Book Review: “Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Avengers” (vol. 1)

* * * B

I really enjoyed the first volume of GOTG: Cosmic Avengers, a team up where Iron Man joins the guardians. In this story, the Star Lord’s father is J’Son, the king of the Spartax galactic empire, and is much more of a politician than the inferior incarnation found in the second film. The addition of Iron Man is mildly interesting, but adds little to the story.

The book starts with a retelling of Peter Quill’s origin story. This is quickly followed by a scene showing Iron Man joining the guardians. The core plot involves a move by  J’Son to have all alien races banned from visiting Earth. When the guardians foil an attack on the planet by the Badoon, J’Son has them arrested and brought to Spartax. En route, they escape.

My biggest gripe with this book is the lack of a complete arc. Instead of including enough material to take the book to a satisfying climax, it is padded with material I’d already seen in Guardians of the Galaxy: The Best Story Ever that is unrelated to the story. This seems like a cheap cash grab to get volume 1 out quicker and make money based on the film’s popularity. Too bad, because the cosmic avengers has promise.

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