Drax #4

You would imagine that a character like Drax, who takes things so literally all of the time wouldn’t have a book with so much talking in it, but for a book set in an outerspace version of classic Roman gladiatorial pits, there is an awful lot of jabbering. This book has a nice look to it, and the inclusion of Fin Fang Foom adds a bit of connective tissue to the Marvel Universe, because I don’t know how many people really know/care about Terrax, I for one didn’t really know anything about him before this book, and what I learned from him in the early issues is that he is a forgetful drunk who loses things far too easily. Couple that with the mystifying fact that the co-writer of this book is a drug-free “Straightedge” type, and it is rather confounding that this and his only other foray into comic book writing started off with binge drinking and bar scenes.

I haven’t been impressed with this title like I would have liked- being that Bautista brought some real heavyweight (heh) action to Drax the Destroyer in the MCU, I was hoping that someone like CM Punk, a former professional wrestler and soon-to-be MMA fighter, would bring some dazzling footwork and freight train punches to this character and his story. But really, it hasn’t been the most stellar outing for this series, if the match were called right now- I would declare no one the winner. But the artwork is solid, and it seems like, maybe, just maybe there is some decent groundwork being laid for some future stories involving some buddy-buddy Drax and Terrax goodness.

As I said, for a story that seems to be 100% focused on fighting, and it’s titular character isn’t one for flowery speech and wasted words, this issue has SO MUCH DANG talking… it’s like an endless wrestling promo, and I wish it would just be over! I don’t know when it happened in professional wrestling, but there is SO MUCH FLIPPIN talking these days. I love to torture my wife by turning on whatever program comes on, and sitting with the TV blaring out whatever stilted and poorly pronounced nonsense these cro-magnon men and women are yammering on about for more than five, sometimes TEN straight minutes. I remember a time when monologues were interrupted with a chair to the head, or someone bursting out of the audience to challenge whoever was in the ring, but this just feels like I’M the one who got smacked with a steel chair (though, to be honest, those chairs were most certainly aluminum).

The art on this book is really good, and the story sets up the next issue with Drax, Terrax and Torgo facing off against Fin Fang Foom. Though, if I am being honest, and that last splash page is any indication, I don’t think that Torgo’s inhibitor collar actually is what made him want to fight and kill other combatants, and Drax removing it just means that he is going to be stuck between a Foom and a Robot-dude (read as: “rock and a hard place” I know it’s not great- just go with it!). Which will make for some good, if not a bit obvious, story to move things along. I hope for more from this issue, and I really would like to see more of the Guardians come into play in this series, even if it’s just one at a time, and for only an issue or so each. It would give this rather one-dimensional character someone to work with more than another pretty wooden and stiff character OR A ROBOT who kills for sport!!!

Overall, this book isn’t great, but Drax isn’t necessarily the top-tier guy in the Guardians, so it would make sense that he isn’t necessarily the high tide that lifts all ships, but is more or less just another boat buoyed along by Chris Pratt’s devilish smile. Maybe that will make this book better- put in more shirtless Star-Lord pinups, and this will sell two billion copies! Because if something doesn’t really change soon for this book, I think things can get a lot worse before they get better…