#cates gotg

[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!

[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

[georgewashingtonuwu]

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.

[sineala]

Guardians of the Galaxy by Al Ewing

I wrote this review last month for Pride Month but am reposting it here.

No one asked for this, but in honor of Pride Month, I would like to review Al Ewing's Guardians of the Galaxy run, because I reread it last night and it is extremely, extremely, extremely gay and I know a lot of people don't read Guardians so you might not know how gay it is. It is very gay. All my faves are gay now. Plus, it was finally released in one big trade paperback in April, so you can get the whole run in a big book. (Also included is a noir-ish miniseries about Rocket; I didn't read it.) It's eighteen issues plus an annual; it's a pretty fast read.

This is, hands down, my favorite Guardians run. Everything else can move over.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are a team that was thrust into prominence by the MCU, and the subsequent post-MCU runs -- Bendis, Duggan, Cates -- have mostly pulled the team lineup and dynamic into something much closer to the MCU. If you're an Iron Man fan, the run you're probably familiar with is Bendis', which is the one where Tony went to space. I get the impression that Guardians fandom did not like this run much; IIRC, Bendis said he had never read Guardians, and it... kind of showed. It was Not Good.

I understand why Marvel wants to capitalize on the MCU success. I can't claim to have been a longtime Guardians fan before the MCU, but I very quickly became a fan of the 616 team. To prepare to watch the original GotG movie I decided to read all of DNA Cosmic in about two weeks, and I discovered that Phyla-Vell (Quasar, at the time) and Heather Douglas (Moondragon) were my new faves, because what's not to love about space lesbians, one of whom is sometimes a telepathic space dragon. I didn't even know they were a couple until I was halfway through Annihilation Conquest. I observed that they really cared about each other, and then I turned the page and they were kissing. Surprise!

DNA Cosmic also got me shipping Peter Quill and Rich Rider. Rich is one of the few other humans to have a consistent place in Cosmic Marvel; he's a character from the 70s, starting out as a teenager, who was given the status and powers of Nova Prime by the last surviving member of the Nova Corps -- their world, Xandar, is being destroyed -- and then had to defend the galaxy. Eventually Xandar was rebuilt, and Rich went to Earth for a bit and joined the New Warriors. (Civil War happens during the Annihilation event; Rich has some very complicated feelings.) During Annihilation, Xandar is destroyed again, and now Rich has to host the Nova Force and the entire Xandarian Worldmind in his body because he is the last of them. So there's a lot of angst for him. He has a very close friendship with Peter Quill. I dare you to read this run and not ship Peter/Rich. The scene where Peter has to leave Rich in the Cancerverse is extremely angsty. They clearly love each other. They were not, at this time, canonically into each other. But they were obviously BFFs.

So, to summarize, my favorite character elements of it were the relationship between Phyla-Vell and Heather Douglas, who quickly became my favorite Guardians, as well as Rich Rider and his friendship with Peter. Now I was definitely ready for the movie! I think you can see the problem here.

You know what isn't in the MCU? Any of that. Heather, Phyla, and Rich are not in the MCU. So I was disappointed. And then I had to sit through a bunch of Guardians runs where none of these people were main characters anymore because they weren't in the MCU and, thus, everything I loved best about the team wasn't there.

(Also Phyla and Heather have taken turns being dead, and given that they are not big names, they often stay dead for a while; at this point I think Phyla was dead, though she came back before the Cates run, although it was actually her from another universe, and she came with her Moondragon, and 616 Moondragon still existed. This wasn't really explored all that much, until Ewing's run, where the Moondragons merge.)

But then Al Ewing got the book, and he appears to have taken the stance that most of the major characters will be people who have never appeared in the MCU, the character dynamic will be much closer to DNA than the MCU, and, oh yeah, almost all of these people will be queer if they weren't already queer. A bold choice! I'm surprised editorial let him do this. But I am very happy.

Seriously, here are all the characters who are some flavor of queer or in some kind of queer relationship: Peter Quill, Gamora, Rich Rider, Heather Douglas, Phyla-Vell, Noh-Varr, Hercules, Billy Kaplan, Teddy Altman, Avril Kincaid. This is probably the majority of the heroes. You will also note that most of them are not in the MCU. 

Literally everyone on the starting team (Peter, Gamora, Rich, Heather, Phyla, Noh-Varr, Rocket, Groot) ends up in a queer relationship except Rocket and Groot and who even knows what counts as queer for those two.

I originally started reading this run because I was happy that Phyla and Heather were both alive again (after the events of Infinity Watch and Infinity Wars) and that they were both Guardians again and also a a couple again; IIRC they were also both in Cates' run but it wasn't really about them. They are major characters here. They go through, uh... let's just call it a rough patch... but they're together again by the end and the universe thing is resolved. And if this were all the run had done, it would have been enough, actually. More than enough. But then the rest of the run also happened.

By the end of this run, Peter Quill, Gamora, and Rich Rider are all in a romantic relationship together. I definitely did not see that coming.

Near the beginning of the run Peter dies. Both Rich and Gamora blame Rich for Peter's death.

 There's an entire issue of Rich going to therapy to attempt to deal with his grief.

In the course of this, we find out that Rich talked with Gamora, that Gamora used to be in love with Rich (they did date at one point, so this wasn't entirely out of left field), and also we find out that Rich was definitely in love with Peter. "I loved him too. You know that, right?" Rich asks her.

Gamora's response is "Yes, I know. That makes it worse." So, yeah. That's a thing now.

This is easily my favorite issue of the run. As far as I'm concerned, more heroes should go to therapy. I would absolutely read a comic book about a superhero therapist. A good one. Not, like, Faustus.

If you have ever read a comic book, you will know that Peter is not really dead. He is in another dimension where years pass, having a bisexual polyamorous relationship with a couple people in that dimension. (I wasn't kidding about how gay this was.)

And then eventually he comes back to life, joyously reunites with Rich first (priorities!)...

...and finds out Gamora is now mad at him.

So he has to rejoin the Guardians, defeat the main villain, and navigate his very complicated relationship with Gamora and Rich, who also have to work out their relationship with each other.

But all of them work out their issues, and just as they prepare to take down the villain, Peter tells Gamora, "I love him too. You know that, right?"

And this time Gamora says that makes it better, actually. Character growth! Rich then tells both of them he loves them. It's very sweet.

Anyway, the whole run ends with the team partying victoriously in a bar (Billy/Teddy and Phyla/Heather are both making out in the background, and no, I really wasn't kidding about how gay it all was).

And it's not really as clearly stated as I would have liked, but it is heavily, heavily implied that the three of them, who have their arms around each other, will be spending their vacation together. I'll take it. It's canon now.

If this run has a flaw, it's that the actual main plot keeps getting derailed by tie-ins. I know this is not entirely Ewing's fault, but a good part of this is King In Black and Empyre tie-ins. I didn't read King In Black, but I did fine anyway. Empyre -- which, yes, Ewing also co-wrote -- is probably the more important one to know, otherwise it might be a little confusing why Billy and Teddy are there for half the book. And then Peter and Rich go to the Hellfire Gala (where Rich picks a fight with Magneto), which is of course a crossover with Ewing's SWORD run at the time. It gets to be a bit much.

When it's staying on track, the main plot is serviceable enough. Ewing often has a tendency to make his cosmic work really big-picture and trippy (no, I didn't like his Ultimates run) but he refrains from that here, which I appreciate. The main villain ends up being Dormammu and it's easy to follow. Also watching them put Doctor Doom on the team was pretty great.

I have no idea how well it will read if you only know the MCU -- I'm guessing probably not well -- but if you'd like to see all your 616 faves be gay now, this is the book for you. It's the only Guardians run I've actually bothered buying in paper and not just reading on Unlimited. As far as I am concerned, this book was written for an audience of me and I am 100% fine with this. But if this sounds like your thing, please read it. It is delightful.

[fightingalgth8rs]

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[ladynynaeve]

Thoughts on Rocket’s origin stories? I mean the OG, the 2012/13 retcon, the Cates run and the film ofc (Telltale and SE optional)

oh man rocket’s backstories is kind of a whole mess. i probably need to gather my thoughts more but fuck it and i’m also mainly going from memory so feel free (all of you!!!) to correct me if i get stuff wrong! i wouldn’t say i’m a rocket expert and i’m mainly just going to ramble.

comics first. the og is absolutely batshit insane. ranger rocket and clowns and asylums. it’s bananas. once rocket made his Grand Return in a:c and gotg 2008 it’s also… never really referenced again right? except for his brief stint in the annihilators post 2008 run. i think it’s unique but equally i can understand why they would want to ground it more (as much as a talking raccoon can be grounded) as gotg went on. it’s also why peter’s earlier adventures have been brushed to the side, but i think it’s notable that ewing is the guy who brought both of these aspects back in a way (more on strange tales in a minute!).

the young series was yeah. idk. blackjack and rocket acting divorced i guess and the moment where rocket breaks down after realising he IS the only one of him was emotional but overall that series was really unfocused and messy and I wasn’t a fan of how rocket was written in it, even though the art was great. cates i thought did ok but it didn’t really give anything people weren’t expecting?

the more recent strange tales comic by ewing had it as if rocket had false memories (?) of his og shenanigans and the reality was much darker (in line with what cates put on page, darker, experiments etc) and was something he didn’t WANT/couldn’t remember. i guess you could call it mcu synergy but seeing as the mcu hadn’t explored any of it it’s also not quite right. more a ‘grounded’ retcon. the false memories aspect is a way to make it all fall in line even if it’s confusing. i think ewing does a good job of writing rocket and i’d like to see him take a real crack at making his multiple origins work in tandem.

overall in general though i LOVE the overarching idea that rocket was made as this experiment because it puts him in line with other, more ‘perfect’ (debatable but certainly on the surface) experiments he finds himself allied with, adam, phy. i wish these kinds of similarities was something explored more, but equally i like that it’s never expressly signified despite being so obvious once noticed.

so i actually think more came from telltale than people give it credit for. I think even so much of gotg3 came from that game. even having lylla in the lab and wanting to see the sky. very heartbreaking the first time i played it and rocket breaking down to peter over lylla was really, REALLY moving. made me tear up. there’s no way gunn wasn’t inspired by this in vol. 3. same can be said of vol. 3 i guess. made me cry and i liked that the relationship between rocket and the “scientists” that made him was given a face and explored w rocket and the high evolutionary, unlike in the cates run and the games.

eidos game i think also did a good job though some of rocket talking about his past didn’t always feel earned when those conversations would trigger at the beginning of the game. i liked that they brought in his og origins by making it stories he would tell the other experiments while he was captured. i also liked his fear of water beginning almost as a joke in the early hours of the game but developing into a significant aspect of his trauma and something that he has to overcome. that was a nice moment. beyond that making his origin story be the kree is kind of insane to me because what the hell would the kree want with a raccoon super soldier. guess we’ll never know!!

ultimately i think comic rocket is a mess right now and something needs to be done about it (get ewing on the phone for all your guardians needs x) and the adaptations all benefit from being more focused.

[dilfdoctordoom]

So... Rich's appearance in GOTG 2019 sure was a disappointment. They sell him at the end of an issue as Gamora's love so you expect big things with him and then he just. Leads the people that are chasing her directly to her and dips after the battle is over. I think he doesn't even say a word to her? Or even Peter. His best buddy "dies" and we don't even see a reaction. Whoa. It's also so incredibly weird to bring him up in that way if you're gonna push Gamora x Peter IMMEDIATELY after writers really were out there setting up the ot3 without noticing huh. But theeeeen there's those few pages in the Annual by Al Ewing that are just CHEF'S KISS

That said! I enjoyed the second arc more than the first. Characters still come and go weirdly so you know that Donny Cates is writing them elsewhere (seriously. Ghost Rider and Silver Suffer don't do much of anything besides popping up here and there but they're in the "family" scene in the hospital with Rocket?)

It was kinda fun overall? Peter was competent and that's the least I can ask? I like Daddy Issues? The Drax thing was. Weird. I know "being alive" is already a weird thing when it comes to him because of the way he was artificially recreated but the whole "hey let's shove our memories of Drax into one of these hundreds of random bodies that look like him" thing is gonna leave me pondering about the philosophical implications for days

I gotta say, my judgment was a bit clouded as soon as I saw baby Magus. I can't tell if he's a good character but I'm absolutely obsessed with him now. Baby! Magus!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!! AND HE LOOKS ADORABLE!!! I WANNA STUDY HIM LIKE A BUG

Oh, Rich is awful in GOTG2019.

There's obviously everything going on with Pete & Gamora, but the second arc literally opens with the Nova Corps being massacred & he is never shown to react to it which feels... strange, to say the least.

I hate that 616 Starmora started the way that it did here; I think it did have some potential prior, to feed into the narrative about healing but instead, it feels incredibly awkward & contrived. I don't like the retcon that Peter has always been in love with Gamora; I don't like the idea of him being in love with someone he's manipulating, brainwashing & lying to (regardless of intent).

The second arc does flow a lot better than the first. I've still got my issues with it but it does work better than the first one.

The Drax thing is so??? We all knew after Infinity Wars that he'd be back but the ramifications of him coming back in this specific way... Ewing, the loml, did touch on them. The current writers don't seem to be doing that. Cates even had a chance to. The vagueness on what, exactly, Drax is now is frustrating.

Baby Magus makes me giggle BUT. I don't know where the fuck he came from. Magus's last appearance prior to that was being murdered by Ultron in Infinity Countdown and like, yeah, that series ends with Gamora going off with baby Magus leading into Thanos (2019) but I don't know what happened between Magus dying and the end of Infinity Wars to bring us to any version of Magus being alive.

I did, admittedly, spend most of Infinity Wars slamming my head against a wall so. my memory might be fuzzy.

The annual by Ewing <3 that man GETS cosmic Marvel & Richard Rider so so well. I'm glad he's still fiddling with bits over in X-Men: Red but god, I wish he was back on GOTG.

[adamwarlock]

Just out of curiosity, how do you feel about Cates' GotG run? I know Adam isn't exactly prominent but Magus is there and kind of interesting

I didn't care for it... Kid Magus doesn't really make sense to me but it COULD be interesting if they actually bothered to do anything with it. Since it hasn't gone anywhere it mostly just feels weird that Magus is out there and Adam doesn't seem to care, AND that Adam tasks Gamora with watching over him but Gamora just abandons Magus with some cultists after a couple months LMAO?

Also I hate Thanos/Hela it's so incredibly stupid.

[about-faces]

So, the new Guardians run is apparently immediatelly undoing the set up Ewing left off did to go back to status quo of Donny Cates.

Is there such thing as poetic INjustice?

Given how Cates himself immediately ignored all of Ewing’s character development with Banner and his alters in favor of “what if the Hulk was a mecha?” bullshit (and how Marvel itself seems to be distancing itself from Ewing’s Hulk run, mocking the “green door” in Spider-Man and otherwise generally ignoring it), that’s hardly surprising. But it’s dreadfully depressing nonetheless. Ewing’s GotG was the most I’ve loved that team since the days of Abnett, Lanning, and Giffen, which is unsurprising given how much he drew from those runs.

[astromechs]

I was told that the only GOTG runs worth reading are 2008 and 2020, if I skip over all the stuff in between will I be missing anything important regarding character introductions/arcs?

the 2020 run by ewing does reference things that came before it (the cates gotg run from 2019 and the annihilation: scourge event, notably), but honestly, i think you can just jump in and get enough context without going through those? if you are reading ewing's run and get confused, though, i'd focus on reviewing the 2019 run and annihilation: scourge; those two things alone will be enough to provide context!

most of what bendis did isn't really worth reading. duggan had some cool ideas with gamora and soul world that i think are worth taking a look at, but the way that arc resolves (infinity wars) is truly so stupid that i just... sighs.

[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.

[georgewashingtonuwu]

Bro you look like someone ate you then threw you back up.

Pages from Donny Cates GotG 2019, issue #11

[draconian62]

Guardians of the Galaxy #8

[chronicowboy]

#black and green queens + smiling