Solo action for the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy...

(Panini Books)

The original incarnation of Star-Lord was something of a Luke Skywalker character, with lots of references to his destiny and ancient heritage. In recent years however, Peter Quill has been reinvented more along the lines of Han Solo, a devil-may-care space pirate who enjoys a tenuous relationship with the law, despite his leadership of the self-proclaimed Guardians of the Galaxy.

He’s also something of a ladies’ man, despite trying to establish a cross-galaxy relationship with X-Man Kitty Pryde, and initially these somewhat superficial traits appear to be the raison d’être behind Quill’s adventures, until we learn the real motivation for the Star-Lord’s behaviour is his guilt over the death of original Nova Richard Rider, and his sense of responsibility for letting the mad Titan Thanos loose on our reality once again...

Then all of a sudden we see Quill in a completely different light, as we realise his recent actions have been in order to obtain a weapon powerful enough to kill Thanos once and for all, and armed with said device, he heads off for a do-or-die confrontation with his deadly foe.

Had it not been for the success of the recent Guardians movie, there’s no way we would have seen a slew of solo books for Quill and his teammates, and it remains to be seen whether the marketplace can sustain an ongoing series about a sentient tree with a three word vocabulary.

However, based on the contents of this book alone, there’s definitely scope for further adventures of the Star-Lord, especially if they maintain the high calibre of this debut instalment.

A strong opening story arc by Sam Humphries is admirably supported by artwork from Paco Medina and Freddie Williams II, but with The Black Vortex crossover beckoning in just the next issue, it may be premature to start celebrating this title’s long-term future. Multi-issue, cross-title epics have a nasty habit of detracting from just what it was that made the individual books stand out to begin with, as they lose their identity amidst all the widescreen action and glut of characters. Hopefully the Legendary Star-Lord manages to keep his head above the water for the duration, and we’re able to pop back for a second volume when the dust settles.