Comic Vine Review

44 Comments

Guardians of the Galaxy #5

3

The aftermath of AGE OF ULTRON spills into Peter Quill's world.

The Good

If there's one thing I'll continue to love about this book, it's writer Brian Michael Bendis' ability to create super lighthearted and enjoyable banter. In this latest chapter, all of the fun conversations can be found between Tony Stark and Rocket Raccoon as they're working to repair his damaged armor. The lack of understanding between their societies delivers plenty of amusement. From Tony being blown away by Rocket's vastly superior technology to explaining why he had a strong urge to get down with Gamora, the dialogue between the two is definitely my highlight. I particular love Rocket talking down to a character we consider to be one of the brightest from Earth. It's a refreshing and amusing change of pace. Also surprisingly fun: Peter's chase sequence in the market. It feels like a scene stripped right from a sci-fi film. It's short yet a real blast, especially when Peter shows off a non-lethal option his gun offers.

For the most part, I'm a fan of Sara Pichelli's illustrations. I think she does fantastic work with facial expressions. Seeing Tony Stark light up with joy is contagious and I couldn't help but smile like a goofball with him. She does a solid job presenting the sci-fi vibe we need for this title. Each species has their unique look and the various technology looks solid. She also does a great job with the establishing shots in space and the impact on the moon had a great amount of force behind it.

The Bad

While I do like a majority of Pichelli's work, I find Rocket Raccoon to be frightening instead of cute quite oftenn. I imagine a solid reason is the decision to make his eyes completely red and give him incredibly sharp teeth -- almost vampire-esque. And I know it's not her fault, but I can't get over that absurdly large belt Angela wears.

And regarding Angela, her role feels rather forced here. It essentially boils down to, "Why am I here? I want to kill something!" Don't get me wrong, I'm glad an event is actually creating changes, but her inclusion doesn't exactly feel organic. The fact they attack her without any attempt at communicating first certainly doesn't help, either. Yes, they can assume she's bad because they don't have info on her, but wouldn't you at least say something first before assaulting this random person?

Out of everyone in the universe, Peter Quill approaches Thanos about what's going on? I get he wants answers, but shouldn't seeking him out be an absolute last resort? There had to have been other ways to find this out except for Mantis, right? And Thanos is crazy tall... like, to the point where Peter would only be up to his knees if he was standing. Isn't Thanos just under 7 feet tall and Peter is just above 6 feet tall? Has Thanos been drinking extra milk? Also, if you're going to approach someone that powerful, aiming your gun at him probably isn't the smartest option.

Minor gripe: Drax talking in the third person felt like an unnecessary way to introduce him in case there's new readers. Man, I really wish this guy would get more focus in this series.

The Verdict

Bendis continues to do what he does best: comedic banter. This book shines when we're hit with the characters spending downtime together, but when it comes to the overall narrative, AGE OF ULTRON has seemingly shoved aside the plot I was really enjoying with Peter's father and is forcing Angela into the picture. I'm sure Bendis will continue work the pre-existing plot into this new scenario, but so far it doesn't feel like an organic fit. Hopefully that'll change in the next issue and the various plot points will be given equal attention.

44 Comments

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Edited By Jonny_Anonymous

Bendis is bad at writing sci fi, he's bad at writing space opera and he's bad at writing this team.

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fil123

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age of ultron is done but it still finds a way to disappoint :(

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Trevel8182

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@fil123: QFT

Well Hopefully next issue we get answers on how Star-Lord and Thanos Escaped the Cancerverse how Drax came back from the dead and where the Hell is Richard Rider.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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No Caption Provided

@k4tzm4n Well Thanos is pretty big, this is him compared to Drax

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k4tzm4n

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Edited By k4tzm4n  Moderator

@jonny_anonymous: Have you read the issue? Everyone knows Thanos isn't a small guy, but this is putting him at a height I've never seen before.

No Caption Provided

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Jonny_Anonymous

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@k4tzm4n: Hm yea he is far to tall as you say. Also was there really much need for him to state his name like that?

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Wolverine008

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Bendis just isn't suited for teams. He should just do street-levelers.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Nassirdada

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Edited By Nassirdada

I thought the issue was OK. Not good, not bad, just OK.

  • First of all, Angela's debut was lackluster. I felt she added nothing to the story. Another day, another villain.
  • I did not understand why Mantis referred to the team as STARLORD's guardians, and not THE guardians. I mean she was/is one of the founding members.
  • I 'm not very fond of Drax talking in the third person. Drax has reasonable intelligence.
  • Did anyone else see Richard Rider's tears in Starlord's back flash? I wonder why he's crying..
  • I thought that approaching Thanos was acceptable given that they have both been to another universe ( cancerverse). I even thought that was the reason Starlord saw the "lightning".However, I'm quite surprised neither of them mentioned it.
    Bring back Richard Rider.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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@k4tzm4n I know your not really a fan of cosmic books but if your interested in Drax would you be willing to read Annihilation?

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k4tzm4n

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k4tzm4n  Moderator

@k4tzm4n I know your not really a fan of cosmic books but if your interested in Drax would you be willing to read Annihilation?

I read Annihilation awhile ago and enjoyed it a good deal.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n I know your not really a fan of cosmic books but if your interested in Drax would you be willing to read Annihilation?

I read Annihilation awhile ago and enjoyed it a good deal.

Oh I just thought you wouldn't have read it since you hate space and stuff lol

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k4tzm4n

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k4tzm4n  Moderator

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n I know your not really a fan of cosmic books but if your interested in Drax would you be willing to read Annihilation?

I read Annihilation awhile ago and enjoyed it a good deal.

Oh I just thought you wouldn't have read it since you hate space and stuff lol

I don't hate cosmic material. There's just way more street level characters that interest me and therefore I tend to gravitate towards their books.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Edited By Jonny_Anonymous

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n I know your not really a fan of cosmic books but if your interested in Drax would you be willing to read Annihilation?

I read Annihilation awhile ago and enjoyed it a good deal.

Oh I just thought you wouldn't have read it since you hate space and stuff lol

I don't hate cosmic material. There's just way more street level characters that interest me and therefore I tend to gravitate towards their books.

Oh I know, I was just joking

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k4tzm4n

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Edited By k4tzm4n  Moderator

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n I know your not really a fan of cosmic books but if your interested in Drax would you be willing to read Annihilation?

I read Annihilation awhile ago and enjoyed it a good deal.

Oh I just thought you wouldn't have read it since you hate space and stuff lol

I don't hate cosmic material. There's just way more street level characters that interest me and therefore I tend to gravitate towards their books.

Oh I know, I was just joking

NO JOKING ALLOWED.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n I know your not really a fan of cosmic books but if your interested in Drax would you be willing to read Annihilation?

I read Annihilation awhile ago and enjoyed it a good deal.

Oh I just thought you wouldn't have read it since you hate space and stuff lol

I don't hate cosmic material. There's just way more street level characters that interest me and therefore I tend to gravitate towards their books.

Oh I know, I was just joking

NO JOKING ALLOWED.

No Caption Provided
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k4tzm4n

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Edited By k4tzm4n  Moderator

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n said:

@jonny_anonymous said:

@k4tzm4n I know your not really a fan of cosmic books but if your interested in Drax would you be willing to read Annihilation?

I read Annihilation awhile ago and enjoyed it a good deal.

Oh I just thought you wouldn't have read it since you hate space and stuff lol

I don't hate cosmic material. There's just way more street level characters that interest me and therefore I tend to gravitate towards their books.

Oh I know, I was just joking

NO JOKING ALLOWED.

No Caption Provided

Okay, I lol'd.

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HumanRocket

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@nassirdada: I will give u a cookie for and that u just said

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JamDamage

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I sure am sick of cosmic books right now, but I'm having fun with this one. Everything Bendis is on right now is good.

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JamDamage

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Edited By JamDamage

@wolverine08:

He was on Avengers for a looooong time, and he's killing it with the X-Men. He's fine on teams, you just don't like them

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youmessinwithme

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and Thanos is 1 inch taller than Thor making him 6'7 lol up to his knees?

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Wolverine008

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Baberaham_Lincoln

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Seriously... Hickman should be writing GotG since he's so damn good at writing sci-fi material... Bendis is making me hate Drax, i used to love his character in the DnA run. He was wise and shit... now he seems psychopathic with the 3rd person dialogue and all that -_-. Getting real tired of your shit bendis DX

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Edited By Nassirdada

@humanrocket: It's always nice to see other RR fans :)

Here's the flash back i was referring to. I think you need to zoom in to see Richard's tears..

No Caption Provided

The second scan shows the conversation between Peter and Tahnos . I thought Thanos' whole" some disappeared and will never be heard from again" speech were kind of aimed at Richard .
What do you think ?

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HumanRocket

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@humanrocket: It's always nice to see other RR fans :)

Here's the flash back i was referring to. I think you need to zoom in to see Richard's tears..

No Caption Provided

The second scan shows the conversation between Peter and

Tahnos

. I thought

Thanos'

whole" some disappeared and will never be heard from again" speech were kind of aimed at Richard .

What do you think ?

No Caption Provided

The scan looks alot alike the panel from Age Of Ultron where the multiverses was shared and there was image alot like this one. I think Peter may be saying something like Thanos is lucky that Rich wasnt one of the ones who was able to come though the tear and instead we got Angela.

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JamDamage

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Trevel8182

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@nassirdada: Well hopefully Rich is still alive(god I hope he's still alive he's my favorite hero) because if not that would make Star-Lord the worst friend in the history of friend's by him using a tramatic event that took Nova's life and use that to hit on girl's at bars. hopefully well get some answers next issue also I hope we find out how Drax is still alive.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Seriously... Hickman should be writing GotG since he's so damn good at writing sci-fi material... Bendis is making me hate Drax, i used to love his character in the DnA run. He was wise and shit... now he seems psychopathic with the 3rd person dialogue and all that -_-. Getting real tired of your shit bendis DX

YES. This, so much this.

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@trevel8182@humanrocket Let's hope that these appearances ( can we consider them as so ?) show that there are future plans for Rich

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theTimeStreamer

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this issue has only 3 great small things: gamora is so hot, red sonja is also hot and star lord has an awesome costume in a flashback. that is all.

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@nassirdada: Im sure they will be i feel that they have been teasing me with these panels with his return.

@trevel8182: Imma pick up this issue now and see if i can come up with some ideas as to how the next issue sets up. Yah felt bad too last issue for rich when Gamora hooked up with Stark combine that with what Peter is doing its like one of those COME ON moments.

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New_World_Order

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Well doesn't Thanos way as much as the Hulk, and there pretty much the same size. But he shouldn't be that much taller than Peter. Maybe the rock Peter is standing on is farther back than it seems, giving Thanos a giant apperance.

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No Caption Provided

@k4tzm4n Well Thanos is pretty big, this is him compared to Drax

Thats Epic!!! Drax even looks kind of like Kratos here.

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Jonny_Anonymous

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@jonny_anonymous said:
No Caption Provided

@k4tzm4n Well Thanos is pretty big, this is him compared to Drax

Thats Epic!!! Drax even looks kind of like Kratos here.

Yep, here's the full pic for ya

No Caption Provided

and this is how that showdown goes down

No Caption Provided

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CaptainHoopla

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I'm just trying to figure out why Marvel thinks anybody gives a crap about having Angela in the Marvel Universe. Seriously, does anybody?

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warlock360

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I rather have Adam Warlock back :p

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Edited By cobra88king8

Angela felt so shoehorned in there. I see no reason as to why they introduced her except as a giant middle finger to Todd McFarlane in some roundabout way

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Edited By Killemall

While i likes the issue, i dont have problem with the issue, the Angela thing so far is has honestly looked nothing impressive. Why couldnt marvel just create a character like Angela, its not like they havent done the same thing before.

And the inclusion of the character, who for spoiler sake shall not be named, having included here seem just like a cheap way to hopefully boost the sale of next issue. So Peter's line of thinking is, lets go ask the guy who nearly killed us all, to stop the person whom i and one of my friend sacrificed our lives makes perfect sense. Also not just go talk to him, but go talk to him with a gun, as if the gun would do much, really didnt Peter realize that much after you know, having to actually die to stop the said character?

And what was Mantis thinking, you know who you should go ask him, the guy who should reasonable have absolutely no interest helping him, the guy who at one point actively hunted me, even killed a bunch of my alternate reality counterparts (Avengers: Celestial Quest) and had it not been for plot he would totally kill him, go ask him.

And you know who isnt a better solution, our long beloved friend, who has a direct connection to an abstract whose knowledge borders on damn near omniscent. Lets not ask Quasar coz we tend to pretend he doesnt exist anymore, but lets ask a guy, who should honestly just kill us in a heartbeat coz he's never given 2 hoots to what we thought to begin with???

Yeah talk about shoving a character for no apparent reason.

Decent story or at least build up but inclusion of Angel, and the other character, was so meaningless, it totally ruins everything.

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@k4tzm4n: I am surprised you did not point out, how the said character, in the last story arc written by Bendis himself was taken prisoner by Elders. So Bendis is going far out to actually ignore a story he himself wrote and pretend its canon in his website despite me and 3 other fellow having asked?

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PM21

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Thanos has been eating his Wheaties I see

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Edited By Jenkale

this is was the issue i was waiting for, my most anticipated read of the week and the first thing i read and... this was not what i was promised. angela was barely there, drowned out by star lord's age of ultron drama. that could have been saved for issue 6, issue 5 missed a great opportunity to give a backstory of angela to readers who are new to her, and show just how awesome she is and why she is going to be important. as a long time angela fan major question: why the heck is she flying when she can teleport? yes the team wouldnt have found her but then just have her be deposited on a planet they are on (like when they go to a bar every other issue). it just seemed stupid and out of character. flying for thousands of miles in space when she could be there in the blink of an eye (unless they removed that power). also the fight with gamorra could have been amazing if it was giving the appropriate amount of pages to do so. other than it was good to see mantis. and was that jean grey (all new x-men version) all hugged up to peter in one of those lines? is this something that will happen in "our" timeline or just an alternate earth we will never see?

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ptigrusmagus

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Edited By ptigrusmagus

Don't give a crap about Angela and her angel/demon origins in a separate universe. Started reading GOTG for Sci Fi/cosmic fun. Going to hit the eject button on this series til they return to what it should be: MARVEL cosmic.

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Herokiller12344

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Edited By Herokiller12344

Yeah Thanos is like Apocalypse big. Gotta be about 10 feet tall.