Book Review: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Prelude”

*  D

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Prelude is another anthology of GOTG stories, this time put together to promote the upcoming (at the time) film. There is no attempt to form a cohesive story in this book. The contents are as follows:

1. A short graphic novel covering the events of the first film.

2. An old Stan Lee Avengers issue featuring the Mantis, who is also featured in the film. The character in the Avengers issue bears little resemblance to the character in the film.

3. The first issue of Stan Lee’s Guardians of the Galaxy, set in the 31st century. Of the current guardians, only Yondu is featured (apparently, he’s been retconned back into the present in the films). The villain is Taserface.

4. A two issue mini arc GOTG crossover with the discount avengers (led by Hawkeye). Gamora is kidnapped by Nebula and delivered to an Ego like planet being, Kindun, for crimes she committed as a child.

Having seen the first film, its recap doesn’t add anything. The old Stan Lee content is interesting, but hasn’t aged well.

The Brian Michael Bendis mini arc is unoriginal. The crossover with the discount avengers is particularly bad. Hawkeye somehow brings down an alien ship with an arrow. Spiderwoman is a complete moron. Some character called Manifold teleports the guardians and the avengers to rescue Gamora, providing some reason for having the discount avengers involved in the story at all. This mini arc made me want to avoid both the BMB GOTG run and the discount avengers.

#nebula #manifold #brianmichaelbendis #mantis #gamora #hawkeye #guardiansofthegalaxyvol2 #kindun #spiderwoman #taserface #yondu