Guardians Of The Galaxy Review: Legendary Star-lord #1 by Sam Humphries & Paco Medina

Reviews, Top Story

Legendary Star-lord #1

Written by: Sam Humphries
Pencilled by: Paco Medina
Inked by: Juan Vlasco
Cover by: Paco Medina
Colored by: David Curiel
Lettered by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99

Note: This is a review of the digital version which can be found on Comixology.

Warning! This review contains quite a few spoilers!

Summary (contains spoilers): The issue starts with Peter Quill (AKA Star-lord) and several Badoon fighting in an alien orphanage.  They are all there looking for a Spartax artifact called the Mandalay Gem which had been stashed there.  The Badoon soldiers manage to capture Star-lord and claim the gem for themselves.  Star-Lord finds out that a gangster named Mr Knife has put a bounty on his head.

While in lock up, Peter gives a quick call to Kitty Pryde, who he had gotten close to during the Trial of Jean Grey story.

A Badoon guard hears the commotion, and comes in to investigate.  Peter Quill turns this into his advantage, using his boots as a weapon to escape.  He recovers his element gun and the Mandalay Gem.

He returns back to the orphanage with a big sack of money. After his mother was killed, Peter spent some time in foster care, so he knows how hard it is to be an orphan.  He claims that it was from selling the gem, but in reality, it was the last of his savings.   He ended up keeping the gem for himself.  It is supposed to be one of the most powerful minerals in the universe, and in twelve days, he plans to go gunning for Thanos.

Before he can move forward with those plans, he is confronted by a Spartax ship, captained by a soldier named Captain Victoria.  He also discovers that Captain Victoria is his half sister…

Review: The hardest reviews to write are for comics like Legendary Star-Lord. When I love a comic, I can write about it for hours. And when I hate a comic, at least I can have a lot of fun poking fun at it. But, when it comes to a comic that is just okay, that is when I find myself faced with a terrifying blank page.  This happened to me last week too.  I was going to do a review for the Cartoon Network crossover “Super Secret Crisis War!” but after reading it, I just couldn’t find anything interesting to say about it.

Just to say it up front, there is nothing particularly wrong with Legendary Star-Lord. Peter Quill is a great character, and he is portrayed very well here. Sam Humphries has a clear understanding of the character, and I loved the tease about squaring off with Thanos. There has been a huge question mark since Infinity… How did Thanos and Quill escape the Cancerverse? And what happened to Nova?

It was cool that Humphries incorporated the connection that Quill made with Kitty Pryde during The Trial of Jean Grey. They have a fun, flirty relationship, and I am glad to see that wasn’t forgotten.

Also, Paco Medina’s art is terrific. I especially loved the gorgeous splash page showing the various things running through Quill’s mind. I really want to see that time that Groot, Quill, and Rocket went to karaoke.

But, even though there was a lot of elements of Legendary Star-Lord that I liked, I couldn’t help but wish it was all something more. Marvel has launched and re-launched a lot of series over the last few months. So many of them have been real terrific, especially New Warriors, Moon Knight, Ms Marvel, She-Hulk, and even Rocket Raccoon which also launched this week. These are all books that I can’t wait to read the next issues. Star-Lord just felt very rote.

One of my biggest complaints about the issue was that so much of it felt cliche. Take the “shock” ending. The father who abandoned Quill as a child has another child! It was really hard to get all that emotional about this. These two characters might as well be strangers…happening to share a father does not a sister make.  Also, Quill’s escape from jail and the later reveal that he gave the orphans his own money.    All it it worked fine, but it just never felt like I was reading anything I hadn’t read before.

Even the mystery of “who is Mr Knife and why does he have a price on Star-Lord’s head?” just never feels like a serious threat. While I read the comic, I kept waiting for something to really grab me, and it just never happens.

Will I buy the next issue?  Probably.  I do like Star-Lord, and this issue was fine.  And Paco Medina’s art is almost worth the price of admission alone.  But, my pull list is already way too long, so I can’t guarantee I’ll be sticking around all that long unless Humphries can really make a solid argument in the next few issues that this book needs to exist.


Title: Legendary Star-lord #1
Written By: Sam Humphries
Art By: Paco Medina
Company: Marvel
Price: $3.99
Pros:
  • Paco Medina is a terrific artist
  • Peter Quill has needed his own title for a while now
  • The guest appearance by Kitty Pryde was a nice surprise.
Cons:
  • While there is nothing particularly “wrong” with this issue, there also wasn’t much to make it stand out.
  • The shock ending was ridiculously cliche.
Is it worth your $3.99? 7.5/10 – There was nothing particularly wrong with this comic, but I don’t think it had all that much to make it stand out in a very crowded comic market.
Mike Maillaro is a lifelong Jersey Boy and geek. Mike has been a comic fan for about 30 years from when his mom used to buy him Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures at our local newsstand. Thanks, Mom!! Mike's goal is to bring more positivity to the discussion of comics and pop culture.