Guardians of the Galaxy: Guardians of Infinity

Guardians of Infinity #1-8 (A stories)

by Dan Abnett, Carlo Barberi (Contributor), Jim Cheung (Contributor)

In the infinite expanse of time and space, is there room for more than one group of Guardians of the Galaxy? You bet there is! Rocket, Groot and Drax are about to go on an adventure so big it will draw in counterparts from a thousand years away. Not just the Guardians 3000 you know and love but also...the Guardians 1000?! But who are these universal protectors from centuries ago? They're not the only newcomers on the scene, and the other arrivals are gearing up for something that can't mean anything good! The past is under attack, but is any time safe? Put your faith in the Guardians of three eras! Plus bonus tales featuring your favorite Guardians including Drax, Rocket, Groot and the Thing! COLLECTING: Guardians of Infinity 1-8 (A stories)

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction

136 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2016

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars



Not flarking bad. Decent addition to the Guardians mythos by Abnett here with several enjoyable new characters.

[Herbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun story, great artwork, but it wasn't until about halfway through that they really explained who the characters were and because there's sooo many of them it was pretty darn confusing.

[David Sarkies · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Enjoyable Adventure in Space and Time
8 March 2017

I think I better be careful as I might end up reading more graphic novels that I originally intended to, but then again considering the price of some of these books (and the number of books on my TBR shelf), that is something that I probably don't need to stress all that much about. Actually, I have discovered that our local public libraries have quite a few graphic novels on their shelves, though due to budget constraints I suspect that they aren't the latest editions (and even then the selection available doesn't seem to be all that great). The other problem with graphic novels (or should I call them comics because for some reason I can't really see Marvel Superhero comic books are being anywhere near books like Tintin) is that they tend to be serialised, and even if you do only get the books as opposed to the individual comics, you can still get a little lost.

So, as you can tell from the title, this is one of the Guardians of the Galaxy series, though we only have Groot, Rocket Raccoon, and Drax in this story (I'm not really all that sure what happened to Star Lord and Gamora, but I suspect they are taking it easy after a rather hectic adventure the week, or month, before). Anyway, they stumble upon this massive spaceship and decide to go on board and investigate only to encounter the Guardians of the Galaxy (one of them carrying Captain America's iconic shield), and after a brief battle decide to team up and, well, encounter The Guardians of the Galaxy. It turns out that the teams that they have met have come from the past, and the future, and the ship that they happen to be on has gates into these various time streams (and I have also learnt that the original Guardians are actually the team from the year 3000).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, which doesn't take all that much effort because many of these stories tend to run along a similar plotline anyway, the Guardians encounter a big bad guy that is trying to take over the universe – or all of reality as the case may be because his massive spaceship happens to sit outside of the time stream – and the Guardians of the Galaxy, after getting locked up in his prison and Rocket Raccoon having the unfortunate experience of having some other guy placed into his body, escape, beat the bad guy, say farewell to everybody, and go on their merry ways. Yep, basically your typical Hollywood plot with no real twists, and a bunch of superheroes being, well, a bunch of superheroes. Okay, we also have a bunch of space fighters flying around doing what space fighters tend to do, but that is it.

So, I guess the question comes down to why I gave this comic book the rating I did (I was going to say seven, until I realised that Goodreads only lets you rate out of five, and you can't do half ratings either), and I have to admit that I don't really know. Okay, there are people out there that have some really sophisticated ways of actually determining what rating they are going to give a book, and I suspect that they might even go as far as creating some proprietary algorithm to assist them, and then you have me – I basically pick a random number (usually between one and ten namely because a rating out of five doesn't give me the flexibility of being able to say whether a book is any good or not) and leave it at that. Okay, if I enjoyed the book I am hardly going to give it a one, and if I hated the book I am hardly going to give it a ten (or a five as the case may be), but as for this story, well, it was entertaining, and falls into the science-fiction genre, oh and also had pretty pictures and a psychotic raccoon, so I guess I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't be looking for some deep, post-modernist meaning, in the text.

Oh, one other thing, it would be interesting reading this one in German because the person who takes over Rocket Raccoon's body has a German accent and I would love to see how the Germans do a character with a German accent when the entire comic is in German. I make mention of that because when I was in Germany I bought an edition of Guardians of the Galaxy that was in German, if only to practice my German, and then promptly gave it to a friend because I don't like marvel superhero comics cluttering up my house (though I believe he does speak a bit of German).

[EmBe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gelesen in der dt. Ausgabe, die ich gerade nicht hinzufügen kann, weil GR das nicht (mehr?) zulässt.
Abnett lässt die Guardians der Gegenwart, die gerade aus Drax, Groot, Rocket Racoon bestehen bei der Erkundung eines neu aufgetauchten, gigantischen Gebildes mit den Guardians aus dem 30. Jahrhundert zusammentreffen. Dass sie in der Zeit versetzt werden, merken sie auch, als sie mit den Guardians aus dem 10. Jahrhundert stoßen. Der Grund, das Gebilde ist in allen Zeiten sichtbar und seine Erbauer, die Newcomer wollen über Raum und Zeit herrschen (so genau wird das nicht erklärt, für die Newcomer ist dieser Zeitraum Gegenwart). Diese Invasoren sind natürlich mehr an der Zahl und zudem auch noch hochgerüstet und der Kampf im Grunde aussichtlos. Die orientalisch anmutenden Guardians der Vergangenheit werden von einer Kree angeführt.
Es ist das typische Action-Spektakel, mit den flapsigen Sprüchen Rockets und vollgestopfen, ja berstenden Panels. Die Guardians aus der Vergangenheit sind Abnetts Schöpfungen.
Die kürzeren Stories haben mir besser gefallen. In der ersten kämpft Ben Grimm, das Ding (der auch in anderen Alben von Fantastic 4 zu den Guardians gewechselt ist) auf einem unfreundlichen Planeten gegen Monster, damit Rocket Racoon mit dem Schrott, den das Publikum aus Misfallen auf das Ding (es gewinnt immer) wirft, ihr Raumschiff reparieren kann. Eine Geschichte mit Ironie. In einer anderen Geschichte muss Racoon Drax befreien, der mit einer von den Space Knights von Aliens mit schlechten Absichten in einer Illusionsfalle gehalten wird. Dabei zeigen die Gefangenen andere Seiten ihres Wesens. Anrührend. in der dritten besucht Ben Grimm mit Groot sein altes Viertel in New York, wo jede mit ihnen ein Selfie machen will. Als der Plant Man dort mit Monster-Pflanzen die Urbanität bedroht, müssen die beiden natürlich eingreifen und erhalten unerwartete Hilfe. Die beste Geschichte. In der vierten besucht die "Fackel" die Raumstation Oblitus, und will eigentlich das Ding besuchen. Doch nur Venom/Flasch Thompson erwartet ihn dort. Zusammen erleben sie ein Abenteuer um ein "Weltenzerstörer"-Ei. Mir hat die Unterschiedlichkeit der Zeichenstile gefallen, die Stories enthielten Überraschungen, Humor und nette grafische Einfälle. Natürlich steht die Action und Kampf im Mittelpunkt, aber zum Glück nicht nur.

[Judah Radd · Rating 5 out of 5]

BONUS: I interviewed this author on my youtube channel! Give it a watch, like and subscribe by going here: https://youtu.be/vWI5mkTn8Ws

A fun, self contained, “monster of the week” style Guardians of the Galaxy adventure, very much in the vein of Abnett’s earlier time with these characters.

I absolutely love his style, and this was a refreshing read. Nothing too cerebral, no world breaking shit... literally just a quick adventure with some loveable and familiar characters.

If you love pre-Bendis Guardians, this is your shit!

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting. Nothing special about this, though.

[Jirka Navrátil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tohle bylo dobrý. Fajn vesmírná mlátička i s nějakou tou zápletkou.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally the most fun I've had reading a comic book in a long time. It's a slam-bang actioneer. Great Marvel Cosmic writing from Dan Abnett and terrific art from Carlo Barbari. It's the comic book equivalent of a popcorn movie.

Plus - we get both teams of Guardians and we're introduced for the first time to the Guardians of the Galaxy from the Year 1000. Totally cool! A great new team I'd love to see more of, esp. written by Dan Abnett.

Not only all that but covers by my personal fav: Jim Cheung! He always classes up the joint!
Have no idea why this book is getting so many low ratings on here! This is a Kick-Ass Marvel Cosmic Space Opera Super-Fun You Gotta Read book! Total LOVE!

[Alex E · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 Guardian teams, one ship that transcends time and space, and a whole lot of fun, this book has great action, snappy dialog and a great cast of characters.

So the guardians we know happen upon this huge ship that happens to be "outside of time". Because of that, two other guardian teams, from different era's also happen upon the same ship and all three teams meet. Of course the obligatory fight scene ensues, but after that, the story really moves briskly along to build the tension and introduce us to the villain.

There is a lot of story structure in this book, and a lot of moving parts. I like the relationships that occur from the two teams meeting, but also from within the teams themselves. Obviously they have more history with each other, and seeing the flashbacks of how each team met each others members, was highly entertaining and did not detract from the story at all.

Another great thing about this series is that each issue has back matter as well. Short stories involving members of the Guardians of the Galaxy. These stories varied in degrees of quality, but overall, most were fun and a good way to get some good ol' fashioned characterization with each of the members.

The art was really, really good. Barberi and Chung do a great job of having a dynamic, fun style that goes great with all three teams, and the attention to detail is really impressive. This book would have suffered if you didn't have the right art team on it, but luckily, we are treated to some fantastic art.

The only down side is that there isn't really much consequence that occurs with this story. In other words, at the end of the day, everybody goes back to their own times and goes about their business, but it kind of felt like to me, something monumental should have occurred. Maybe that's just me though.

I would highly recommend this to any fan of the Guardians of the Universe, or anybody who likes space opera type stories in general!

[Adrian J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some stuff happened, and then the book ended.

The worst bit was that the REAL Guardians of the Galaxy were written just as they were with the GUARDIANS 3000 nonsense, some of the worst comics I've ever read.

Almost as bad was how every character acted like one other, even though historically they've been very different. Why turn Nikki into Rocket Jr? Why make Vance Astro just Stuck-up Star-Lord? I don't get it.

Even the brand-new characters - the "Guardians 1000" - all just filled slots. There was the tech guy, the aggressive guy, the big guy, the peaceful-but-deadly guy, the tactical guy... And despite being from three different time periods they all spoke the same.

The bad guys sucked. I didn't find it credible that Hermetikus would exist without drawing attention from the likes of several heavy hitters. But he wasn't there to be a character; he was a plot device. A weak one. Because no matter what we get from "modern" GotG, it is always the same story, with the same characters. And it isn't a good one.

WHY WOULD AN ALIEN SPEAK WITH A GERMAN ACCENT AND WEAR 19TH-CENTURY FRENCH MILITARY UNIFORMS? Because oh right there was that russian dog i guess and that slot needed filling

The only saving grace was the art. It was pretty.

[Scott Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, Yep. Dan Abnett can still write Guardians of the Galaxy. This one draws it's title from the location of the enemy--a strange fortress stretched across both space and time.

We get plenty of guardians here, although Quill and Gamora are missing, and there's no token earth human (Iron Man, Captain Marvel, The Thing, Venom, etc.) tagging along so it's just Rocket, Groot, and Drax. STill Vance Astro shows up with have his team, and Abnett introduces a team of guardians from yet another era, so there are plenty of people to cheer for.

Honestly I thought that particular introduction a bit gimmicky at first, but Abnett's got the goods and his storytelling and characterization more than justify it.

So hey! It's (somewhat) new Guardians of the Galaxy and Dan Abnett wrote the book. Read it already.

[Iñigo Bravo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Los Guardianes de la Galaxia del primer, segundo y tercer milenio se reúnen sin planearlo al investigar una construcción espacial fuera de todo tiempo y dimensión. Desde ella Hermetikus pretende instaurar su propio sentido del orden y de la moral en todo el Universo y en todas las épocas.

La historia principal viene acompañada de historias más cortas e independientes, y tanto en la principal como en las siguientes pueden verse algunas referencias e ideas de Star Trek.

En general me ha quedado una sensación de historias que empiezan muy bien pero que acaban rápido y con huecos argumentales.

[Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

The original (year 3016) Guardians of the Galaxy team up with the 'current' Guardians of the Galaxy (year 2016) and an older Guardians of the Galaxy (year 1016) to fight a found member of the Guardians of the Galaxy who has decided that the best way to guard the galaxy is to control it and control the timestream to murder anyone who steps out of line. All these characters do nothing but run around and get captured then uncapture themselves and then the story ends. What a fun time. Who doesn't live dozens of characters in a roster who sound more or less the same and never accomplish anything. Hurray.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dan Abnett, one of the creators to usher the Guardians into the new millennium, introduces us to the Guardians 1000 and its pretty good. While its far from revolutionary I enjoyed the team he created, the situation he created (3 eras of Guardians dealing with a serious big bad), and enjoyed that big bad, for the most part. I thought the outcome was obvious and there was far too much exposition at times though. Carlo Barberi's art was very good and I enjoyed his designs for the new team. Overall, a solid book without real stakes.

[Bianca Nabarrete-Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat visually appealing, just overwhelming and the female characters a little sexualized.

I think I would have appreciated it more if I knew Guardians 1000 and 3000 better, I'll try to keep an eye out for them now.

I think was really killed it more me though how easy and cliche it was for them to defeat the building. Nothing like Captain Obvious to ruin a boat ride.

[Steve Chaput · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun, seeing a mixture of Guardians, some old and some new. As with almost every meeting between heroes in comics it starts out with a misunderstanding and the various teams fighting each other rather than the main villain. Even after that there remain tensions between certain of the characters, that need to be resolved.

I'd love to see this team together again at some point.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Guardians of 31st century team up with (some of) the Guardians from the 21st century and the Guardians of the 11th century (whu?) to fight Hermetikus, who is like the Collector but with tupperware. No, actually, with time travel. And brains.

Lots of fighting, a very basic plot, a hint of characterization. Better than Abnett's Guardians 3000 and Korvac Saga. Much better art.

[Valerio Pastore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una bella mini ambientata nell'universo dei Guardiani, in cui facciamo la conoscenza di un terzo gruppo di GdG che addirittura risale all'anno 1000 ed è operativo a Baghdad! 8 episodi ad alto grado di azione e caratterizzazione, ogni episodio diviso in due storie, una la principale e l'altra un episodio autoconclusivo dedicato ad uno o due Guardiani con sempre una soluzione grafica diversa.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

[romney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was going to give it 2 stars for being an incoherent mess of characters interacting and nothing else, but the female characters' costumes are ridiculously breast-based so I knocked one off.

[felicialowj · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just a heck of a lot of fun!

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

One lot of Guardians were working during the time of the Normans!!!

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I care about the non-movie Guardians. especially the new ones.

[Ming · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of confusing, lots of pointless action.

[Isaac Wray · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can probably just skip this one if you only care about the modern guardians of the Galaxy. This one focuses mainly on the future guardians who are actually the original guardians… I think. Time travel is confusing.

[Billy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

great art. story a bit confusing to start with. Not sure how Nikki lost her mercury look.

[Nicholas Ahlhelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun take on multiple generations of the Guardians from the co-creator of the modern team. It takes the modern team (the one from the movie), the original year 3000 team and another team from circa 1000 and pits them against a new threat that could break the very fabric of time. While it is by no means essential reading, this is easily one of the most entertaining Guardians comics I've read.

[Alex Sarll]

The current and 31st century Guardians team up, again, also meeting a team from a millennium ago, precisely one of whom is interesting. The villain is basically Sinestro's motives in the nineties' outfit, and once the ships' resemblance to Narn ships puts you in mind of Babylon 5 you should be able to guess the resolution from at least three issues out.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love some Abnett and Guardians and I love the team-up conceit here.

But I am pretty sure this was online first, and that means shorter chapters which means much much more fighting so Abnett gets to not play with his heroes as much as he should be allowed.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main Guardians comic series is pretty crap.
Luckily, there about a half dozen spin-offs and most of them are better then the main title.
Weird, but still entertaining.

Groot, Drax and Rocket go to investigate a weird, alien structure and end up meeting...the Guardians of the Galaxy...twoo f them actually, one group from the past and one from the future and these three teams have to figure out, not just what's going on, but how to work together.

Fun seeing the classic future Guardians back in action, as well as seeing the new team from the past.
(Time travel is involved so that sentence actually makes perfect sense)

Abnett has a little trouble juggling the big cast, but he makes up for it with a ton of action and great sic-fi elements.
Fun series. Hope we see the other teams again.