Back in February, I made some crazy predictions about where Brian Michael Bendis would end up after Avengers, turns out they weren’t so crazy. I accurately predicted his move to the X-Men books and now today at the Cup O’ Joe panel at New York Comic-Con, Marvel Comics Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada announced that come February 2013, Bendis will be writing the return of Guardians of the Galaxy!
This doesn’t come as a surprise for a couple of reasons. First, we saw Bendis bring back the Guardians of the Galaxy in the pages of Avengers Assemble earlier this year with artist Mark Bagley and second, with the announcement of James Gunn coming onboard to direct the movie of Guardians of the Galaxy, it makes sense that Marvel would want their top guy on the title that will be built up prior to the movie’s release. For art, Bendis will be joined by Steve McNiven, best known for his work on Civil War in 2006, and most recently on Captain America with Ed Brubaker.
The new Guardians of the Galaxy will feature the classic members including Gamora, Drax, Starlord and fan favorites Groot! and Rocket Raccoon. In addition to the Guardians we know and love, the image presented at the panel revealed that Iron Man will be joining the team as well, in some new space themed Iron Man armor (perfect for action figures!). The question of why is Iron Man on the team will be answered as the Guardians of the Galaxy fight to save the universe in this new ongoing series.
First up is a Guardians of the Galaxy Point One issue in February 2013 followed by issue #1 in March 2013.
In addition to Guardians of the Galaxy, Quesada also announced more additions to Marvel cosmic books and another unsurprising announcement as Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness team up again for a new ongoing series featuring the new Nova, who we first saw briefly in the pages of Avengers Vs. X-Men. This one has been a long time coming and personally, as a Nova fan I’m excited to learn more about the new man inside the helmet, as AvX didn’t quite give us much about this new Nova, Sam Alexander. Loeb and McGuiness are already proven as a solid team after their seminal run on Hulk and most recently Avengers: X-Sanction.
Nova #1 launches in February 2013 and we got a glimpse of the first covers to Nova #1 and Nova #2 and some interior pages you can check out below:
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Looks good to me! Bring on the cosmic!
Starrrrr Lorrrrrrrd nothing but Starrrr Lorrddddd. Give me those Starrrr Loorrrrd. Don’t let them endddd.
if x-sanction was any hint, Nova is going to be absolutely awful
Some creative teams thrive on one book and drop the ball on another and are a better fit for some stories/characters than others…here’s hoping they got a puzzle that fits with this one.
Abnett and Laning’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” was innovative and highly entertaining. DnA also know how to construct well-developed story arcs, something with which Bendis has difficulty. Bendis’ main strength is character development, but there are now writers in the industry who do that better than he does (Remender, Gage, Fraction). I don’t think Iron Man fits the tone of the “Guardians.” Iron Man has advanced technology for Earth, but he is not so advanced compared to Marvel’s alien civilizations. I wonder whether this Iron Man will be Tony Stark. Why not use Mantis or Moondragon?
Some comic snobs dislike Jeph Loeb, but let’s face it, he’s a fan favorite. Loeb tells good, old-fashioned plot driven stories, although his character development leaves something to be desired.
Iron man just seems like a “come read this book with characters your not familiar with but we’ve got Ironman” gimmick, although I hope I’m wrong and would also love to see Phylla-Vell, Quasar and Adam Warlock again. Also, Star-Lords design was one of the best cosmic looks in comics history, I really hope that isn’t completely curbbed, Gamora’s too.
And, while I’m at it, what was wrong with Rich Ryder as Nova? It looks like Marvel is going with a much younger character, perhaps to match their animated version of Nova.
Last I knew he was dead. Same with Star Lord. I’m sure I missed some stuff.
At one point in time Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova were hands down my favorite series at Marvel. I think it’s cool Marvel is adapting them into their movie world and look forward to seeing how that turns out. On the other hand, I will pretend these two comic series don’t exist.
I understand Bendis and Loeb sell comics. But in my opinion, for my tastes, they are probably the two worst writers at Marvel. Practically anyone else could write a new Nova and GotG series and I’d at least check it out. Goes to show there is no sense in getting too invested in characters or series at Marvel or DC because you never know what they’re going to do with them.
Also, not a fan of that McNiven cover, particularly the costumes. I guess I’m bitter :p.
The DnA Guardians and Nova really are classic. And from what I can tell, most people never read them.
I”m bummed they didn’t bring them back for these 2 titles.
As for Loeb, doesn’t do much for me based on what I’ve read so far.
Kidding me right? That McNiven cover is awesome.
Damn….Starlord is a good looking dude.
I cannot adequately express how excited I am for this. Nova was what helped get me back into comics a couple years ago and I love to see people play in the Cosmic area that has so much potential and so little done in it.
Bring. It. On.
So I have read nothing related to point one or AvX. What happened to Rich Ryder? He was trapped with Thanos and Starlord in the Cancerverse last I knew, but now Thanos and SL are back…what gives?
I will give this a look, but I am still holding a grudge for the cancellation f all the DnA cosmic books years back.
I miss the DnA books like woah, but I’m very glad to see the characters continue. Loeb can write terrible nonsense, but he cam also write fantastic nonsense, so we’ll see what we get.
Loeb on a Nova book is so depressing. Can’t he go away from projects that actually soon good? Cause McGuiness drawing this is great! But Loeb? Not so much.
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. Bendis and Loeb are no Abnett and Lanning. Not by a long shot.
I can imagine the Bendis dialogue coming out of the characters in Guardians of the Galaxy a lot more than I can the X-men characters. Honestly, I’ll miss Jack Flag as the character who is really out of their element, but it will be interesting to see Iron Man possibly fill that roll, especially if it’s Tony.
Bendis writes team books well. I’m really looking forward to this.
Loeb is hit or miss. Will we get Long Halloween Loeb or X-Sanction Loeb?
i guess the cosmic masters (Abnett & Lanning) just don’t wear the ears…
(spoiler alert : if you haven’t read DNA’s cosmic run and plan to catch up) DNA’s run will be hard to top or even compare in satisfaction but hope it does, Marvel Cosmic is my favorite corner of the Marvel U. So Richard Rider/Nova dies at the end of Thanos Imperative but Peter Quill/ Star-Lord is still alive? They made the same sacrifice simultaneously.
True, but one of them had a Cosmic Cube, and one did not…
Is Richard Rider still dead, and is that a new NOVA running around? I’ve lost track since Marvel closed the book on DnA’s Cosmic Marvel.
Yup. Sam Alexander is his name. Beyond that, we know very little.
The Guardians seem to be covered in Touch Lights. Groot is infested with them. Glowing holes seem to be the pouches of the 2010’s.
Zing!
I will continue to read Cosmic Marvel in library trades.
I wish both series great success.
I just realized that it’s quite possible this will lean toward Avengers Assemble continuity.
In which case I am excluding it for financial reasons, as “off-budget”.
8)