With the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ coming up soon, it should be no surprised that the comic universe is going to ramp up exposure to the characters and that means Star-Lord is getting his own title! In this stand alone series, we see Peter Quill being put into a situation where being in the wrong place at the wrong time seems to be his standard operating procedure.
If you want to learn more about how Peter Quill acts and what the majority of the rest of the universe thinks about him, this is a perfect issue for that. He takes him seriously while no one else does. Even though he is the longest running leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy and has done a lot of good in the universe, most don’t think of him as a hero. They don’t think of him as a hero, have no idea of his sacrifices, and really think more that he is a thief and not worth a second. Well, unless there is a price on his head at the time.
One of the stands out in this issue is that Sam Humprhies is able to address Peter Quill’s origin without having to waste an entire issue on it. This is a perfect example of Humphries’ talent because not many authors would be able to pull that off. Not only that, but the character was written to really feel like how he is being seen in the upcoming movie where the other characters in the book don’t take Peter too seriously.
Paco Medina does a great job at illustrating the issue and has a handle on how the backgrounds for space work, Peter Quill looks, and The Badoon look. If I had to complain about the issue, it’s that they are using The Badoon. While they are a classic enemy that Quill has had to go up against over the years, they are owned by a different studio for any on screen appearances.
In this issue, we see Quill being blamed for stealing a priceless artifact and The Badoon after him. There is a bounty on his head and they are there to collect. It almost appears like they might succeed as well until Quill pulls off a classic smart-ass move that just happens to work.
On the whole, the issue feels as if it could be a one shot set mostly out of having any major affect on continuity. That is, until the end. We are left with a cliffhanger that should give us not only a good second issue, but a piece of information that should follow Quill’s development through the universe for quite some time to come.
I’m not quite sure where this is supposed to fall in line with the time line established in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ as recent issues have Star-Lord confronting his father who just had him kidnapped. It would be the perfect part for this to be the kidnapping but it wasn’t referenced in the issue at all and seems to be a point that would have been brought up.
LEGENDARY STAR-LORD #1
Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: Paco Medina
