Writer Brian Michael Bendis

Artist Valerio Schiti

Color Artist Richard Isanove

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Cover by Arthur Adams & Jason Keith

Yeah, I bought this comic because the recap has new dialogue but using old art, from issue one I believe.  The Guardians have some fun in the recap, hinting at what they would imagine will happen.  Pryde suspects that Quill will get himself captured, which of course does happen.  It is silly.

This is the Drax & Gamora, all green issue.  Is that racist?

Xalda-Volta.  Badoon Correctional Planet.  Dryston Tower.  The Warden’s High Tower.  The warden can’t believe eight people are successfully invading his prison planet.  I guess we have to find out why he doesn’t just press the self-destruct button, like what happened last time.

Drax and Gamora have taken the fight straight to the warden.  These two are the warriors of the group so they are going to enjoy this, the most.

Will we learn who they are going to save?  Drax and Gamora keep shouting that they want ‘her.’  The Badoon are green, so it is an all green issue!

Gamora wakes up and I had to flip back three pages to see if I missed something.  This must be how Gamora found out about the planet.  The She is definitely a former Guardian.  The She is in the same building that Gamora is in.  The chief torturer is Marud, and he’s mostly worried about Thanos coming here to avenge his adopted daughter.  It has to be Angela, right?  Are there other female members that were part of the team that are not Carol Danvers?

The Badoons plan on becoming the main force of the galaxy now that both Kree and Skrull empires are gone.  I guess the Shi’ar don’t want it.  Marud really wants to know where Thanos is, he’s been in hiding since Secret Wars 2015.  She’ll appear briefly in FCBD Civil War II.

Gamora doesn’t know where Thanos is, but she does know where the Black Vortex is.  Avengers Alliance got around to bringing it into their game for Special Operation 35.

We get what happened to Gamora after Black Vortex.  Every time she used her enhanced cosmic power, she lost it.  That’s how she’s normal again.  She hadn’t used the last of it, she’s been saving it for a special occasion.  This occasion.

Gamora has saved Angela, I knew it must be her!  I guess she’s available now that Queen of Hel has ended.  That’s a fast turn around.

I do like these two together, they were so much fun during the Guardians / X-Men crossover, Trial of Jean Grey – the main story wasn’t great but the Guardians part sure was.

Drax updates the two ladies, most of the pairs were successful but Quill got captured.  Angela is putting on her uniform.

Issue ends with Angela declaring their goals – rescue Quill and destroy the Badoon Empire!

I can’t wait for Pryde, Angela and Gamora to share some panel time together!

Writer Brian Michael Bendis

Artist Valerio Schiti

Color Artist Richard Isanove

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Cover by Arthur Adams & Jason Keith

Whose bright idea, for Dale Keown’s variant cover – featuring the Guardians as Apocalypse’s Horsemen, to include every single member but the one I care about?  That seems so odd to include Grimm but not Pryde.

The team has split up on a Badoon prison break.  Pryde and Quill got some prisoners freed but Quill has been taken captive.  Grimm and Rocket were super successful.  This issue gives us Agent Venom and Groot.

The double page spread that starts this issue, ends the issue too – classic Bendis move there.  Of course, with the second one being with a different context – we’ll get to that.

Issue opens Flash Thompson and Groot surrounded by Skrulls.

Knowhere.  The edge of the universe.  Located inside the decapitated head of a Celestial.  The rent is outrageous.  The Knowhere Bazaar.  They invented the sidewalk sale.  They invented it.

Yesterday.  The Guardians are sitting around a table.

The Guardians of the Galaxy.  It took most of the afternoon for them to decide what to eat.

Gamora is telling them that they have to go to the Basillza Quadrant.  Flash and Grimm express that an entire planet that is a prison, is a tad hard to believe – it does cause a lot of internal questions of how the day-to-day operations work.  That has to be very expensive.  The Badoon, who seems to be the Guardians greatest foe, run the prison planet.

Pryde decides to draw an odd line in the sand, the enemies prior to her joining the team and the enemies after she joined.  That isn’t how it works, which is what Gamora tells her.  This issue must come before the backup in Guardians of Infinity 7.

Gamora tells Pryde that any enemy of hers is an enemy of Gamora’s and vice versa.  Pryde recognizes that as a very nice thing for Gamora to say.

People start asking who the “she” is that they are going to save but I’m not sure if us readers know who that is suppose to be.

Flash isn’t sure how these eight Guardians are suppose to take on an entire planet.

Gamora explains why they can’t get an armada together.  Last time people tried a prison planet break, the Badoon straight up exploded the planet – killing prisoners and guards alike.  The Shi’ar, the ones trying to do the rescue, lost people as well.

Gamora, very dramatically, finally lefts her hood – I guess she was waiting for the perfect time to hold off the reveal.

The team is splitting up, Flash gets Groot.  Flash makes an aside to Rocket, that he still doesn’t understand anything Groot says.  Rocket tries to give some advice but Flash isn’t sure if he is suppose to believe it.

So Rocket will break away with Grimm and Drax & Gamora will be the team for next issue.

Agent Flash and Groot jump from the ship and Venom’s suit turns into a glider.  Once they land, Venom starts narrating, aloud – probably trying to communicate with Groot.

Venom finally sees who the prisoners are, Skrulls, which Flash still holds a grudge against for both Secret Invasion and for them trying to steal his symbiote.

There is an aspect of this, where Flash comes off a tad racist towards Skrulls, he does come along though.  The Badoons have successfully taken away the Skrulls ability to shape shift.  I like how Flash uses the term “shape shift” and one of the Skrull prisoners says “we can no longer shift our shape.”  Something about writing it another way, really bring out how silly an expression shape-shift is.  It is up there with brainwash, how silly but effective.

Flash Thompson will be the hero, this day, but Pryde and the other should have told him who they were saving.  This would probably mean more, to me, if I knew what happened to him and the Skrulls – exactly.  Is that how he lost his legs?  I thought he lost them during the Iraq War?

The Badoon arrive and Agent Venom & Groot start fighting them off but the Skrulls rise up too.  They successfully fend them off and Venom is ready to free all of the prisoners.  One of the Skrulls replies “all of us?” and leads the two Guardians into the caves.  We get the dialogue from the above double splash page – where Venom blames Groot.

This time, the dialogue changes to Agent Venom stating that everyone is getting freed today.

Pretty fun issue!

Writer Brian Michael Bendis

Artist Valerio Schiti

Color Artist Richard Isanove

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Cover by Arthur Adams & Jason Keith

Spartax.  The capital city will probably never be the same again, after Hala’s visit.

Yotat is monologuing.  The Guardians are knocked out.  Their fight with Hala has required that they take a little nap.

Quill finally wakes up first, asking that Yotat not kill his friends.  It is the least he can do.  Quill asks Yotat to wait to kill them, until after Spartax is safe.  Grudge matches can wait, after all.

Yotat points out how Spartax, supposedly a big deal in the universe, should have had neighboring planets coming to aid them, by now.  No one respects Spartax, with Quill on the throne.

Quill really wasn’t begging, he was distracting.  Agent Venom attacks from behind while Rocket has a new gun to try out.

That is a great top panel, the team having their second wind.  Quill is trying to help Drax up, but Drax doesn’t want the help.  Pryde isn’t impressed with Drax turning down help.

Rocket checks in on Groot, who is in little pieces.  Drax punches Yotat, to his dumb face!

Quill starts trying to help the survivors.  One lady isn’t pleased that her king allowed this nonsense to happen.  Pryde tries to defend him but the couple runs away.  Drax continues punching.  Grimm is helping children get to safety.  Good ol’ Grimm!

Yotat, is good at taking a beating but has had enough and turns the tables on Drax.

Luckily, Drax is on the same team with Grimm (who I really enjoy reading about on a monthly basis) as Grimm punches Yotat off his feet.  Drax gets in on the handicap match.

Quill and Pryde are happy to see reinforcements are on their way.

Agent Venom takes away Yotat’s weapon.

Now that they have a pause, Quill wants to know Yotat’s story so Pryde indulges.  I do want more Quill-less stories of the missing eight months.

Knowhere.  The Edge of the Universe.  Located Inside the Decapitated Head of a Celestial.  Three Months Ago.  Kitty Pryde Narrated Flashback.  Historically, she is an unreliable narrator.  (I’m not so sure about that).

They were there to get supplies and show Grimm what it is like to be a Guardian.

Pryde has been forced to take showers with steam instead of water, which probably makes sense on a ragtag ship.  Grimm sort of likes the steam, Pryde can understand.

Pryde calls Yotat a gangster.  He’s fine with trafficking of lower species as long as he gets a cut.  Yotat is trying to choke out a nice green person but Pryde phases the person to safety.

Back to the Present.  Drax side kicks Yotat.  I see Groot standing there, so maybe he lost pieces but isn’t completely in pieces.  Grimm wants his turn but Rocket pulls seniority.  I do like a main villain that the entire team needs to work together to take out, instead of a group of villains versus a group of heroes.  Easier to focus, I suppose.

Back to the Flashback.  We are introduced to the Knowhere Corps.  I recognize Moon Dragon, Micronaut’s Bug and Cosmo the Dog.  The green lady and bald guy, I need to be told who they are.  I like how Moon Dragon’s costume upgrade is that her shoulders are covered – somehow.

The Knowhere Corps take over the fight and arrest Yotat.  Moon Dragon, who is wearing a brown cape, invites the Guardians to dinner.

Grimm refers to the Knowhere Corps as “space cops” which apparently, he must be doing a lot lately as Rocket says he doesn’t need to prefix everything with “space.”  Yotat swears to get his revenge on Drax and his friends.

Pryde wishes she let Drax finish off Yotat, as he is clearly a horrible person.

Flashback Over.  Grimm gives us all a “It’s Clobbering Time!!!” and Drax joins in with a sweet kick.  Drax isn’t a fan of the sweet catchphrase.  Grimm promises that the battlecry will grow on Drax.

The Royal Guard, finally, arrives to get Quill to safety.  Quill can’t believe that they wait until two threats are taken care of, before getting him off the battlefield.  Quill wants Yotat to be arrested, and he wants Hala to be arrested too.

Quill and Pryde turn to where Hala should be, still stuck in the ground, but she’s no longer there.  Few have survived being phased through the ground.  I know Thor was able to do it.  Quill wants Hala found, and now!

We catch up with Hala, who is dragging her body through the city, leaving so much blood behind her.

Quill and Pryde find Gamora, who Pryde has so much respect for.  I can’t wait to get scenes of these two dames together!

Quill demands a medic for Gamora.

Later.  Gamora wakes up in a hospital room, with baby tree Groot at her bedside.  I like these two together.

Quill is being told that he is no longer going to be President.  He doesn’t quite pick up on that, so Pryde has to explain it to him.  I guess that means we are never going to get Queen Pryde, like I always wanted.  I do like Quill calling them jerks.

Pryde phases Quill and herself through the wall, outside and to the ground.  I don’t like how the green consult hates on Pryde, screw that jerk!

Look how happy the team is in that middle panel!  Gosh, I really do enjoy this creative team and this entire team!  I miss enjoying a monthly title like this.

Grimm makes an awesome Hichhiker’s Guide to the Universe, but he’s the only Earth person who gets the reference.  I like to think that Pryde got it.  Thompson and Quill don’t get the reference, they don’t read.

The Negative Zone.  We’re Full Circle.  It’s Just Rock-Solid Storytelling.  The Brood Queen took no effort in having Spartax denounce their king.  Annihilus is very impress.

The Guardians are back to being outlaws.

Next issue promises to focus on Pryde and Quill!  Which makes me pretty happy!

Writer Brian Michael Bendis

Artist Valerio Schiti

Color Artist Richard Isanove

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Cover by Arthur Adams & Jason Keith

The Guardians are regrouping.  Drax and Quill really want to go back to Spartax and save Gamora.  Rocket wants to do that too, but only once they have an actual plan.

Quill is also motivated by not wanting the planet he is in charge of to be destroyed.  Drax doesn’t want to live a friend behind, on a live battlefield.  I get the impression that Pryde is on Rocket’s side.

Spartax.  Where Gamora was Left to Die.  (Depending on your point of view.)  Gamora, to her credit, stands and prepares to fight Hala for a third round.

The team are making arguments of why they should go back and save Gamora.  Rocket has to repeat, that they need a plan first.  That is all he is trying to convey.

Grimm, who wasn’t around during Black Vortex, has to ask the question.  Did they destroy Hala?  I love how angry the dudes get over the question.

Quill taking the pause, before fully explaining the situation.  They didn’t destroy the planet, they just didn’t save it.  Quill’s father pressed a button and Hala (the planet, and thorneworld of the Kree) was destroyed.

Pryde tries to relieve the guilt Quill is feeling.  I do like how Quill, though he may hate the administrative tasks of being the president of a student, he actually cares for his citizens.  Is this what happened between the eight months?  Quill pushing her away to get more involved with the planet?  She didn’t want to be seen as First-Lady-In-Wait so started hanging out with the Guardians?  I could see that being the issue, or the beginning of the issues.  I suspect we are never going to find out what happened during the missing eight months.  Or, all of the Marvel titles are going to have their third or fifth storylines, deal with the missing months.

Quill whispers that Earth is next on Hala’s hit list.  This makes Pryde, Grimm and Venom committed to stopping Hala, even more.

Finally, the entire team tells Rocket that they are going back to Spartax.

On Spartax, Hala is beating Gamora even beyond the beating from before.  Hala keeps asking where is King Peter Quill.  King Quill finally states that he is there.  Quill tries to charm Hala, to no effect.

Rocket is wearing a cute hoodie, that has room for his ears.

Quill tells Hala that it was his father who destroyed her planet.  She understands this new information but it doesn’t change anything.

See how cute that hoodie is?

Quill tries to further explain that J-Son wouldn’t care if the planet that rejected him, was destroyed.  She’s committed to her plan.

Quill gives Pryde the command and Pryde strikes!

Pryde pulls the same trick she did to Thor in Thor 427 / 428, where she phases a person into the ground.  Which I’m surprised this doesn’t straight kills the person but we can’t be having Pryde murdering people using a planet.

To Hala’s credit, she doesn’t seem that wounded.  It isn’t until the combined might of Drax and Grimm start slugging her, that she starts to bleed.

Hala explodes the ground around her.  Everyone is knocked back.  Is it me or is Quill overly concerned for Gamora’s health?  Is that what happened between him and Pryde?  Maybe I’m just looking for clues everywhere I can find them.

Gamora isn’t dead.  Everyone is so glad to see her breathing.

Grimm has been spending this time, punching Hala’s face.

Quill wants to get the planet back in order, which seems to upset Pryde.  I do like how Quill already has a plan to get the military back up on their feet.

I do like that panel of Pryde and Quill getting close, so those two are still sweet on each other.

As soon as one threat is down, Yotat, the Destroyer of Destroyers arrives.  Rocket opens fire on Yotat, thinking the threat is taken care of.

Yotat still stands and it is his turn to unload his gun.  The Guardians are knocked back, yet again.

Pretty good conclusion to the first arc.  Though I imagine Yotat and Hala team-up and this storyline isn’t over yet.

Writer Brian Michael Bendis

Artist Valerio Schiti

Color Artist Richard Isanove

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Cover by Art Adams & Jason Keith

I had to add the Kris Anka variant to my wishlist.

Issue opens with Hala’s reaction to having her home planet, Hala – the Kree’s homeworld.  I imagine she has another name, but it makes it a tad complicated that her name is the same name as her home planet.  I ‘get’ it is an homage but ooof, it isn’t great.  The Kree, it turns out, have been saving the galaxy for longer than anyone really knows.  I always think of the Kree as being slightly better than the Skrulls and slightly worst than the Shi’ar.  Also, that we wouldn’t have Inhumans, if it wasn’t for the Kree.

Hala would have been there, when the planet exploded (during Black Vortex) but the Supreme Intelligence sent her away, to the far reaches of the galaxy.  She is the last Accuser.

She isn’t happy that Spartax survived (single-handedly by Kitty Pryde) and her planet didn’t.  So she is now on Spartax, to make them pay.

StarPryde is the first Guardian to attempt to take Hala down.  Her phasing through Hala’s gun, didn’t short circuit it.

Groot is wounded, as he jumped in front of Quill – which I missed in the image before.  Quill reveals that the giant multi-page narration slash monologue, was spoken (thought?) in Kree-ian(?) so no one present knows Hala’s motivations.  Rocket understood everything and quickly states that she is mad that her homeworld was destroyed.

Drax yells a threat at Hala but Grimm has a fast way to say it . . .

Look how impress Pryde is with her new teammate!  She does look good in that outfit.

Hala isn’t getting up.

Grimm and Pryde have a great conversation about how it is okay for male hero characters to hit female villain characters, as someone has to stop the villain and genders shouldn’t come into the equation.  Pryde didn’t like that Grimm called Hala, a broad.  Which is one of my favorite words to describe a lady – as it sounds so old fashion but I have to stop using the term.  I don’t want to be sexist.

Rocket states that this reminds him of a dream he had, he’s having some deja vu.  Pryde didn’t realize he dreams or that raccoons dream.

The Royal Brigade shows up, which annoys Quill as his friend, Groot, took the hit that one of them should have taken for him.  Quill orders the brigade to aid to Groot and Gamora.  They are not sure if they can help Groot, he’s a tree – they don’t have tree doctors.

Quill wants Lady Hala locked up, the brigade tells him that they have the right to kill her on the spot.  I wonder if they actually could kill her?  Quill says no to that idea, he wants her to see the inside of a courtroom – which seems like an odd thing to want to see.  Are they going to go through the discovery process?  Then maybe mediation, after that?

Hala opens her eyes, so stuff is about to go down.

Drax picks up the weapon Hala was using, he would like to keep the blaster staff thingie.  Pryde tells him to put it down.  The weapon, naturally and of course, goes off in his hands – causing a gigantic explosion.

Pryde tries to phase through the lightning blasts but the energy waves still affect her.

The brigade, the idiots that they are, open fire on Drax – forgetting that he is a friend to their president.  He does drop the weapon.

Hala gets to her feet, holding the weapon now.

Hala causes a multi-block explosion – so now everyone is down.

I do like the technique of not understanding her words.

Hala walks over to Quill (nice that he landed near Pryde) and picks him up – by the neck!

Hala starts speaking English, as she reveals that she knows who he is.  She wants to destroy his world, before killing him.  Since he has two worlds, she’s going to destroy Spartax AND Earth!  Good luck with that second one, lady!

Quill finally wakes up, in a shuttle floating away from Spartax.

The issue ends with Spartax surrounded by a force field.  I imagine, she doesn’t win – or if she does, that the Guardians were also taken off planet.

Next issue’s cover promises Gamora v Drax, I suppose there can only be the one green team member – which is odd as they have been teammates for years now.  Is it racist to say that they are both green?  Should I be viewing them as just people?