A new post-Bendis era for the Guardians proves a spectacular success...

(Panini Books)

After years of lightweight plotting and unnaturally snappy dialogue at the hands of Brian Michael Bendis, it was becoming hard to remember the glory days of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who not only put together this incarnation of the Guardians, but were also responsible for their most entertaining adventures.

Now that Bendis has disappeared to wreak havoc on Iron Man, the GotG are finally free to return to form, and the renaissance begins with this mini-series produced by the titanic team-up of Jim Starlin and Alan Davis.

Up to their ears in hock to the dubious clientele of the Knowhere outpost, the Guardians reluctantly agree to take on a one-off job for the station’s security forces which will clear their debts. But what should have been a simple mission escorting an alien priest to safety ends in a galaxy-threatening catastrophe after a raid by the teleporting troll Pip unleashes a menace from across the multiverse…

The fungal being Mother Entropy has spread her influence across untold realities by infecting their inhabitants with her control spores, and now she is seeking a suitable host to spearhead her invasion of the Marvel Universe. Pip and the Guardians are forced to undergo rigorous testing to determine which of them makes the grade, before the new host kicks things off by consuming the Shi’ar homeworld.

The surviving Guardians must somehow achieve what no other being has managed to do across infinite universes, and destroy Mother Entropy before she spreads her influence over every single inhabited planet in existence…

Starlin is the master of cosmic Marvel, a writer whose storytelling skills have not been blunted over the decades, with a perfect grasp on both narrative and characterisation, and a knowledge of continuity that puts many contemporary writers to shame. Davis is probably one of my all-time favourite artists, with a talent for bringing realism to the most fantastical of scenarios, and is still very much at the top of his game. With creators of this calibre, you certainly won’t be disappointed, and they deliver the goods in spades across this five-issue series.