When
last we left the Guardians, shit had got real.
Half the team had been taken captive by the lady-Wolverine lookalike
named Rancor, and the other half of the team was fugitives on a planet they
were trying to help. Plus Starhawk was
off being Starhawk (which is never annoying, I’m sure). Welcome to “World of Mutants” part two!
First
things first, we meet Replica, a mutant shapeshifter that is working on the
side of the resistance. She joins the
Guardians to help fight Rancor, which begins with planting the seeds of
revolution within the townspeople. They
all gather in a giant town square and rally around the Captain America shield
that Vance possesses. As they are doing this,
Replica volunteers to go spy on Rancor and her mutant lieutenants. We learn that Nikki neither likes nor trusts
her, but reasons for this are never given, so we are left to wonder why. 
Hold
on, it wouldn’t be a Guardians comic without the obligatory check in with The
Stark. They actually have something for
us this time though as the evil queen has transformed Taserface into
Overkill. She traveled back in time to
Rob Liefeld’s heyday in order to steal a name and design that came straight
from his wet dreams. Apparently things
are about to get interesting for the Guardians once they finish this whole
revolution thing they started.
Okay,
back to Haven, where the mutants have unleashed their “Battle Sphere” which is
basically a miniature version of the Death Star. It starts shooting anyone and everyone in the
town square, women, children, it doesn’t matter. This is a very interesting way to highlight
even more the fact that the mutants are the villains. Charlie-27 decides that the best course of
action is to shoot it out of the sky with his giant gun. Seriously, this thing would make Cable
blush. Inside the sphere, it’s stated
that even though they received a direct hit from the giant gun, the damage is
minimal, yet they don’t want to sustain too many more hits like that. I think Valentino may have mixed up his
phrasing here but don’t know for sure.
Either way, Charlie-27 plants his feet firmly in the ground and keeps
shooting. Some of the flying mutants
emerge to take out the guns from below, but all that does is get the
creatively-named Blaster shot by Giraud.
Batwing, who is apparently incredibly empathetic to his fellow mutants
but is a giant douche to everyone else, goes about trying to avenge Blaster’s
death by shooting Giraud. Before he can
complete that act though, Starhawk grabs Giraud and takes him out to one of the
many active volcanoes on the planet. 
Back in
the action, Batwing is apparently not too tore up about missing out on Giraud,
because he, and every other mutant focuses their attack on Charlie-27 at the
same time.
In the
fortress of the Mutants, we see the resistance, led by Vance and Nikki has
entered the fortress. We also see that
Replica has found where the rest of the Guardians are being held captive. She frees them from their bondage in the
strategically placed and never-overused power dampeners. Just as they are about to escape, Rancor
shows up. Is it just me or is her mutant
power the ability to grow her fingernails?
They are a different length in damn near every panel. If that’s the case, great, it’s just never
established. It also leads to questions
of her lineage, with the possibility of a Wolverine/Lady Deathstrike bedroom
combo in there somewhere.
Out at
the volcano, Giraud has come face to face with the Phoenix force, which is
basically offering him unlimited power as long as he kills himself. But it’s okay because Giraud would be killing
himself for the resistance. That’s right
Phoenix force, just like any good salesman, always be closing.
Back in
the fortress, the mutant named Blockade, who lives up to his moniker as the
“living wall” is in the way of the advancing Guardians. Here is one thing that I don’t understand
though. Blockade is huge, yet whenever
he grows, it has no visible effect on the surrounding environment. Not only that, but apparently the laws of perspective
and proportion have no place in Blockade’s world as his legs frequently
disappear the bigger he gets. The
Guardians fight him anyway because, well, what else are they going to do and we
cut between scenes of this fight and the other Guardians fighting Rancor until
there is a blight flash of light and everyone sees the giant firebird symbol of
the Phoenix rising from the distant volcano.
Who
will win the fight in the final part of the “World of Mutants” storyline? Will it be the Mutants, the Guardians, or
will the Phoenix just say screw it and kill them all? Tune in next time to find out.
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