Not So New Comic Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (1991) #36

                After our brief interlude with Bubonicus and the Galactic Guardians, it is time to get back to the meat and potatoes of the story and see how the Guardians of the Galaxy deal with the threat of Dormammu, Dr. Strange’s nemesis from our time period.  If you’ll remember back, Dormammu hitched a ride on the Guardians’ ship when they were back in our time period fighting the Badoon (you remember that whole silly storyline, right?  Don’t make me go back through it all). 

                Either way, the end of last issue came with a bang, or a boom, or whatever sound an exploding spaceship makes in space…what, there’s no sound? Well that’s not exactly a good descriptor is it?  Last issue came with a…silence.  Yup, I like mine better.  Regardless of the semantics, the Guardians were pretty much screwed at the end of last issue as Dormammu made his presence known by blowing up their ship…with the whole team still aboard, what a dick.

                Is this the end of the Guardians though?  Was last issue just a back-door pilot for the Galactic Guardians to take over after the death of the original team?  Not so fast, as Martinex and his quick trigger finger teleport everyone on board before the explosion can incinerate them all.  I guess it’s a good thing that Bubonicus didn’t take up any more of his time last issue.  For the record, having the whole original team die at the beginning of this issue and the Galactic Guardians assuming the mantle of responsibility would have been a groundbreaking idea.  No one kills off an entire team after thirty-five issues and no conceivable end in sight.  Would it have caused an uproar?  Probably.  Would it have been the freshest and best idea to hit this title in its entire run?  Absolutely.

                Well, much to my chagrin, the guardians are still alive and kicking, except Charlie who is knocked out from the fight with the Badoon.  The happy reunion between the two teams is broken up by the fact that something just blew up the Guardians’ ship (and is still outside!)  This is a fact that no one, save Aleta seems to really be aware of.  After Aleta alerts everyone to their impending doom, the most powerful members of the groups (Aleta, Phoenix and Firelord) spring into action.  Now last issue, Phoenix became even more of an all powerful being because he was shown to be able to cure the entire universe of the plague created by Bubonicus.  How does he follow that up? By being the first one knocked out by Dormammu.  I get it, Dormammu is a bad-ass, but a near omnipotent being such as Phoenix should have made short work of him.  This flip-flopping of how powerful Phoenix is depending on who he’s facing is getting a little old.

                As Firelord attacks we cut into the interior of the ship and see Charlie hooked up to some machines in the med-bay.  Yellowjacket and Hollywood have a moment, as they were apparently something of an item back in the day (when Hollywood was still Wonderman).  We then see that Talon has gone rogue and has flown out into space to deal with Dormammu.  Why it took this long for Talon, the only character with experience in sorcery and a close relationship with Dr. Strange himself, to enter the fracas I have no idea. 

                Talon proves himself useful right away and the fight begins to turn in the favor of the heroes.  Back inside, Charlie wakes up from his coma to the delight of everyone that is just watching what could be their impending doom on the monitors.

                Speaking of Doom, we head back to New York City of the thirty-first century and see Doom and Rancor getting along.  Obviously this is all a ruse on Rancor’s part, but Batwing still gives her shit for it.  Her response?  Attack Batwing and literally scalp him with her Wolverine-claw.  So, word to the wise, Rancor doesn’t like jokes.

                Back to the action in space, Dormammu fights back and shows everyone that he has already captured Krugarr, the current sorcerer supreme.  Ghost Rider attacks Dormammu but his assault doesn’t really do much but piss him off even more.  All is not lost though as Dr. Strange himself shows up to save the day.  Of course he uses the old “our powers combined can stop this menace” that is the hallmark of pretty much every team book ever.  Everyone’s powers channel through Dr. Strange and converge on Dormammu, only for him to turn them around and straight up kill Dr. Strange with them. 

Next issue:  With Dr. Strange dead, where do our heroes go from here?  Can they all pool their powers again, this time through Talon so that he dies off as well?