Free Comic Friday: All-New Guardians of the Galaxy (and the Defenders)

Free Comic Book Day (All-New Guardians of the Galaxy)
“Smash & Grab”
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Aaron Kuder
Color Artist: Ive Svorcina
Cover: Kuder & Svorcina
Assistant Editor: Kathleen Wisneski
Associate Editor: Darren Shan
Editor: Jordan D. White

“Diamonds Are Forever”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: David Marquez
Color Artist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: Petit
Assistant Editor: Alanna Smith
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: Axel Alonso
Released: May 6, 2017

Free Comic Book Day 2023 coincides with the release of the third installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. The last time that happened, with 2017's premiere of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” the team was featured in one of Marvel's free offerings. This double feature with the revamped Defenders team is a strong example of a Big Two freebie done right.

Sporting the “All-New” descriptor in front of it, as roughly 49% of Marvel's titles did in that era, we're introduced to a new status quo for the team, minus the bigger Marvel names from Bendis' run, like Iron Man, Thing, Captain Marvel and Kitty Pryde. This roster consists of the core quintet from the movies – Star-Lord, Drax, Gamora, Rocket and Groot. And in what I'm sure was a 100% creative decision not at all influenced by his portrayal in the multi-multimillion-dollar movie landing in theaters at the time, Groot is tiny.

The Guardians open in jail, a definite shift toward the movie setup, rather than the team's comic origins as actual guardians of, well, the galaxy. I can't really fault Marvel and Duggan for doing that. I probably wouldn't have been any more likely to buy the series if it had been less like the movie. And I find movie Drax much more interesting than comic Drax, except for the stuff about him playing the saxophone.

Anyway, the Guardians have been arrested by the rebuilding Nova Corps on what Star-Lord assures them are invalid warrants. Rocket is caught trying to effect an escape, when Groot pops out of his vest and … pokes out a Nova Corpsman's eye?

Really?

I know Rocket and Groot are violent characters, particularly in the movies. But as much as I dislike the sequence in “Volume 2” where Rocket and Yondu gleefully murder almost all of the Ravagers, at least those guys posed an actual life-or-death threat to them. This was a relatively inexperienced space cop who they seemed to agree wasn't a bad guy. So the removal of his eye, for apparent comedic purposes no less, is really jarring and unnecessary, in- and out-of-story.

More entertaining is Drax's unexplained-at-this-point turn to pacifism and Star-Lord's attempts to hide this from the Novas during their escape. Gamora's also got secrets, discussing with Drax a mission for the Grandmaster about which the rest of the team is in the dark.

The story closes with a shadowy figure, identified as a member of the Shi'ar Fraternity of Raptors, questioning the now-one-eyed Nova Corpsman about the whereabouts of his ship, which the Guardians just happened to steal in their escape. When the Nova draws his weapon, the Raptor disarms him, jams his finger in the alien's eye socket and warns him and his fellow Novas to leave the quadrant because the Raptors are running the show. Not thrilled with the torment of the already injured officer; mildly intrigued by the presence of a Raptor and the possibility that this will lead to an appearance by Darkhawk down the road.

The second story goes about as far to the opposite end of the Marvel spectrum from the cosmic Guardians as it can, with Bendis' street-level reconceptualization of the Defenders.

If you'll permit me a moment of Grumpy Old Comic Fandom, I need to say that even though Luke Cage, Daredevil and Iron Fist were all Defenders at some point under the non-team's rather lax membership policies, these aren't the Defenders. These are the Marvel Knights, and the book should have been called Marvel Knights, but Netflix or somebody wanted the Defenders name for their interconnected Marvel shows, so here we are.*

An unidentified man appears to be attempting to hire Jessica Jones, which leads into a flashback at a club where a group of criminals has been gathered to hear a pitch on behalf of an unidentified crime boss intent on filling the vacuum left by Wilson Fisk's shift from Kingpin to mayor of New York. Negotiations end when a car comes hurtling into the establishment, thrown by Luke Cage. He, Daredevil and Iron Fist inform the gathered ne'er-do-wells that they don't want to see anybody taking over for the Kingpin.

Jessica's would-be client is displeased, because he was the one who called the meeting. He informs her he will respond swiftly and viciously to any interference from the superhero community. After explosive attacks are launched on the male heroes, he shoots Jessica with a gun that is oversized by the standards of anyone not named Cable, then introduces, or reintroduces, himself as Diamondback.**

Despite the name, the long-range goal of Free Comic Book Day is to get you to spend money down the line. Most issues aren't going to be consequential stories that you can't do without; for those, they'll expect payment.

Both of these stories introduce new setups for the titular teams, and both are successful in whetting readers' appetites – well, mine anyway – for more. I did buy a few issues of Bendis' Defenders, and I read the Guardians stuff eventually but don't remember a lot of specifics. Irritation about the Defenders name choice aside, I like this lineup, I like the idea of Bendis writing them, and I was intrigued to see where it would go. Turns out it went 12 issues and ended rather abruptly as Bendis left Marvel for DC.

The Defenders name has since reverted back to whatever roving band of weirdos Dr. Strange enlists, alas not with the word “Secret” before it. Guardians continues to reboot before a series gets out of the teens, with the latest debuting earlier this year. I haven't read it yet, but Star-Lord wears a cowboy hat on the cover.

As comics in general go, this issue is fun but light. For a Free Comic Book Day issue from one of the Big Two? It's exactly what it needs to be.

* - Or, since this was 2017, there we were?

** - The gangster with a connection to Luke Cage. Not Captain America's ex-girlfriend.
Although that would have been a choice.