A Guardian returns, just in time to evacuate the planet of Spartax from the ravages of Knull in Guardians of the Galaxy #10 written by Al Ewing, art by Juann Cabal, colored by Federico Blee, and lettered by Cory Petit!
Charlie Davis: War. War never changes… Except that maybe it does? Well, at least it seems to have gotten a lot more gooey. I swear if we keep having these Venomizing events someone is going to have to remind all the superheroes about what they did the last time to get out of a sticky (pun intended) situation. Did no one inform Knull about the Venomized event a few years back? God my head hurts. Excuse me readers, there is so much black goo to go around that I think I’ve lost Allison—just a second… Oh! Mikey? What are you doing in my Guardians of the Galaxy column?
Mikey Zee: Well, Charlie, as you know, space is full of holes. And it’s pretty easy to find your way through one if you know where to look… Anyway! Happy to be here. Let’s dig into Guardians of the Galaxy #10, shall we?
A Perfect Society
CD: So we joke about the fact that “King in Black” seems to be riffing off of every other Venomized (jokerfied?) event that’s ever happened, but at this point I’m really not sure I can see a difference here. Sure Knull is the God of the Symbiotes, but does that make this any different? If you wanna gooify the planet, the outcome is literally going to be the same as any other time. Now, there is probably an argument some people would make that Knull wants to basically uncreate the world so everything is Knull, but it seems kind of just as boring of a concept?
MZ: So, I read the initial Venom stuff where Knull is introduced… a million years ago, AKA pre-2020. Even though it was obvious that it was setting up for some Big Event, Knull has always felt kind of empty to me, and not just because he’s the god of the Void.
The idea of space-gods as semi-sentient devouring forces is an idea that crops up time and time again in sci-fi and science fantasy. To be frank? Even though Knull being not only aware of, but explicitly trying to sway, our heroes is likely a conceit made to better fit the format of a superhero comic… I’ve always found that the best existential threats are ones that don’t know you at all. Personifying Knull in this issue, even though that’s a choice most likely not left up to Ewing himself, still takes away some of his teeth. It’s much scarier to be devoured by a darkness which either does not know you exist, or who does not care.
CD: Well said. There are worse things than death. We should start playing with that as a theme. ANYWAY. With that out of the way, the concept of Knull and the havoc he is reigning down on other planets is kind of a nice blank canvas for the cast of Guardians to shine against. Ewing has done a great job so far of letting us know where each and every character is standing mentally and that allows for some subtleties to come out in this issue, especially with Phyla and Moondragon. There is a lot of mental chatter between the team in the opening pages, but it really serves to illustrate something that we’ve maybe glossed over since the alternate Phyla and the alternate Moondragon have been introduced in the 616. What exactly does it mean to be from a “perfect universe” full of “perfect heroes”? To be perfect? Sounds rather peachy, but Phyla noticies something kind of startling about Heather as she’s scanning the planet for beings alive and dead… she’s never seen Heather cry before. Her Heather. Since Moondragon is now merged with the deeply damaged 616 version, it seems like a breadth of emotion has been opened up. I found that revelation kind of telling.
MZ: More than that, it almost seems like Moondragon can barely survive under the weight of feeling every death. I wonder if this is a Heather who’s ever had to process or deal with death in any real way. I don’t think she has. And that perfectly illustrates a lot of what comes–when you start from perfect, do you really have any reason to grow?
CD: A lot of people tend to rebuff trauma as something we shouldn’t have, and while it can get really sticky, and while it’s NOT GOOD in most cases, Ewing is playing with a lot that makes sense here. People can’t grow or be whole without a wide array of experiences and unfortunately that means the bad with the good. I get the feeling the main conflict Phyla and this new Moondragon are going to have isn’t the act of integration itself… it’s who Heather is now that she’s complete.
MZ: Exactly. And all that being said, it’s definitely something Heather herself struggles with in this very same issue, which means…
Hello Darkness My Old Friend
CD: You know… as someone who loves oddly black voids of space and part time gooey monsters, can you gimme like a five word pitch for how to fix Knull? Because… our heroes enter the void in the middle of the issues (which happens to be a dragon) and while I like some of the dialogue Knull has, I find the idea of him not menacing at all. I think for a tie-in issue, Ewing does a solid job of helping us buy what Donny is trying to sell in the main book but…
MZ: So, it’s really, really hard for me not to draw direct comparisons to the video game franchise Destiny, especially because we all know Donny C. loves video games. (Insert Fortnite cross-promotion here.) My five-word pitch is: make Knull like the Taken. Now, I’m not the most well-versed on Destiny lore, but let me try to explain.
In Destiny, the Darkness is a paracausal force, or a force that exists outside of the traditionally-understood laws of physics. It has a sort-of drive, to strip out complexity and render things down to only the strongest and most essential. It’s pretty obvious why this is a bad thing, but the Darkness doesn’t really care about people. It’s just the antithesis of the Light. But what makes the Darkness truly scary is, other than it being an uncaring space force, it can corrupt other beings. One version of these corruptions is the Taken. (I think you’re a little bit familiar with them, Charlie.) Essentially, they get corrupted and draw their power from a plane where the Darkness’s drive is absolute–where that order of survival of the fittest already exists. And they want to exert that order onto reality.
There’s seeds of that here, and obviously as a comics writer you have limitations and you don’t want to just pull wholesale from other media. But I think making Knull an entity that exists outside of the being who acts as his spokespiece would be so much more compelling. Someone who buys in wholesale to the power he’s been granted, and wants others to join his side, because he’s a concrete example of the power that grants you. There’s other similar things outside of Destiny; Darth Nihilus in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 is another, who exists in that story as a kind of metaphor for the devastation and trauma of war. (Sorry for all the deep video game cuts!)
CD: Look at you being all knowledgeable and stuff. I think pouring all this cosmic weird into like a guy that sits on a throne and monologues about darkness really cuts the tension for me.
MZ: He feels so… inert, right? Even when he’s trying to pull at our heroes, especially the fractured psyche of Moondragon, it doesn’t truly ever feel like she’ll get sucked in. Which is kind of a missed opportunity, in my opinion.
CD: At this point, I know the stakes, but I don’t feel them. I know Phyla, Rich, Peter and Moondragon are going into the fray, but I’m not scared for them. Especially not for Peter, whom this entire issue is kind of about.
MZ: Oh gosh, we haven’t even brought up Peter yet. PETER!!!
CD: I have to hand it to Ewing AGAIN, because he got handed a tie-in to “King in Black” an issue after he revamped Peter’s entire character and still managed to make this a showcase for him. So… shall we get to the heart of the matter?
The Lord of Stars
MZ: I’ve got a quote from Stephen King for this one:
“I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye.
I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind.
I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart.”
Peter Quill is not only a Star-Lord once more, he’s… a gunslinger? See, this is some cosmic weird I can get behind. Pennywise, eat your heart out.
CD: Gosh. This issue is so much about the changes that have happened to Peter, but also how the people around him react. We still aren’t sure how much he remembers or what he remembers. It’s been so long, but it’s obvious he still loves his friends, and damn Rich is so happy to see him again. I can’t wait until that relationship gets unraveled. And Rocket, man here we go with the subtlety again. Rocket was hit HARD by Peter’s death and he’s happy to see him, but he also realizes there is something different. I think Rocket loved that Peter was on his same level. An outcast, someone who was just as common as he was. He’s really shook by what’s happened even if he’s not quite showing it. Ewing excels at quiet character moments and let’s not forget… Juann Cabal CRUSHED this issue.
MZ: Wow, did he ever. The spreads. The spreads! But we aren’t quite there yet… because as you may have suspected, the reunion between these wayward friends is cut short by none other than Knull. Again, he does a lot of pontificating, but given a bunch of these heroes have more power than they know what to do with in their own right, the pitch Knull makes is not only a little flat, it’s… confusing. What can The Void do for you?
CD: It can’t do anything. Peter isn’t only powered by the strength of his reunion with his friends, but we get a breakdown of what that element gun really is. What it can do. Why it’s important. Heck, it’s so damn cool. Cabal get to go nuts with these layouts and abstract grids and shapes while we talk about elements. All of it culminates in a page so cool it made me yell! Knull is shadow, but Peter is the lord of stars; he’s THE SUN.
MZ: Exactly! It’s so rad. That’s part of why I led with the quote I did; gunslingers are these people who are supernaturally good at killing all the dark things that slither through the cracks of the Stephen King extended universe. And that’s exactly what Peter realizes he’s here to do: by shooting with his Silver Eye, his mind, and his heart, he can banish this slithering manifestation of cruelty and pain. (There’s a little synergy with Destiny as well; there’s a whole Solar subclass that basically gets to do what Peter does here. Sun gun!)
But all of this bears the question… did he steal fire from the gods like Prometheus to get this incredible power?
CD: Well it looks like we’re about to find out. I guess we’ll have to stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion on the next DRAGON BALL Z—wait, wait no that’s not it.
MZ: You goofball.
Hey, one more thing before we go… can we talk about how the whole earth’s sealed off? Not only does that sound shocking like a major plot point of our tabletop game (which is just really cool synergy), but also it feels a bit like a buried lede here in between Peter channeling the Universal Radiant Energy.
CD: Well, we can’t have Eddie Brock and Venom coming to space, that would just be too cool and we can’t have Peter coming to Earth because he’d just eat Knull’s lunch like he did here. Space Gods it is!
MZ: Fair enough. Space! Gods!
Marvelous Musings
- Poor Nova. No one appreciates his sense of humor. I want Nova to know that I, for one, appreciate his sense of levity.
- Man. I wonder what Gamora is gonna think about Peter’s new cosmic upgrade?
- Man, all of this feels like it’s gonna hit Peter like a ton of bricks once the adrenaline wears off. At least he’s got a new cool jacket.
- We both know how cool leather jackets can numb your crippling self doubt and imposter syndrome problems. Works every time!
- Remember my joke about holes in space? Watch the latest season of His Dark Materials. It’s good.
Charlie Davis is the world’s premier Shatterstarologist, writer and co-host of The Match Club.
