Saturday, September 23, 2006
Comic Art
I am not sure if the Guardians of the Galaxy ever
worked with the Defenders as a team, but most of the major players did the time travel thing at some point and hooked up with the Doc Strange and whatever crew he had assembled at that moment. That said, they were a pretty fun group and worthy of exploration a bit. I personally love the story of the origin because even though they are heros from the future, from a 2006 perspective it is a very quaint sort of story. It readily reflects the concerns about the future that existed at the time the stories were written back in the late '60's and early '70's. Somehow I was lucky enough to purchase their first ever appearance way back then and loved it. Unfortunately, that particular comic has been lost form my collection. If only....
To my most youthful mind they may have been Marvel's best invention because of the sci-fi aspects and the mighty Marvel fashion of giving the characters depth. Something which frankly today DC is better at than Marvel. In this day and age Marvel is too busy protecting the franchise, funny how that happens.But back to what I loved about the Guardians. Never has their been a comic I more wanted to be great than DC's "Legion of Super-Heroes." This title, originally intended to give Superboy a milleau in which to operate that did not interfere with adult Supe's continuity too much, was set in the far future where Superboy would travel and be a part of an enormous team of heroes. These future heroes were inspired by the stories of Superboy in their history books, but were unique because they didn't really have "super-powers" - they were normal for the planet they were from, but on earth, that made them "super." In some ways this gave the Legion all the possibilities of the X-Men, but with a sci-fi twist. Oh the possibilities - possibilities I still do not think the title has realized - though it is much better.
Guardians kicked that idea up a notch. The heroes in the Guardians were earthlings purposefully altered to survive on other planets! They, like the Legion, were brought together by events from the distant past. In this case, the line to comics "present" was Captain America's shield which Vance Astro of the Guardians wields to this day. That sang to my patriotic, even as a kid, heart.The Guardians have faced some of the biggest baddest foes. Above we see a showdown with the darkly heoric Ghost Rider. (Did you know he has a movie coming out in February with Nicholas Cage as Johnny Blaze! The trailer looks awesome!)
And then there is Galactus - they do not come any bigger.
The Guardians are one of the better lesser knowns of the comics and a highly recommended read.
Related Tags: comics, comic art, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Defenders
