The Guardians of the Galaxy are still reeling from the finale of Age of Ultron where time and space tore and the celestial bounty hunter Angela found herself suddenly transported into the Marvel Universe. The Guardians have caught up with Angela who's decided to begin her search for answers on Earth and have gotten into a fight with her on the moon. Meanwhile, Guardians leader Peter Quill aka Star-Lord has separated from the group to seek his own answers for what's happened from one the Marvel Universe's most dangerous foes - Thanos. This is the first Angela-heavy issue since her introduction to the Marvel Universe in Age of Ultron #10 and it's a relief to see more of her character in action if only to justify the relentless marketing to get readers excited about her appearance. And this is a predominantly action issue with Angela taking on the Guardians and giving them a run for their money - unsurprisingly, she's a tough cookie and the fighting between her and Gamora, with Gamora's Darth Maul weapon, is the best part of this comic. The action is quick, imaginative, and well choreographed, and Sara Pichelli's artwork is gorgeous, effectively carrying the story by itself. But if you were expecting a scene where Angela fights some giant venus flytrap-like plants as depicted on the cover, you'll be disappointed. Besides Gamora, the rest of the Guardians make asses of themselves as they try to take on Angela as a team - something they're not good at, reflecting their relative newness at working together. But it's an enjoyable sequence as Angela proves how deadly she is and the Guardians see their usual tactics failing to work for the first time. While previous issues have shown the Guardians to be capable fighters, this issue works the light-hearted comedy angle that it seems the movie is aiming for, preparing readers for a team that be both tough and funny at different times.
Couple things that I thought was stupid about this sequence though: after seeing Gamora fight tooth and nail with Angela and not get anywhere, Groot - a far less deadly fighter - launches himself at Angela and Rocket Raccoon says "Groot'll wrap this up before nap time. Watch this!" and then is surprised when Angela demolishes Groot in one hit. What was he expecting? This effectively takes Rocket out of the fight as he scrambles to grab a piece of Groot so he can regrow (this is part of the light-hearted comedy stuff I mentioned). It also shows a fundamental flaw with the team setup - if Groot is "killed" then another team member has to stop fighting to obtain a splinter of Groot, taking out two members of the team (temporarily) in one fell swoop. The other stupid thing is Tony Stark whose Iron Man armour is currently out of order and, in this issue, is wearing one of Star-Lord's outfits - armed with a handgun, he fires twice, and hits Angela once. The other shot hits Gamora and made me wonder, not for the first time since the relaunched series began, why Stark is a member of this team when he's not only ineffective but a hazard to the other members? I guess for that light-hearted touch again, right? Lending his charisma to the series? Let's just go with that. The side story is much less interesting despite featuring Thanos. Star-Lord listens to Thanos witter on about how time was torn during Age of Ultron, stuff readers of that series will already know, as well as more casual Marvel comics readers where Age of Ultron's finale has been mentioned at length in other titles, and then the two argue over nothing - Star-Lord wants Thanos to sit back in his chair and, like a petulant teen, he refuses. Now, I'm pretty sure in a fight between Thanos and Star-Lord, Thanos would win. Star-Lord has a nifty gun, but take that away and he's dead. So Star-Lord shoots Thanos, seems to miss as Thanos launches himself at him, and that's it. The scene is over. Later on Star-Lord shows up, unharmed, minus Thanos. Whaaaaaaaat?! Am I missing something - how did that confrontation resolve itself? It's unclear when this issue takes place. Obviously it's after Age of Ultron but seemingly before Infinity where Thanos is currently battling Black Bolt - though I'm not sure. Also, if you read the last issue, you'll notice how much bigger Thanos is depicted - far bigger than he usually is. He's a tall, big dude, but not much bigger than Thor or Cap, and that size is consistent in numerous Thanos stories from the classic Infinity Gauntlet storyline to Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Guardians run, to recent stories like Jason Aaron's Thanos Rising and Jonathan Hickman's Infinity. For some reason in Bendis' Guardians series, Thanos has grown several feet and resembles a giant. Unless Star-Lord is much, much smaller than we all thought and is basically a little person - but then everyone must be tiny too as he looks regular sized when around the other Guardians. So in this comic anyway Thanos is a giant. It's a really weird depiction of the character.
Uatu the Watcher reveals himself to the Guardians (not like that!) at the end of the issue so it looks like we're set for some exposition-laden scenes in the next comic which probably won't be a bad thing after an action-packed issue like this one. At least it'll give our punch-drunk heroes something to do besides pointlessly hit each other. Bendis delivers on Angela's dangerous reputation in this issue and fans are treated to a terrific fight scene between the character and our heroes. However, the Thanos side story didn't do much and some of the Guardians show themselves up as essentially useless members, but generally Guardians of the Galaxy #6 is a pretty decent comic with enjoyable moments and wonderful art from Sara Pichelli.
Published by Marvel Comics, Guardians of the Galaxy #6 by Brian Michael Bendis Sara Pichelli and Olivier Coipel is out now