The Conclusion to Grootfall

[shakalooloo]

"The spectacular arc that preceded ours, created by the unbeatable Al Ewing and a cohort of brilliant artists, had ended in the happiest of endings. The Guardians transformed into the Avengers of space. Shiny happy people holding hands. But depite the ending... the characters still lived. Time still ticked. So, as much as we loved them...

"...it was up to us to explode the sun." - Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly








"Now, having brought the family back together, that happy ending is once again back on the table. Like every writer before us, we've boight into the lie. For now... until the next time the Guardians find themselves unearthed... we've bought them to a pause of well-earned peace." - Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly

Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing, writers; Kev Walker, artist; Matt Hollingsworth, color artist; Cory Petit, letters

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

This was an odd run of Guardians, and not my favorite. Part of it hinged on so many characters acting oddly or wildly consistent, and the explanation behind Mantis' rapid persona switches felt almost rushed and handwaved.

But at least it ended on a nice note by bringing back everything missing, presumed dead (Herc, Noh-Varr, Phyla, Moondragon, Wendell) and healing some of the wounds the others had picked up along the way.

Not sure how I feel about Drax's sacrifice, though given the number of times he's been yoinked back from the shadowy shores of death before, I wouldn't be surprised if he returned again... especially if he makes an appearance in any future GotG movies and they decide they need more synergy again. Though if this is his last hurrah...

I still remain dubious about Kev Walker's art. It's so stylized and semi-cartoonish at times that it either works really well or feels dissonant on a project.

On to the next Guardians run, I suppose. Because Marvel won't let this property lay fallow for long.

[akodo_rokku]

I classify this run as, "it's impossible to follow Al Ewing."

[thehood]

The the Hulk run that followed Immortal?

[akodo_rokku]

SPACESHIP HULK

[shakalooloo]

At the end of the day, besides Drax nothing else has really changed from beginning to end of this run, 'all the toys back in the box'. It really seemed rushed, the supposed massive scale of Grootfall not really coming across, to me.

I love the Walker art - he manages to use both motion and weight well, when lots of other artists tensd to get just the one or the other.

[scorntx]

I take back some of what I said about this run.
Some. Not all.

Ten issues and an annual is an unusually short run, especially or just even for Guardians.

[huntleyhaverstock]

I'm noticing that Marvel, despite supposedly having Disney's money to back it up, is getting ever-twitchier with cancellations and restarts. Used to be you'd get twelve issues, six at worst, to prove yourself. Now I'm seeing a lot of "five issues and out." AVENGERS INC., UNCANNY SPIDER-MAN, some of the various drips and drabs of VALKYRIE series ... five issues is all you get. Or in this case, two chunks of five issues each. It's really weird and feels vaguely ominous to me.

[shakalooloo]

I look at the solicitations every month and see more and more miniseries appearing. It really does seem that Marvel is writing for trade more than ever before, and only the really big characters - Spider-Man, Hulk, et al - get to have proper 'runs' now, although even those are lucky to scrape past the thirties!

[lordultimus]

Feels an awful lot like "nobody liked our take so we have to reset everything".