Guardians of the Galaxy #13
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Sara Pichelli, David Marquez, and Justin Ponsor
The short of it:
Jean admits that she’s guilty of everything she’s accused of because it’s her destiny, maybe, to do all of it. Then she turns it around to say how nobody else could stop the Phoenix, and that punishing her now won’t solve anything, but he’s giddy that he had her family killed. Bad move, because Jean turns all pink and glowy and lets him know that she was going to forgive him for everything that happened with the trial and all, but then she found out about her family, and then she blasts the crap out of him. And everyone else. And fighting starts! Well, it happens in the background, really Oracle just dumps the exposition on Jean’s new glowy power and then Jean knocks Gladiator down again. Oracle ends the fight on both sides, and then Gladiator tries to act like it’s not over, so Scott has at it. Kid Cyclops opens with letting him know, flat out, that he comes to Earth again, Scott kills him. That if he finds out that Gladiator is considering it again, that he’ll be back, with EVERYONE, and he will bring Gladiator down. Because he managed a small army in only a day, so Gladiator just needs to stay the hell out. Jean points out that this is All New, and Starlord says that the Guardians are guarding Earth, and the Shi’ar retreat.
The day is saved! Time to unwind on the ships and get these X-Kids back to Earth! Kitty and Peter bond, apparently she has a thing for guys with that name. Drax and Laura take the art of battle, while Angela polishes her sword, and Gamora wonders if this is worth it. On Earth, Peter keeps up with Kitty, gets a peck on the cheek for his troubles, but she gets a way to call him. Rocket and Groot have an awkward experience with some Earth trees and raccoons, and finally…Kid Scott heads off to his solo series. Jean? Well, she’s angry, and glowy, and that’s not going to be good.
But hey, that’s All-New X-Men’s problem!
What I liked:
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The art. Just going to throw that out there now, this book looks amazing. I know this isn’t news to the Ultimate Spider-Man readers that are familiar with these guys, but I didn’t read that. This run is my gateway.
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Normally I’d gripe that Gladiator went down too easy, but he’s been such an obnoxious twit so far that I’m glad he jobbed like the Brooklyn Brawler.
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Scott was a total badass with his declaration to Gladiator.
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Rocket and Groot on Earth with trees and raccoons.
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This issue actually did a pretty solid job as a backdoor pilot for the Cyclops ongoing.
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Drax and X-23: “I was very impressed with the boot claws, young human. What can I purchase such a weapon?” “They’re built in.” “Nice.”
What I didn’t like:
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Did Jean really need a power upgrade? Really? She’s more powerful right now than she was in the nineties.
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There has to have been a way to do this crossover without completely making the Guardians into bit players in their own book. This was an issue of All-New X-Men from cover to cover.
Final thoughts:
Since Bendis is just handing out power upgrades to X-Men, how about making this Angel useful without having to sell his soul to Apocalypse?
Great, this is why Jean turns into Xorn, isn’t it? Because now she’s all pink and glowy, and she can’t just be pink and glowy, she’ll have to add explodey to the list.
Or worse, what if she turns into Angela?
Regardless, the explanation of mixing her telepathy and telekinesis to turn all uber and pink? Dumb. She REALLY didn’t need an upgrade, especially one that her adult self was never able to achieve.
Kitty and Starlord? It would be cooler if I had any reason to believe that we’d ever see it on panel. Seriously, dude is out in space being a Guardian of the Galaxy, does he have time to jump back to Earth to see a girl regularly? Because it’s not like Professor Kitty is going to leave her kids in the hands of Cyclops and Emma so she can go hang out in space.
When did Oracle start to matter? Seriously, all this IN SPACE stuff feels like my buddies Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver had a hand in it.
Man, Scott has NO problem at all with the cat-chick alien stepmom.
Also, he should have offered to bring X-23. She’d probably get more screen time that way.
Hey, maybe the Guardians will get some screen time next issue!
