Guardians of the Galaxy #8 Review

by Nick Devonald on November 04, 2020

Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Marcio Takara
Colours: Federico Blee
Letters: VC’s Cory Petit

The end of the last issue reintroduced us to an old persona of Rockets, Ranger Rocket. This issue continues with him leading the story as they investigate the two murders and framing of Marvel Boy. It’s a classic whodunnit, which aside from being an entertaining story in its own right also manages to tell readers about the current state of the universe. This is Guardians at its absolute best, it manages to be both funny and serious at the same time, whilst teasing upcoming stories.

Al Ewing is such a great choice to be the writer on this series. He’s making the stakes feel really epic again, already calling to mind some of the best of Marvel’s Cosmic stories. He’s managed to make his own team of Guardians, who feel fresh and exciting, while simultaneously capturing exactly what worked well about the original Guardians in Dan Abnett’s run. Probably the best part of his work though is the way he separates it from the movies. As great as they were they made the misfit team funnier and less serious than their comic counterparts, and a lot of the comics after felt like they were paying tribute to that. Not here.

This is one of the best issues in the run, Rockets deduction of whodunnit is hilarious and well thought out. Through his run Ewing has made sure to give each character their time to shine. This issue has been Rockets turn. It helps define his team of Guardians, let the reader know more about how each character is feeling, and of course gives readers extra time to spend with their favourite Guardians.

It’s not just Al Ewings writing which gives the Guardians a new identity, it’s also in large part down to Marcio Takara’s art as well. All of the Guardians have designs which pay tribute to their original characters but are also new and have Takara’s mark on them. And that’s before we get to all the different alien designs, all of which Takara takes in his stride. He’s the perfect pairing to go with Ewings stories. Then we have Federico Blee’s colours, which go very nicely alongside Takara’s art and make the most of the art.

Al Ewing’s run on Guardians gets better and better with each issue, he shows readers he’s taking each character very seriously, spending the time on their characterisation and drafting a familiar Guardians which are also very much Ewings Guardians. The art continues to impress.

Our Score:

9/10

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