Guardians of the Galaxy by Brian Michael Bendis Omnibus, Vol. 1

Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) (Collected Editions) #1-5

by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, Steve McNiven (Illustrator)

Blockbuster writer Brian Michael Bendis takes on Marvel's misfit movie stars! Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon and Groot assemble alongside the Avengers to thwart Thanos' latest scheme - and they'll take Iron Man back out to space with them! They'll face the wrath of the Badoon, Peter Quill's father and - once again - the infinite threat of the Mad Titan! But can anything prepare them for Angela? The Guardians will add new recruits and fight alongside the X-Men, but which team members will end up star-crossed lovers? And when Secret Wars obliterates the Galaxy, what will be left to Guard?

Collecting: Avengers Assemble 1-8; Guardians of the Galaxy 0.1, 1-27, Annual, FCBD 2014, Tomorrow's Avengers; All-New X-Men 22-24; Guardians of Knowhere 1-4

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Adventure, Collections, Comic Book

1168 pages, Hardcover

First published December 20, 2016

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guardians of the Galaxy by Brian Bendis is big blockbuster fun, both the good and bad side of that.

Basically we start with an Avengers assemble storyline that half way through becomes a team up with the Guardians. I have to be honest, this bored me to death. It's the hollow version of every other team up comic, just with way too many characters, and besides some decent dialogue here or there and snappy banter, this is made strictly for non-comic fans to read a comic every once in awhile.

Then we get into the actual Guardians run. The opening shows Quill's origin and man is it not pretty. Unlike the movie, that is sad and tragic, this is sad and tragic but also brutal as shit. The idea is similar, what happens to Quill's mom, but in a darker nature. Once we get past that we're thrown into modern day with Quill bringing back the Guardians as a team to go stop Thanos. This works on most levels as a fun romp. The second arc in particular, introducing Angela, is really fun and some great banter between the group. The first two arcs are done with a lot of flare, which you expect from the guardians, and I think it's a very very easy jumping on point for people who've never read the Guardians comics.

Then we start having our ups and downs. With the two strong arcs starting we're thrown into the team getting split up in the third arc. Not nearly as fun, though some great moments for Rocket and Quill. Saying that, it just doesn't feel very interesting the long run. Then we have the missing blanks on how Starlord and Drax returned from the cancerverse, and that is the strongest part of the Omnibus next to second arc. Sadly that we start getting a little wild with the crossovers and also cameos from different characters.

Overall, the ending of this Omnibus is pretty weak. The start is boringish. But the middle is some good stuff. Just don't expect greatness. This isn't Bendis during Ultimate Spider-man or Daredevil, but I also don't think this is Legions or checkmate bad. It's just fluffy, blocbuster action plot, with a whole bunch of crazy characters and cameos. If you can get it half off or less, and you're a fan of the comics or movies, this might be worth grabbing. A 2.5 out of 5.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting compilation I would rank somewhere between two stars and three stars; upper two for me [like, 2.7 - 2.9ish]. The stories are a bit hit-and-miss, especially towards the end of the compilation [as not all of the comics in those story arcs are included]; the artwork is equally hit-and-miss, which seems a bit of a shame [where it detracts from the story]. The story arcs are like any other compilation; some are definitely better than others. The omnibus ends with the four-issue series from the "Secret War" mega-event of 2015. The "best thing" about the final four issues are that the artist is Mike Deodato; the artwork is amazing.

There were definitely some "weak" moments in the story arcs. In one issue, Rocket is being experimented on by the Kree. They keep accessing his biomechanical implants, essentially reprogramming him in the process. By the end of that arc, when he is finally reunited with his friends and teammates, his memory has been sufficiently altered such that he know longer fully recognizes his teammates or is in full capacity of his memories. However, come the next "story arc" he is once again in full control of his memories and mental faculties, apparently none the worse for wear despite having been experimented on and somewhat "taken apart" by the Kree scientists. Having his memories jinxed up by the Kree was essentially a wasted "story line" as it had no bearing on the subsequent stories.

I think it would have been better if Abnett and Lanning had told the story of what happened to Thanos, Peter Quill, Richard Rider, and Drax in the Cancerverse as opposed to Brian Bendis. Thanos was "re-introduced" into the Avengers Assemble comic series with no explanation as to how he survived, let alone escaped, the Cancerverse. Same with Peter Quill and Drax. The explanation would eventually be given by Bendis, but it was still pretty lame as Thanos was allowed to escape the Cancerverse and return to the 616-Universe. If Richard Rider was truly the door, he should have had the power/ability to prevent Thanos from ever returning.

Also, Thanos was supposed to have "re-introduced" Death to the Cancerverse, thereby ensuring that that Universe was 'doomed' and no longer a "Cancer" in the second series. Perhaps Bendis had spoken with Abnett and Lanning about what their future plans might have been for the Cancerverse and the three stranded heroes; I do not know. I just know that Bendis did a lousy job handling [telling] the story of what happened and how Drax, Starlord, and Thanos managed to survive while Richard Rider "died" [remained behind]. Technically, though, he could not "die" and had they waited around, he would have been 'reborn/revived' after dying from his injuries suffered in battle. So it is entirely possible that Richard Rider is still alive and can be brought back into the 616-Universe. I have not been following Marvel Comics regularly for some time, so perhaps they have brought Rider back.

The "new" Zodiac from the Avengers Assemble comics was also handled in a strange fashion. They were given powers by Thanos that allowed the group to stand up to the Avengers [for the most part, as they were opposing a team consisting of "the movie characters" and not the entire team of Avengers]. Yet, after Thanos made his appearance, the Zodiac characters were never heard from again. Perhaps they showed up in one of the other Avengers' titles, but it was still funny/odd how these enhanced villains just dropped off the face of the Earth, as it were, and were promptly forgotten about. They made quite the team in terms of their powers and abilities; it is always an odd thing to see Thor and the Hulk getting trashed by enhanced individuals.

I did think it was amusing that the members of this Zodiac team consisted of "cast-off losers" from different villainous groups given a second chance to prove themselves if they would allow Thanos to enhance them. When the Avengers were able to identify the "secret identity" of the different Zodiac members, they were aghast that the new Zodiac consisted of nobodies, second-rate non-stringers who never amounted to much in their former criminal organizations. I guess their prior failures and status as nobodies made them hungry for the recognition and power that Thanos had to offer them.

It was kind of odd how members of the Avengers kept joining the Guardians of the Galaxy. At the end of one of the Iron Man runs, Tony Stark flew off into space, which would at least explain how he would join up with the Guardians. I still did not quite understand how or why Captain Marvel was in space and would end up joining them for a time. I understood why Flash Thompson was with them; it would have been "cool" if they had restored Flash's legs and his ability to walk sans the symbiote like they did with Jack Flash in the second volume.

I "did not like" how some of the story arcs in the compilation were incomplete. I do not think they should have been added or included in this compilation without the entire story arc. It was definitely obvious something was missing because the arcs were incomplete. The incomplete arcs were towards the end of the compilation.

The Guardians of the Galaxy annual. I loved the variant cover! I bought a copy of each cover when it came out; the variant cover is very cool. I also thought it was both an interesting story and a powerful [sad] story. As much as it was about the Guardians, it was also about Captain Marvel and how Carol Danvers was kind of a "fish out of water" in the story. They encounter a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier that has the ability to fly in space and teleport to different portions of the galaxy; it is crewed by LMDs fighting the Skrulls to ensure the Skrulls are no longer able to attack the Earth again like they did during the Kree-Skrull Spacewar [the LMDs clearly do no know that the Earth was also invaded and briefly taken over by the Skrulls since then]. Carol recognizes many crew members on the helicarrier, and it is a hard shock when some of them suffer wounds that should have killed them in front of her. Then she discovers the crew is composed of LMDs, and the crew is fighting a war that is, in some ways, already over, yet the crew does not know and will never know [as they are out of contact with the Earth]. It ends with her sending a poignant message back to Earth about how lonely she is and how much she misses the Earth and the Avengers just before Groot gives her a hug. It was a good story.

I also thought the "team-up" story involving the younger versions of the original X-Men team and the Guardians was interesting. I had the Uncanny X-Men comics but not the issues from the Guardians of the Galaxy comic. It still bothers me that the Sh'iar would remove the Grey bloodline from existence because of the Phoenix; it also bothers me that they suffered no true repercussions for their actions. I liked how Jean Grey underwent a type of secondary mutation and became something more than she had been, an even more powerful being apart from being possessed by the Phoenix Force. It was pretty cool. It was good to see Gladiator having his head handed to him by the younger Jean Grey, in some respects. Had Claremont been writing it, though, I am sure that Gladiator would not have lost that fight. I was surprised to see Scott leave the X-Men team to get to know his father better; I did not expect that and I thought it was a great idea. I may have to see if I can find any issues where Alex encounters the younger version of his older brother and the two have a discussion.

It would be nice to know how Corsair [Christopher Summers] is once again alive. He had been killed by his third son, Gabriel Summers (Vulcan), in the storyline where Vulcan conquers the Sh'iar Empire. So it was a bit of a shock to see him appear in this story arc. So, while I thought it was a great idea for Scott to leave the X-Men to be reacquainted with his father, it still left a lot of questions in my mind while I was reading the story arc.

I did like the Avengers Assemble comics that were included in the artwork. I thought it had some pretty incredible artwork, and I enjoyed the introduction of the new Zodiac. I also liked the incorporation of the Guardians of the Galaxy and how Peter Quill encouraged Tony Stark to hang with them for a while before returning to Earth. It was a pretty good series, but I never followed it after issue six or seven. I may have to go back and by the remaining issues in the series; we shall see. I did find it funny how Thor was hitting on Gamora for a little bit; I had either forgotten about that or overlooked it.

I thought the inclusion of Angela into the series and as a frequent guest on the team to be fun and different. She kind of reminded me of Red Sonja, but updated "for modern times" (as it were). I also thought it was hilarious that she switched from Image to Marvel due to some kind of tiff between her creator and Image comics. Her interactions with Gamora were always a treat in terms of both humor and action.

It definitely had Bendis' bombastic verbiage and penchant for writing intricate storylines where aspects of different arcs are not resolved until quite a ways down the series. I was grateful it was not nearly as bad as what he did with Avengers Disassembled followed by the New Avengers and the subsequent mega-crossover events that occurred under his "tenure" of head-writer for the Avengers comics. Intricate storylines can be good, and trying to set up future story arcs is all right, but not when it is done all of the time [especially when he is unable to resolve his arcs or complete the story lines; it tends to leave an invested reader hanging, disappointed, and frustrated. But at least he is trying to stretch himself and his creativity by writing such intricate and "creative" story arcs; it shows that he cares and that he is continually trying to improve upon his skills as a storyteller and writer [even if he writes what he wants to write about regardless of how much sense it makes].

Overall, it was a fun compilation to read. It entertained me and held my interesting. I am glad that I finally got around to reading it.

[Xroldx · Rating 2 out of 5]

So the Guardians by Abnett and Lanning is so far one of the best Marvel Omnibus collection I've read. And the Guardians are one of my favorite groups of characters. Bendis did a great run on Daredevil so with him writing Guardians I expected way more than this. There's too much interaction with Earth Marvel Characters (Iron Man, Venom, Captain Marvel, X-men) and not enough cosmic action.
I also still don't get why he had to use Angela (from Spawn) so much.
Artwork varied from okay to great. The last part with art by Deodato stood out as well as the early arcs. I will finish Bendis' Guardians run to see how everything works out, but my expectations aren't that high anymore.

[Soaring Leaves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read Abnett's earlier GotG instead of this.

This sucked. No really, it did. Plot was stupid drivel , and there was constant Cameos that did not need to be there. Why Angela, why Iron Man, was Venom in this.. I swear he was. Let's put Captain marvel in there too!
So they have a cast you can run stories with, they get the freedom to do them how you like since they are not based on Earth, but instead they essentially treated this as a segway into whatever main arc they were doing, secret wars or w.e.

This killed any interest I had in following the series. Redeeming things were Groot + some random comical moments.

[Brielle "Bookend" Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

🚀🧨🪐
“This isn’t a story. It’s a constellation.”
🚀🧨🪐

3.5 out of 5 stars

Best for: MCU fans diving deep. Completists. Readers who want banter, bombast, and enough character cameos to fill a star map.
Skip if: You want clean pacing, emotional stillness, or a Guardians team that actually stays in one piece.

There’s no clean way to describe this omnibus—because Brian Michael Bendis didn’t write a single Guardians run.
He wrote a whole universe shuffle.
And this book collects the entire dance:

✦ Cosmic Avengers
✦ Angela’s arrival
✦ The Trial of Jean Grey
✦ Venom’s space tour
✦ Original Sin fallout
✦ Black Vortex chaos
✦ Cancerverse closure
✦ Guardians of Knowhere
✦ And every odd, witty, wounded interlude in between

This isn’t a team book.
It’s a breakup album.
One where the tracklist keeps getting rearranged by galactic politics and event crossovers.

The voice? Signature Bendis:
Fast. Funny. Sharp. Occasionally too clever for its own helmet.
Peter Quill is the heart and the smirk.
Gamora is the fury barely holding her shape.
Rocket is the reluctant soul of the group.
Groot is still perfect.
And the rest—Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Kitty Pryde, Flash Thompson—are just trying not to drown in the gravity well of all this unfinished grief.

You’ll get cosmic courtrooms.
Found-family fistfights.
Gods disguised as weapons.
And a few quiet pages that actually pause long enough to ache.

The Guardians of Knowhere mini (included here) is the most surreal epilogue—half dream, half echo. It feels like the run’s subconscious, bleeding out what the core books couldn’t say aloud.

TL;DR:
This omnibus is everything Bendis wanted the Guardians to be: loud, weird, wounded, and never fully stable. It’s messy. It’s brilliant in bursts. And it’s a galaxy worth getting lost in—even if no one here really finds their way home.

Read if you like:
✦ Cosmic messes with heart
✦ Team drama written like a family argument at warp speed
✦ Endless cameos that occasionally punch you in the feelings
✦ The kind of story that never quite ends, because it doesn’t want to

[AC Church · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the impeccably plotted and structured Daredevil run by Charles Soule, getting through this mess was...challenging. Not all of this is on Brian Michael Bendis, but this run feels like it was scripted by a bored child skipping their ADHD medication. I don't think a single story, or relationship, or worldbuilding note throughout this multi-year run gets a remotely satisfying conclusion, or a callback, or at least anything to make you feel like you are reading a cohesive narrative, rather than a series of random isolated events in space, sometimes involving some Guardians of the Galaxy. There are so many jarring switches from arc to arc, often right in the middle of action that threatens to bring some sort of conclusion. Key character moments, story resolutions, and even deaths happen in some other comic books not included in the omnibus, and are addressed maybe by a few quips. At one point, Gamora becomes a completely unrecognizable character (new powers, new look, new personality), leaves the Guardians, returns to the Guardians - all of it outside the main Guardians comic book, as part of some minor crossover event.

What is entirely on Bendis, though, is that the characterisation of most Guardians is so much weaker here than in the movies, or even in the GotG videogame. They feel neither as fun nor as tragically damaged, nor as tight-knit as a found family, as they should. A lot of it stems from over-reliance on action set pieces - the characters barely have time to just hang out and talk, the majority of the dialogue happens in brief moments between laser shots, explosions, and spaceship maneuvers. Some of it also stems from Bendis not having a clear idea for what he wants these characters to be - it often feels like it's not just the artists that are changing from issue to issue, but the writer as well.

There are still a lot of good isolated moments (a visit to Klyntar, everything involving Angela, Peter and Kitty's romance), but for something that is widely recommended as a definitive GotG run this was immensely disappointing.

[Caleb Sandoval · Rating 1 out of 5]

The worst Guardians run, and probably the worst Bendis run. This came from a time when Bendis was working on several projects simultaneously, and this is the one that clearly got the shaft. There is very little in the way of plot. The team is just bounced around from one line-wide event comic to the next. The majority of this volume is event tie-ins.

But hey, the strength of Guardians was always the characters and their relationships, right? Not here. Even though he's unrecognizable from earlier iterations, Star-Lord is the best (and only) written character. Too much focus is put on the rotating guest-character slot. From Iron Man, to Angela, to Venom, these characters are inexplicably added to the team and get all the focus, but none of the fun interactions that are supposed to come with oddball team-ups. (Special shoutout to Captain Marvel, who appears on several covers and about 3 pages of the actual book, where she never once even mentions joining the team even though she is advertised as being a member.) Gamora gets some good fights, but poor Drax, Rocket, and Groot are relegated to glorified background characters with no agency or plot.

The only redeeming quality is the art. Every issue has phenomenal art (covers and interiors). Unfortunately, this only makes it all the more frustrating how bad the writing is. This is THE go-to example for a bad, cynical, bloated mess of a comic. It only started because the movie got greenlit, and then it only exists to ramp up the next event comic. Please, read any other Guardians run besides this one.

[Neville Wylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was a mixed bag.. as with any Marvel omnibus it covers many arcs some good some not so good. Many of the stories contained are good fun but the book as a whole is fairly forgettable to be honest.
One of my main gripes with any of the omnibus editions is when they have cross over issues but dont include other parts which you get with the "Black vortex" storyline which itself was one of the let downs in the book.. add the secret wars "Guardians of knowhere" borefest at the end too.
Far from Bendis' best work

[R. Archer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s… fine. But nothing super important happens I feel? Plus the plot unfortunately gets interrupted with multiple marvel events happening pretty much back to back. Also I miss the Guardians of the Galaxy expanded cast from the 2008 run 😔
Also are Angela and Gamora… you know… 🏳️‍🌈??

[Jared Gomez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the the first 20 issues but when the black vortex storyline comes up I lost interest. Too many issues not included and you just jump around skipping parts that makes the rest of the book confusing to read. Unfortunately it takes away from some great early storylines.

[Ronny Trøjborg · Rating 2 out of 5]

VERY mediocre writing.. Pretty forgettable stories but some Nice looking art though

[Mohamed Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

its hard to really rate this omnibus because it has many story arcs, there was arcs that I really liked and arcs that I hated but mostly it stayed in the middle.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a disappointment. I typically like Brian Michael Bendis's writing but this was a let down.