So, a few years ago Nova & Star-Lord sacrificed their lives* to save us from the Cancerverse by shoving Thanos in there and trapping him (and themselves) inside, right?*see The Thanos Imperative - Amazing AnneAnd yet, Peter has been bopping around all over the place, as though that little adventure never happened.What? Now that they've got a movie, he doesn't need to stick with any sort of continuity?!Well, apparently, he does. And the explanation for that little adventure is the first half of t...

From Cosmicbooknews: ''It’s no secret that I think Bendis’ run on this title has been a disaster for the concepts and characters. He may be the “go to guy” for street level stories, but he’s “lost in space.”Leave it to Bendis to stage a throw down in the collapsing Cancerverse between Thanos, Drax, (the real) Nova, Star-Lord, and the Revengers – have it illustrated by one of the best artists in the business complete with a strikingly compelling cover (that has nothing to do with the story, of co...

The Cancerverse! The Venom storyline! Peter Quill and Kitty Pryde dating! This one was great, I can't wait to see how it will wrap up in the next volume.

”The entire galaxy is a mess. Warring empires and cosmic terrorists plague every corner. Someone has to rise above it all and fight for those who have no one to fight for them. PETER QUILL a/k/a STAR-LORD, GAMORA, the most dangerous woman in the universe, DRAX THE DESTROYER, CAPTAIN MARVEL, VENOM, ROCKET RACOON and GROOT are the…GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.”So a funny thing happened back in The Thanos Imperative which functioned as the finale to the Abnett and Lanning run of this title. That ended w...

This is composed of two stories.The first one is about what happened with Star-Lord, Nova, Drax and Thanos after the events of The Thanos Imperative, a comic that I haven't read but now I want to, because it was pretty intense and I'm pretty sure it would be even more for those who have read that story.The second story is about Venom. After the Guardians find Flash Thompson again, the symbiote gets out of control and eventually bonds with some of the Guardians in a really fun to read adventure t...

First storyline with Quill's tale about Richard Rider's fate in the Cancerverse was just so epic and good that you can forgive Bendis for forgetting about Nova Prime's invulnerability and let corrupted Steven Rogers (Earth-10011) cleave his arm throwing a shield... Oh, good grief.The Planet Venom second storyline started for good too, a funny version of Alien (1979) aboard Guardians' ship with the symbiote playing the xenomorph role, but the ending with Bendis' totally ignoring and rewriting pre...

This is, in my opinion, one of the best Marvel comics I have ever read. I am a bit biased, because I absolutely love the GOTG, but even so, this is phenomenal. The storyline is amazing and the artwork works with the story. We see major character developments, and the loyalty of the team is tested, and shown to be true. One character is analyzed, and the species he hosts is given major backstory. I read this at least thirty times, I just loved it so much. It is recommended for any Marvel, GOTG, o...

Bendis does like to be inconsistent with his Guardians of the Galaxy run. It started of really good, and since it's been up and down. This volume is a bit of both. While the Original Sin tie-ins about what REALLY happened to Nova in the Thanos Imperative look good with the Ed McGuiness art, they don't really add much to the story and instead drag out a story over too many issues. Then there's the annual with Frank Cho which sees the Guardians take on a rogue squadron of SHIELD agents in space le...

Two storylines, collected: though I'd read pieces before, the stories hold up well. As they restarted the GotG, these stories are bombastic fun.Were these tie-ins to the Original Sin, Jason Aaron crossover? Meh. Though they tie up loose ends from Marvel continuity, you don't need much else. Though I like the lead-in to next storyline at end, here.Recommended.

There's a lot going on here. There's the Original Sin "crossover" which was really just Gamora forcing Star-Lord to tell the truth about how he survived the Cancerverse. It's pretty messed up.Then there's the Venom story, where they actually visit the homeworld of the symbiotes and it's pretty awesome. Also, "I am Venom!"And then the Annual, which was just awful and brought the whole book down a star.

I really didn't think the big "Original Sin" reveal was all that compelling, but at least the overall story is somewhat moving.Also, interesting choice on the artist, Valerio Schiti to use Seth Meyers as a model for Peter Quill. Never see it coming.

Really solid trade. This is well written, well drawn, and much better than the actual event. They kept it simple but explored the more complex event. But, by staying in it’s lane, it fully explored the idea, and consequences, while having fun with the characters. Very enjoyable.

In this volume, we FINALLY find out what happened in the Cancerverse and what happened to Richard Rider. I don't want to give away any spoilers but I think it's really going to polarise people reaction-wise. Personally, I liked the story and the outcome.I also loved the second half of this book and what Bendis has done with Flash Thompson/Venom. Again, I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll leave it there.

Actual Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.So... this one was kind of a mess.I was very interested seeing how the cancerverse was presented in this volume and I liked the 1st half of this volume where Quill is telling the story of what happened to Richard Ryder. I liked it, didn't love it. Expected it to go up from there and it didn't really.But, I still enjoyed this because I'm a trashy Guardians fan. The cliffhanger of this volume was insane for me personally.Interested to see where the last volume tak...

This was such a great volume and like explains how Star-Lord and Drax escaped the cancerverse and their time there trapped along with Thanos and also how Nova sacrificed himself to make sure they could go out and its such an emotional story and what it does to Gamora. Ahh Bendis knows how to write a last stand type of story and gives an epic ending to Nova and also closes the ch. on what happened to one of the legendary heroes.Then the other story is the return of Agent Venom and what havoc the

OMFG THIS IS A MUST READ!!First half finally answers the questions related to how Thanos, Drax and Quill survived The Thanos Imperative. It’s a doozy.The second half is all about Klyntar and the Symbiotes!!!So much cool shit is revealed. I love it.The art from Ed McGuinness and Valerio Schiti was badass, paired with exquisite, clever writing from Brian Michael Bendis. Such a treat. This title started strong, but Vol 4 takes it to the next level!!! DEF read!

I've never read The Thanos Imperative, so the first storyline was mostly lost on me. In fact, I was kind of confused until I saw that it was referring back to a story from a few years ago, because it doesn't fit with the current stuff. Basically, it's a flash back to events of the previous book, apparently rounding out and/or clarifying the original story. Or something, I don't know. Like I said, mostly lost on me.The second storyline deals with the Flash version of Venom. Mostly his symbiote, i...

So this volume has two distinct storylines in it so I want to discuss both. The first storyline revolves around Gamora deciding Peter Quill will tell her the truth about how he, Drax, and Thanos survived the Cancerverse.Since Quill has no other choice if he wants to leave the room alive, he tells her.Since comic books have endless amounts of unbelievable ways characters survive and are resurrected I wasn't particularly interested. The story was hardly groundbreaking stuff and it wasn't even funn...

I'm told that in order for the first half of this trade to make sense, you need to have read The Thanos Imperative. I found this out after I read it.To be fair, it still makes sense. I was just hard pressed to care. The story would have a lot more meaning, I think, for those whose curiosity will finally be sated by a gaping plot hole finally being addressed.The second half of the story was much more my cup of tea, with the Venom symbiote taking turns infecting the Guardians crew. Wackiness ensue...

This is a bit of a mixed collection of Guardians stories. First up is the book's tie-in to the big Original Sin event. Except it doesn't actually tie-in to the event at all but does contain a revelation, like many other Marvel books. Here the long-standing mystery of what happened in the Cancerverse with Starlord, Drax, Thanos and the original Nova Richard Rider is revealed. I wasn't particularly keen on this story. Yes, it ties up some continuity issues from the end of the last Guardians run bu...