Here we go, it’s fall or fly time for the Human Rocket. The creative team of Al Ewing, Marcio Takara, Federico Blee, and VC’s Cory Petit bring us another stellar installment of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY!
Allison Senecal: So, Charlie, here we go. Here it is. I know I’ve been eagerly anticipating this issue with the kind of glee I reserve entirely for incoming emotional gutting and catharsis, and oh phew, we got that and are somehow walking away with a full heart AND full belly?
Charlie Davis: I am unsure how this book can keep delivering emotional turmoil, stretching plot advancements and dialogue that will make you weep every issue but…it’s doing it. It’s doing it in spades. This week was going to be absolutely trying for me emotionally as far as my media hyperfixations go anyway, but this issue slipped a knife into my side and told me it was going to be okay as it laid me in bed. GOOD GOD.
Hero in Crisis
AS: Off the bat, this is a very low-action issue. We get some in flashbacks, but 90% of this is framed by a therapy session for the best sad space boy, Rich Rider. If anyone in comics needed a cooldown issue, it’s this man. He has been pretty much non-stop since Annihilation. He’s made it through several wholesale slaughters of the Nova Corps, the deaths of most of the New Warriors, a couple of deaths himself, too many space crises to count, and most recently, the death of his best friend. Besides the Loveness run, Rich hasn’t had any down time. Zero time to process. And it’s managed so beautifully. Takara is the new artist onboard for this issue (along with regular colorist Blee) and he’s really quite good at conveying all the little facial expressions on everyone. None of this feels trite?
CD: No it doesn’t and as well all know, comics do not have the best track record of sensitivity when it comes to trauma or mental health problems. What we are treated to here is a very understanding therapist helping Rich through some things that are admittedly very hard to process and even harder to talk about. It feels real, and for someone like myself who suffers from trauma induced anxiety and chronic depression…it’s nice to see Ewing take a slow, and steady approach. We get Rich’s view of the events of the past issue, which really serves as a nice recap if you for some reason haven’t been paying attention and are treated with some wonderful things we missed— Phyla confronting Moondragon after the merger and HERC AND NOH DOING A KISS.
AS: Rich’s whole “It’s all up to me!” sequence is…oof. A lot. His solo post-Annihilation was quite literally him by himself trying to catch up on the backlog of Nova Corps emergency alerts that accumulated during the war. In a lot of ways, he has been alone. And I think this is why I so desperately have wanted him long-term on a Guardians team. The man needs to feel like he has family, even if he really always has (and just failed to reach out for it). I love the little detail that Herc was the one who really pushed him to go see a therapist. *sob*.
AND YES. That Herc and Noh kiss. Refreshing, especially after Marvel has seemingly been trying to push 616 Hercules being bi into “uh absolutely not” territory for years. He kissed alternate universe Wolverine. Flirted with Northstar. And then Axel Alonso pretty famously point-blank said “Oh no, Hercules is straight” and there’d been nothing since. Love Big 2 comics.
CD: God. I am so glad that Ewing has the swing not only to inject that character interactions that feel real and that everyone wants to see in this book, but also has the power to do it so naturally. None of these things feel like they shouldn’t be here and they very much come from a place that feels like a natural extension of the characters themselves. Even if we are seeing this from Rich’s point of view, it never feels like we cut away from his very intimate set piece–we are just taking brief moments to look at the world how Rich sees it. This was the first time I have ever encountered Rich Rider and this set up portion was enough to make me a fan.
AS: No matter what social media thinks, this wasn’t actually a riff on Heroes in Crisis, but a riff on a sequence from Abnett and Lanning’s Guardians run, but I sure can’t help but think of this issue juxtaposed with that series. This whole thing is essentially Rich’s “confessional” (or would be if he were a DC hero). But there’s actual give and take with a therapist here. That alone sets it very much apart. There’s actual catharsis (we’ll get to that below) here, for Nova fans and for Nova himself. But it’s also adding more depth to existing character relationships. Heroes failed in all of these ways, especially glaring for a series that did purport to be “about” superhero therapy, no matter that it ended up being entirely about the murder “mystery”. That series deserves all of the scare quotes. To succeed in one issue where another series failed in nine is sure something and very gratifying.
Burning Love
CD: And all of that leads into what is honestly one of the most gut wrenching section of this comic. Rich tells us that he managed to run into Gamora after their mission and they, weirdly enough, had a conversation that started rather even keeled. I am not going to lie, this part of the comic gutted me. It’s a very real conversation between two people who used to love one another and the fallout of that is all around them. Gamora openly admits that she maybe even was just in love with the idea of Rich. The ghost of him. I didn’t have a lot of context for their relationship other than knowing they used to be together, but all of this character work paints a pretty clear picture.
AS: I’m coming at this with all the context, and as a HUGE Gamora/Rich shipper, so I’m about to word vomit. They kinda got dumped by the wayside there for a few years. One of those things I wasn’t sure the comics would ever address again. Fairly recently, in Infinity War, Gamora and Peter became a thing, likely for movie synergy since they’d really had no romantic tension prior to that. And the last we’d seen of Gamora and Rich was a date cut short by galactic duty in the Loveness Nova run. Ewing really excels at making gold from $%#& as I’ve mentioned with his prior handling of Gamora and Quill’s relationship. I actually like it in his hands. I don’t feel put upon or like it’s out of nowhere (even though it kind of was). Here he builds on over a decade of relationship between Gamora, Rich, and Quill, and God is it lovely. Heart-breaking, but it makes so much sense. I don’t need neat endings for my favorite ships, in fact I normally don’t enjoy it especially in comics. I love drama, but a girl does need some catharsis and at the very least, a little closure. Ewing gives me all of that here. And it all feels true to both Gamora and Rich. Gamora’s line about being in love with the idea of Rich, but then realizing they’re too similar in a lot of ways, and he was mostly a romantic notion, easier to love in death than in life. *Chef kiss*. Rich thinking it’s a reach for anyone to love him. %$&#ing SOB.
And then, then we get to something else that really makes me wonder how much time Ewing spends inside my brain because we get this line.
CD: “…I loved him too. You know that, right?”
What a punch in the heart and a stunning realization all at once. Of course. Of course Rich is taking Peter’s death hard. Not only did he lose a best friend, not only does he hold himself directly responsible for it. He loved Peter. In the way that you can only connect with someone if you feel the same way they do. It’s not brushed over, it’s stated very explicitly and while you can read that line however you want….it’s pretty damn clear what Rich means by it. In trying to connect with Gamora who is going through something very similar, she rejects the push and walks out on him. She still holds him responsible for exploiting Quill’s good with. The same trait that caused her to fall for him.
AS: It’s really powerful that that line can be taken either subtextually and queer, or textually and platonic and it resonates either way. There’s not enough non-toxic dude love in Big 2 comics still. Most lines still get the “no homo” follow-up. This line just comes from a deep well of love, no matter how you dice it. And like you said, considering when he says and to whom, it’s a dinger. We’re pretty sure Peter is coming back down the road, so it’s only a matter of time before we see all of this explode again, but it’s nice to percolate with this sense of “oof” for a bit.
CD: The fact that we can’t wait for Peter to come back, is certainly something I wasn’t really expecting. Ewing has made Quill feel important and that’s really impressive. I hope things remain just as complicated when Quill comes back. I really feel for Rich here and honestly, Gamora is hurting and not ready to face what might have really happened. Unfortunately, that means that Rich bears the brunt of her anger. What’s almost worse, is that she just dismisses him.
AS: Sp-sp-spaaaaaaaaace throuple. But seriously, Ewing is just setting us up for all these eventual emotional gut-punches. And yeah, we’ve said it before but Ewing making me really like MCU-era Peter Quill is…a lot. Like great, but also how dare you. The final little Gamora parting shot is a good callback to her grieving issue. Remember her saying there’s nothing wrong with her? She turned down therapy back then. And here she is still avoiding, wanting to make it tidy and simple for her own “peace of mind”. So, she blames Rich. Rich decides to take the therapy session and to schedule another. And he opens up! I really can’t wait to see where Ewing is going with this. Will Gamora allow herself some genuine emotional catharsis? Will she accept help? She and Rich are the same, as she says, but are they still by the end of this issue?
CD: I am thinking that in the end, they are not. And that is the point. Rich seems to be working toward a better place, and even though we have all of this heart wrenching emotion, he seems to really be moving forward. It’s refreshing as a lot of comics that talk about therapy and mental health are usually pretty grim and exist only to tell you that these characters will continue to be in peril. Goodness. This was so refreshing.
AS: Another month, another issue of us vibing completely with what this creative team is dishing out. It’s still easily Marvel’s most consistent series for me, and at this point, my favorite. I feel like I keep quibbling about that in these reviews, but there it is, folks. Best Marvel series on stands right now. In my humble opinion.
CD: AMEN.
Marvelous Musings
- There is so much gay everywhere I don’t know where to look.
- The Shi’ar are a massive empire and even they have universal healthcare
- Ewing has made these recap issues (like in Immortal Hulk for the Leader) incredibly good
Charlie Davis is the world’s premier Shatterstarologist, writer and co-host of The Match Club.
