It’s a locked door mystery as Rocket Raccoon investigates the deaths of the two diplomats from last issue, and Noh-Varr is the prime suspect! Check out this who-dunnit written by Al Ewing, art by Marcio Takara, colors by Federico Blee, and letters by VC’s Cory Petit
Charlie Davis: Noh-Varr! Noh-Varr! Noh-Varr! Noh-Varr!
Vishal Gullapalli: Noh-Varr! Noh-Varr! Noh-Varr! Noh-Varr! Am I doing this right?
CD: See the fun thing about it, Vishal. Is that there is no wrong way to celebrate more Noh-Varr in comics. So yes. You are doing it right. Though, I do have to admit that Rocket really is more of the star of this issue so maybe we should change the chant?
VG: Rocket! Rocket! Rocket! Rocket!
CD: See I knew it was going to be fun collaborating with you. Thanks for hopping aboard! I sincerely hope you’ve been enjoying Guardians as much as Allison and I have been on the regular. At this point, I think it might actually be my favorite and most consistently good title that marvel is putting out.
VG: I have to agree at this point, I’m just in love with every issue of this book so far. It’s got space politics and space emotions and space gays, it’s everything I could want. I cannot wait to dive into this one!
CD: Well. Without further adieu…
That’s So Noir
CD: So we start this issue mostly where we left off. Noh-Varr has been accused of killing two space diplomats during the diplomatic conference that spun right out of Empyre. The last issue was really just build up for this, and with Rocket at the helm this is less of a whodunit and more of Ewing and Rocket by extension flexing his genre muscles. I find that I care less about whether the outcome of these issues is predictable and more about the journey there because everything about this book is just so damn fun. We get treated to Rocket being his noiriest noir detective and everyone else just slotting in beautifully around that. Even if we aren’t exactly invested in all of the characters at this conference the way we are invested in the Gaurdian’s cast, everyone has their moment to shine and everyone has a part to play.
VG: Ewing’s doing so much here – monologues by our noir detective raccoon, political intrigue with consequences that will shake the whole galaxy, Rocket wearing a hat. This feels like Ewing’s flexing his skills, just showing us all that he can play in any space he wants. This is also a spiritual sequel to his work on the Rocket miniseries from a few years ago, where he just wrote a super stylistic noir book featuring Rocket, and it’s really great that he gets to do more of that here. And I have to agree, even though I don’t know who half the people at this peace conference are, I felt like every one of them had a distinct voice and role to play in the story. And while we definitely knew that Noh-Varr was innocent, it was a delight to watch the congregation argue about the ways to prove it.
CD: I can’t remember the last time I actually laughed out loud at a comic book, but this issue managed to get that out of me. Noh has some absolutely hilarious one liners as he flatly advises of his innocence. I know I’ve said it before, but I really appreciate the way that he’s being used in this book. Rocket might be the focus, but Ewing knows just when to give characters screen time and when to really roll out short but emotional character beats. Those little deadpan jokes did more for Noh’s character for me than…an entire Young Avenger run. Throw in Hercules in the background subtly (or not so) subtly defending Noh and his honor and I am honestly in love.
VG: Yeah while this is definitely the Rocket issue, Ewing’s been so good at making sure we all get at least a sliver of content to move character arcs forward. There’s some great stuff between Herc and Noh-Varr but I was just really happy (or sad?) to see Phyla and Moondragon’s continued struggles since Heather merged with her alternate self – it’s just a panel, but it’s a meaningful one and it shows that we absolutely cannot forget everyone else’s mental state while this “mystery” goes on. Phyla asking who this new Moondragon is is a heartbreaking moment that’s exactly the kind of angst and drama I want to see in my space comics.
CD: You think you know someone and then they just go and absorb an alternate reality version of themselves…. Bring on the drama, I feed off of it. Back to Rocker proper however. I am really glad he got the spotlight here considering he spent most of the last Guardian’s run either on the sidelines or dying. There is more to this raccoon than meets the eye and we get to see his smarts and not just his love of weapons on display here. Rocket Racoon might be the only character aside from Groot who actually benefited from the MCU as a whole. While most of the Gaurdian’s characters in the comics got facelifts to better reflect their movies selves, Rocket stayed mostly intact because he was already an outlandish character. If anything, he got more gravitas added after the movies had been released and while we’ve seen that on display in some of the previous runs, we can’t forget for all the bravado Rocket brings to the table, he’s still mourning the loss of his friend Peter who he feels directly responsible for getting killed.
VG: Rocket is so fascinating to read for me, because you can see how his guilt and grief over Pete’s death has made him throw himself into everything – he’s not sitting back on the ship depressed, he’s trying to be as productive as he can be as a sort of atonement for what he did to his friend. While it’s incredibly sad to see Rocket try to relieve his own sense of guilt, it also means that he’s really good at his job. At no point is he ever actually wrong in this issue, he just reacts well to everything thrown his way to figure out the truth of the matter.
CD: Some people hurt their friends in ways they can barely grasp and throw themselves into glasses of whiskey. Some people throw themselves into work. For what it’s worth, I am glad it seems like Rocket will get to see Peter very soon. Rocket easily whittles down his list of suspects with the help of the telepaths in the room and then we are thrown for a little bit of a loop.
Empyre State of Mind
CD: Vishal. How did you feel about Empyre as a whole?
VG: I thought it was messy in a lot of ways, but did some pretty neat stuff in the Ewing portions and I’m happy that Wiccan and Hulkling got to headline a big event. I did not care for any of the Fantastic Four portions personally, though. Why do you ask, Charlie?
CD: Because I am struggling to really see what it changed about Cosmic Marvel aside from Teddy asserting himself on the throne finally. This was a really fun issue of comics, but I am not sure what Empyre really did to change the landscape other than give us the catalyst for this set of issues. This seems like it could have happened inside of the run we were already having and didn’t have to spin out of Empyre per say. I guess what I am trying to say is that in the hands of Ewing the story feels tightly knit and it’s obvious that he loves playing with the pieces he set into motion. I could just…do without the rest of it.
VG: Yeah, you’re very much right on that front. Empyre did not do very much and I struggle to see why it needed to be an event when pretty much all of its fallout occurs in this book (and hopefully SWORD!) But there’s one bit of continuity from the event that it looks like is gonna last, as she’s the culprit of this whole affair – the Profiteer. You know how I said I didn’t care for the Fantastic Four portion of Empyre? Guess where the Profiteer came from. I’m trying to not be too sour about this because Ewing does do a genuinely good job writing the character and her role in the Marvel Universe, but Dan Slott making another Elder of the Universe isn’t exactly something that I find compelling or convincing. I just wish Ewing got to create this character from the ground up rather than work with someone else’s toys.
CD: I feel exactly the same way. Given the ball, Ewing has proven over and over again that he can create some wild and equally engaging things. The Profiteer is the same brand of immortal weirdo as The Collector and The Grandmaster and yet none of them really feel that distinct. I feel like you could swap all of them out for one another and maybe no one would notice? Rocket easily calls her out, but her explanation for doing what she’s doing isn’t exactly supervillain camp enough to be fun or cold and calculating enough to be terrifying. She just kind of exists. I honestly tip my hat to Ewing for having such a strong issue that her boringness doesn’t seep into the rest of the issue.
VG: The whole thing being a ruse to start a war up because war profits are where the real money is is a sadly too real conflict, but also ends up just feeling mundane, something the run has otherwise managed to avoid really well. It’s not really a bad thing, but it doesn’t add anything and stands out negatively because of that. It’s really kind of a rehash of her last appearance, where she reveals that she’s not just the Profiteer, she’s the War Profiteer. And while Ewing is an infinitely more subtle writer than Slott, it still just doesn’t work for me. The best part of her appearance is that she leaves via teleportation, leading Rocket to realize that ordering the doors to lock was ultimately pointless.
CD: I think the best thing that she could have done was add something to the comedic timing that Takara and Ewing work with in those scenes. I wanna spend a little bit of time talking about where we see the book headed next so I guess that means we should pull the band-aid off to get it over with. Our heroes ultimately escape explosion by bio bomb because they are all told by a cute lizard man that a mass extinction event is causing planets in the outer reaches of the galaxy to be eaten whole. At first I thought this might be something that tied into what Ewing was exploring with the Gods from the first arc of the series but…unfortunately that was not the case. I am gonna be honest here Vishal. Who the #&%$ is Knull and why the #&%@ should I care?
VG: Oh boy, uh… well. The short answer is that Knull is the God of the Symbiotes (yeah like Venom) and was trapped in a planet of symbiotes for millions of years and is now free and on his way to Earth. As to why you should care… aside from Knull being on his way to destroy the Earth (not like we just had an event about aliens coming to destroy Earth or an event about symbiotes taking over Earth), there’s nothing I can really tell you. I thought he was cool when we first got introduced, but now he just feels like one of the many Donny Cates omnipotent threatening characters that show up everywhere. I’m sure Ewing will spin gold out of this like he did with Absolute Carnage in Immortal Hulk, but I won’t lie, I’m not really excited for the Guardians to have to deal with Venom nonsense. At least I’m not covering it! (Sorry….)
CD: Oh…well. Vishal I thought he might have just been on the back page and that’s all we had to deal with here. They got me again. :c
See You Space Cowboy…
CD: I figured since I don’t normally get to write this article with you, where do you see this going and more importantly, where do you see Peter when we return? The next issue seems to set up his journey back and Allison and I have been convinced that when he does return Peter Quill may be a God. I do wonder if we are still headed on that particular trajectory.
VG: So we know Peter’s coming back, and while I haven’t thought as much about it as you and Allison have, I think that he will be changed significantly. My thought is that he’ll be like the original Star-Lord, the one created by Steve Englehart. The first arc showcasing that currently not in continuity origin as the last thing Pete remembers before his sacrifice was not just something intended to make me cry, it meant something. Englehart’s original view of Star-Lord was “the most cosmic being in the universe” and I feel like that’s what we’re going to get. No longer is he Peter Quill. He is Star-Lord, and he has ascended. I honestly expect something in the vein of the original Phoenix, when Jean Grey burst from Jamaica Bay.
CD: Something about the way that the solicit text was written makes me think that he’s going to go on this DBZ style journey to find himself at the end of the cosmos or something. I am excited for it and I can’t remember the last time I was excited for Peter Quill in any way shape or form outside of this book. If anyone can reinvent the character, its Ewing.
VG: Yeah I absolutely agree, and I cannot wait to see him return. Something I just thought of though… what it’s a heel turn? What if he comes back and isn’t just not the Peter they knew, but is someone whose goals do not align with the rest of the Guardians’? He might not be a bad guy, but the original Star-Lord was a totally unlikeable jerk. No matter what happens, though, I’m waiting with bated breath. I’m super excited to see where this series is headed.
CD: Oh no Vishal. I don’t know if I can take any more heel turns in 2020. My poor little heart.
Marvelous Musings
- I think maybe Al Ewing should write all of Cosmic Marvel. Is that wrong? Can Ewing even fix Knull?
- All these diplomats are a delight
- Especially the Chitauri guy who is asking people to quietly wait for the bomb to blow up
Charlie Davis is the world’s premier Shatterstarologist, writer and co-host of The Match Club.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
