We’re
about ready for a break from the Guardians of the Galaxy, right? Lucky for you, this week we have the Galactic
Guardians on the slate in their own adventure.
Okay, I guess I should hold off on saying “lucky you” until we see if
this is any better than the regular Guardians’ adventures. Just be forewarned, the creative team is the
same as every other Guardians issue (post Jim Valentino) so while the quality
will be similar in terms of execution, let’s see what a fresh set of characters
can do to invigorate the duo of Gallagher and West.
We
begin the issue with a quick recap of what happened at the end of last issue,
and jump right into the Galactic Guardians with page two. This, unfortunately, is where Kevin West’s
pencils take a swift nosedive to the prototypical Marvel “House Style” of that
time, something Herb Trimpe has massacred on many an occasion, as I’ve pointed
out.
Once we
are reintroduced to the Galactic Guardians, they start to evaluate the threat
(from last issue, the threat is basically a hole in the universe, the origin of
which is unknown at this time. Marty,
the team leader and the guy that brought all of these heroes together, tells
everyone to stay together outside the ship until he can ascertain the threat
level. Phoenix, who is by far the most
powerful member of the group, just up and flies right into the mass of
nothing. This of course backfires and
knocks him out of commission as he flies right into Bubonicus. 
Bubonicus
looks like a mini-Celestial (for those that don’t know, the Celestials are
giant space-gods, all with Jack Kirby designs.
A great idea but not well-utilized in my opinion – except for the
Earth-X storyline). Bubonicus has a
staff that infects the target with a disease, any disease really, but one that
is specific to that individual, so no mass antidote can be created and no one
is immune (including the universe apparently).
Being sick doesn’t bode well for Phoenix though as he goes batshit
insane, starting to eat planets, flare up like the demi-god that he is, and
flies off.
Ghost Rider
and Firelord, having recently teleported back in to the ship, teleport back out
because they “can’t stand for this indignity” or something altruistic like
that. We then learn that Bubonicus has
infected Mainframe with a computer virus, and no sooner are the two headstrong
pains in the ass outside than they are infected as well. Great.
It’s like we’re reading a Guardians of the Galaxy comic or something
with the utter futility of its team members.
Hollywood goes outside to grab the two incapacitated dumbasses and winds
up getting infected himself. Of course
while all this is happening, Martinex is having a meltdown because no one is
listening to him. He’s a giant baby, apparently.
Mainframe
has some sort of out of body experience where he leaves the universe itself so
he can speak to the Universe (it’s weird, I fully admit that). In speaking to the Universe, he finds that
there is nothing that can be done about Bubonicus except by Phoenix, who just
so happens was incapacitated right away.
Luckily for us, the Phoenix-Force is now talking to its host body. Phoenix then wills himself to be healed. 
On the
Galactic Guardians’ ship, Bubonicus has boarded and Martinex is his first
victim, except it’s not Martinex, it’s Replica, the shape-shifting Skrull in
Martinex’s form. That means that the
taylor-made disease for Martinex doesn’t work on Replica, who changes back to
her old form and steals Bubonicus’ staff as the real Martinex comes up behind
Bubonicus and encases him in ice.
Gallagher does a great job of taking whiny Martinex and turning him into
a tactical hero, proving why he’s the leader of the group and why everyone
should have listened to him in the first place.
Replica
then turns into a monster and punches Bubonicus, because this is a comic book
after all. Phoenix joins the
conversation between Mainframe and Eternity (Marvel’s sentient version of the
universe), where he learns that he and he alone can get rid of Bubonicus and
the plague that he created. Phoenix
does just that, first removing the disease from Eternity, then teleporting onto
the ship and going supernova so that he can deep-clean the ship. This also kills Bubonicus (or so it seems,
again, this is a comic book). 
At this
point the Galactic Guardians realize that they were actually on their way to
help the Guardians of the Galaxy, so they should probably get moving on
that. And of course, they show up just
in time to see Dormammu blowing up the Guardians’ ship.
Next Issue: Are the Guardians dead? Was this issue just a backdoor pilot for the
Galactic Guardians to take over the series?
Will Kevin West’s de-evolution into Herb Trimpe 2.0 continue?
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