The origins of Star-Lord have been entirely revealed… haven’t they? Your Major Spoilers review of Guardians of the Galaxy #9 from Marvel Comics awaits!

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GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #9

Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Juann Cabal
Colorist: Federico Blee
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Darren Shan & Mark Basso
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 9, 2020

Previously in Guardians of the Galaxy: Everyone thought he was dead. They were wrong. Now Peter Quill journeys through a mythic world on the other side of our reality. But is he still Peter Quill…or is he the legendary Star-Lord?

LAST SEEN IN ISSUE #2

The new Guardians of the Galaxy have had a rough time of it, having lost Star-Lord in their first mission and trying to deal with the coming darkness of The King in Black, Knull. Of course, it’s harder to kill Peter Quill than your average person, and so this issue finds him… somewhere? After the “hallucination” of a being called The Master of the Sun giving him his element gun (which is actually one of his several origins), Peter Quill relives his death, during which his element gun somehow taps into the power of the gods of Olympus themselves. He ends up on a world called Morinus, where he is given a place to recover with no thoughts of what he should give in return. Star-Lord spends nearly 150 years on Morinus, finding love, choosing to stay and building home for himself.

Until Zeus and the Olympians return for revenge…

WILDLY CREATIVE, BUT A BIT CONFUSING

On the one hand, I trust Al Ewing as a writer, especially given his work on ‘The Ultimates’, ‘Immortal Hulk’ and others, but I found this issue puzzling, especially as regards the flashbacks to Star-Lord’s origins, which are clearly building to something down the road. I do like the way this issue deals with modern comics’ tendencies for death not to be permanent, and ties in some of the origin Star-Lord stories that have been thrown by the wayside over the last few years of stories, and I really like just throwing Quill back into the middle of Guardians nonsense. That said, I’ve gone back and read the previous two issues, and can’t imagine how confusing it must be to read this series month after month. Cabal’s art makes up for a lot of those issues for me, though, as Morinus is gorgeously rendered and Peter’s years there feel like an actual record of a century-plus rather than just short vignettes. I also appreciate the expressiveness of the facial expressions throughout this story, and the epic giant dragon splash pages that ends the book is quite good.

BOTTOM LINE: I’M A BIT LOST, BUT ENJOYING THE JOURNEY

In short, Guardians of the Galaxy #9 is another winner from Ewing’s pen, with excellent art enhancing the good parts of the story and smoothing over some of the more confusing bits, giving Peter Quill a life away from the madness of the Guardians before snatching it all away to save his new family, making for 4 out of 5 stars overall. I can’t wait to see how the Guardians respond to their leader’s resurrection and probable new attitude. If you’re looking for a well-done issue that works as a done-in-one story, this is your comic.

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