there in the book. How does Alt Heather’s powers work anyway? She had a pet dragon tattoo and now she makes random cool Dragons appear? Cosmic Ghost Rider said she was crazy powerful so at least build on that. How does Alt Phyla’s powers work? What happened to her sword? Why is she flying around like she’s Carol Danvers? Why is she using her Cosmic Awareness all the time? Or better yet bring back 616 Moondragon and Phyla-Vell and actually care about them.

Also that “I love you” from Peter towards Gamora is obviously meant to be  romantic and honestly it didn’t upset me because it was inevitable since comic writers do anything the movies do nowadays and I was expecting it. It’s so weird to me that Cates set Rich as the one Gamora has romantic feelings for when Nebula goes after him but then totally forgets about him. He really does because Rich doesn’t do much in this arc and wasn’t even allowed to have close moments with Peter and Gamora or even talk to them in any significant way. He doesn’t react even when Peter gets “killed” and he gives some buts when Peter is determined to save Gamora which is something very OOCs for him to do. If I was a new reader I would be asking myself why do Gamora and Star-Lord even care about him? They felt like casual acquaintances. But I guess the Rich and Gamora thing is now dropped, which I’m fine with it (wasn’t big into it when Bendis tried to bring it back out of the blue especially since Rich was in love with Namorita in Thanos Imperative) but I just hope this doesn’t lead to love triangle drama because it would be the perfect way to fuck up some good relationships for cheap drama and oh boy it’s going to happen huh?

In the beginning of this comic Peter has PTSD about Gamora killing him, he’s legit upset at her to the point he has anxiety attacks when he relieved the moment that she killed him. That some serious stuff and he’s justified in feeling that way since she drove a sword through him with the excuse of “I can just bring him back with the Infinity stones”. Now suddenly Peter is just like “I was just mad because after everything you did I still loved you” OK fine I can see that but at least build to that confession. Or at least have him say something along the lines of “I want you to know that I love you but I am also angry with you for murdering me” or something along those lines, don’t dismiss the fact that Peter was panicking about relieving that moment and being a wreck of a human being. I know Gamora wanted to talk to him in issue #4 but he wasn’t open to it and he’s honestly justified in feeling that way, again she killed him. It would be good if they dealt with that properly before they take their relationship even further but whatever, I don’t much care under this writer now.

Like I said if they’re going to have Peter and Gamora be a romantic couple just build to it but no writer ever really seems to care much about it.  Bendis who pulled the BFFs thing really didn’t care to build on why they were BFFs they just became besties behind the scenes (and why would he care to build on it because he already admitted he didn’t read anything that came before his own run). I did like Peter telling Gamora to take her time when she told him she was unsure of how she felt, which makes a lot of sense since she just killed him and wasn’t particularly remorseful about it and

Oh and Peter telling Gamora “No don’t kill Eros and stop Thanos from coming back because that makes you no better than he is” like what the fuck? The guy who was ready to die in the Cancerverse to make sure Thanos was perma dead and to keep him from coming back just said that? Get out. Peter would be OK with Gamora killing Eros especially since Eros tried to kill her for that same reason.

Peter’s speech about everyone being a Guardian while they were drinking in the bar was good.

Rich dodges being a Guardian once again. It’s obvious the real reason for the first time was because he had his own ongoing and this time it’s because of editorial and writer reasons. But I’m fine with it since it ads to my headcanon that he prefers to work solo. He never really followed Nova corps protocols either and got in trouble for that. Steve even had him as a reserve for his Secret Avengers because being Nova was his priority and kept him busy and he really couldn’t commit to that either. Doesn’t mean he can’t work as a team especially since he was the General of the United Front but remember that after Annihilation a bunch of races and planet figureheads wanted him to join up with them and he didn’t. He was also very cautious and hesitant in re-doing the Nova corps (but I think that involved so many other reasons). New Warriors being a special case which made a lot of sense considering who he was and at the point he was in his life.

But really Rich might as well not have been in this comic and honestly after reading this I am glad he isn’t permanently in it. Cates doesn’t get the character at all nor does he care about him. He’s obviously setting up something with Knull and using the cosmic characters for that end. Not to mention Ewing is supposedly planning something with Rich and Wendell and I’m glad he’s going to be written by someone who cares about him. Shame I can’t even have one good post-Cancerverse Peter and Rich talk or a good emotional moment between those two considering how much of a wreck Peter can be when depressed and all those times Rich just pushes him to safety only to go and do something dangerous himself (plus the importance for Peter to be there with Rich when Rich is facing his own end). But at least Duggan did show that Peter was upset about Rich popping back to the world of the living and not telling him although I expected him to be more emotional considering the state of things.

Oh and Rich is back to comic limbo I guess, at least until whatever Ewing is planning with him and Wendell happens. At least I’ll look forward to those two, I love their relationship and it seems Ewing set an interesting dynamic between them in the Annual.

[rakruined]

This is one of my favorite Rocket panels, and here’s why

This is one of the best moments in Donny Cates’ Faithless run, and one of the better moments in modern GotG comics. At this point in the story, Rocket has basically been through Hell. After Drax died and Gamora briefly turned evil, he learned his cybernetics were breaking down and that he was dying as a result. Out of fear, he flees from the other Guardians to die alone, not wanting to submit himself to treatment due to his trauma from being surgically modified.

Eventually, however, Groot and Moondragon come seeking his help, as the rest of the Guardians had been captured by the Universal Church of Truth. Rocket obliges, using a Hulkbuster-esque suit to fight, but the suit also serves as his life support, as he is very close to death. During the battle, his suit is damaged and his remaining friends are captured as well, with him being left for dead. It’s only thanks to Groot’s miniature copies that he is able to free himself from the wreckage, at the cost of disconnecting his life support.

He has minutes to live, can barely even carry, let alone fire, his weapon, and is up against a massive threat that not even the entire Guardians team could handle, all on his own.

So what does he do?

He gets up and he goes to help his friends. No hesitation, no desire to just lie back and accept the end, just a pure force of will to fight on. Not for himself, but for his family.

[draconian62]

Guardians of the Galaxy #8

[chronicowboy]

#black and green queens + smiling

[peterquillss]

This panel shot was my absolute favorite along with Peter's poignant dialogue that carries a lot. I'm still not a fan of cabal's art much (just too prime and proper?) but the juxtapose *chef's kiss* i felt like this was ewing telling us he's taking Peter Quill's character back to when he was honestly a better version of himself. Over the years he's been written to fit the mcu mold after the popularity of the movies when peter in the comics could've brought something different to the cosmic aspect of marvel if he stayed the way abnett intended. Writers since then have given us too much mcu peter or just a out of character quill (argo cates and his full fanservice). I'm tired of being baited by writers and hope what ewing said about straying far from the mcu is true.