Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Genre – Comic Book, Sci-Fi/Action, Comedy

Director – James Gunn (Slither, Super)

Cast – Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, and so many more. 

Alluring element – Dave Bautista was one of my favorite parts and Vin Diesel almost made me cry. (Things that have never been said before.)

Scorecard:

Plot – 9

Acting – 9

Representation of Genre – 10

Cinematography – 10

Effects/Environment – 10

Captivity – 10

Logical consistency – 9

Originality/Creativity – 9 

Soundtrack/Music – 10

Overall awesomeness – 10 

 

What can I say about Guardians of the Galaxy? My expectations going in to this film were very high. I hadn’t heard a single negative thing about it going into the theater on that July evening. Normally, I would be very hesitant of a film with as much hype as Guardians has, but, this is one of those wonderfully rare occasions where it not only lived up to its hype, but exceeded it. It was a Sci-Fi movie that had a bit of everything. It was action packed, extremely funny, heart-warming, and badass all at the same time. So, please, if you’re resisting the urge to see this because you think your expectations are too high, or “There’s a character that only says ‘I am Groot?'” Let go of all your preconceived notions and go buy your ticket and enjoy what may truly be MARVEL’s best film yet.

The film opens with a bit of backstory for our main hero, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) who prefers the name Star Lord – even if no one else seems to. Here is where we learn that Quill is an Earthling who has unfortunately suffered a great loss. He runs away and is picked up by and abducted by a spaceship. We then cut to 26 years later where Quill is a member of the Ravagers, a group of alien outlaws led by Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker). He is landing on an alien planet to steal a mysterious orb about which he knows nothing except that it’s worth a lot of money. While attempting the robbery, he is ambushed by a group of soldiers but is fortunately able to make his escape. During his escape he is contacted by Yondu who is not too happy that Quill has absconded with the orb.

Quill ends up on Xandar (home of Nova Corps) where he intends to sell the orb, but, unfortunately for him, everyone is out to get their hands on this thing, including the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) who has lent his adopted daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and his actual daughter Nebula (Karen Gillan) to Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace). Ronan sends Gamora to get the orb from Quill on Xandar. In the meantime, Yondu has put a hefty bounty on Quill’s head and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) want to collect. What follows is one of the more exceptional scenes in the film where our first four A-holes find themselves in an all out street brawl. But, as it always does, the law catches up to them and they find themselves in the worst prison in the galaxy where they meet the final member of the team, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) who happens to have a bit of a vendetta against Gamora. Our five losers (“people who have lost things”) stage a prison break and find themselves unwillingly a team who has to keep this orb out of the hands of Ronan.

Guardians is one of the more visually stunning films of the summer (I loved the way Dawn of the Planet of the Apes looked, as well). The opening credits scene is one of my favorites (I have a lot of those). From the very first alien planet we see, which is full of ancient ruins and strange rat…things that Quill uses as a makeshift microphone to Xander, a very Earth-like planet in a Star Trek era. Gunn really makes you feel like this is a large and heavily populated galaxy. There is very little CGI in this film’s characters, with the obvious exceptions being Rocket and Groot (and Nathan Fillions cameo). Most of your on screen aliens are make up and practical effects which I believe is wonderful (And, why I still have faith in Star Wars). There are a couple different members of the Ravagers who I particularly like. That’s not to put the CGI down however. Rocket is so real at times that I thought it was a real raccoon, not unlike certain moments in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

The characters, and the performances of the actors are one of the best things about this film. Everyone has an adequate backstory that leaves a bit of room for mystery for future Guardians films. Cooper as Rocket was great, he was able to really make it something that was unique and not just Bradley Cooper doing voices. Diesel did an amazing job considering he only had to say 3 words, however, despite his limited vocabulary, he still nearly brought me to tears. The stand out performance for me was Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer. I’ve been a Guardians for about 3 years now and I’ve never really thought twice about Drax (except in The Thanos Imperative book) but he nearly stole the show in this. His very literal interpretation of things leads to some interesting misunderstandings. All I have to say about Pratt as Star-Lord is, perfect. My one minor complaint here would be Rooker as Yondu. He was good, don’t get me wrong, but, he was Rooker…just less of an asshole as on The Walking Dead, but, not by much. He makes up for it by having a pretty sweet weapon.

The soundtrack for this film is one of the best parts. Quill and his mother shared a love for music and she had given him a mix tape of her favorite songs which are a mix of some of the best songs of the ’70s. From Blue Swede to The Jackson 5 to Marvin Gaye, it helps you to remember Quill’s humanity but it also allows you to tap your foot and maybe sing along…if you’re brave enough, I did and you probably should too. Plus, it was all relevant to plot points – just perfect.

Well, if you couldn’t tell, I really enjoyed this film. What am I saying, that’s an understatement. This was my favorite MARVEL film by far. It’s also one of my favorites of the year. Please, do yourself a favor, let your skepticism go (if you have any) and see this as soon as you can. Big screen a must, 3D not necessary, but fun.

For the love of Groot! Have you bought your ticket yet?!?!?

All photos belong to Marvel Comics

“Respect My Craft” – George Pérez

In this consumer-based industry, it can be easy to forget the years of hard work that the people in the business put in. Behind every panel, it takes a skilled writer, artist, inker and colorist to make the product complete. Behind each scene goes hours of preparation. Hush Comics’ weekly article “Respect My Craft” will dive into the history of these comic book and pop culture greats that will hopefully give a new perspective on how the men and women behind the pen (or stylus) contribute to the collective awesome-ness of the nerd world, or at least give you a reason to invest in their work.

Name: George Pérez

Profession: Comic book artist

Notable Work: Wonder Woman V2 (1987-1992), The New Teen Titans (1980-1984), The Avengers (1975-1980)

“While I have enjoyed considerable professional and personal success with both Marvel and DC, it was becoming all too evident that many of the books being produced by both companies seem to be getting more and more corporate driven. Many of the characters I grew up with were turning into strangers whose adventures were determined by factors that had less and less to do with what made a good comic story and more to do with how these properties can be exploited for other purposes.” – George Pérez

 

The term legend is thrown around a lot in comic books, but trust me when I say that this gentleman, George Pérez, is in that club. A career spanning over forty-years, Pérez has had his hand in just about every corner of DC and Marvel. This forefather’s road to fame wasn’t an overnight one, though. George Pérez comes from humble beginnings; he was born in the Bronx as a second generation (mainland) American, born of blue collar Puerto Ricans, George knew he was going to be an artist from an early age, drawing his own characters and stories since he was five years old.

Pérez is a self-taught student of art, helping him get a position with Marvel Comics as an assistant to Fantastic Four artist Rich Buckler after networking at a convention. At the time of Buckler’s call, Pérez was working as a bank teller (I know how that feels…). He wasn’t handed great projects right away; Pérez had to work his way up to the big titles. He began his career writing a few pages for various small books, and ended up gaining experience from pencilling hand-me-down titles and books that were expected to die soon. Back in the mid-70’s, team books weren’t all the rage like they are today. This stemmed from the fact that artists were not being paid royalties yet (that wouldn’t begin until the early 80’s), so the appeal of making the same amount of money for drawing ten characters just wasn’t there.

Enter George Pérez, the man with the unmatched work ethic. In 1975, he started drawing Avengers and Fantastic Four, both of which he would draw in stints until his departure to DC Comics in 1980. Team books became not just a way to keep work, but turned into a trademark of his. He gained a reputation for doing great group panels, with an unprecedented level of detail – much before the digital age made it a less strenuous process. Pérez insists that he does not have a favorite superhero, which really has drawn him to do more team-oriented books. His ability to fit so much into a panel, and not distract readers’ attention from the story, is a quality that can get lost at times today – thanks to the use of over-scripted scenes.

The role of the penciller isn’t just to draw out the writer’s instructions. Both are on the cover and both are credited as creators because the comic book medium calls for a written story that is built upon the illustrated world the penciller creates – and the colorist and inker accentuate. When Pérez drew Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds with Geoff Johns, who was a huge fan of Pérez, he showed Pérez the amount of scripting that has to go into a “George Pérez panel,” which was a thick stack. Pérez refuted that a script gives him nothing to do, and that the relationship between writer and artist should be a symbiotic one, where they build off each others’ ideas.

Pérez has been the penciller for some of the industry’s most iconic book stories. Among his most renowned work is: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinity Gauntlet, War of the Gods and the Wonder Woman reboot. He was also the penciller for the crossover event, JLA/Avengers – which took almost fifteen years to see the light of day. The iconic JLA/Avengers #3 cover is home to a ridiculous amount of DC and Marvel characters in a Who’s Who of superheroes. Pérez’s best working relationship was with Marv Wolfman, with whom he created the Teen Titans, an idea that Pérez was certain would fail. While they struggled to dissociate team from the X-Men, the book was a huge success. The New Teen Titans isn’t the only contribution Pérez has made to comics; he’s also attributed to creating (or co-creating): Cheetah, Deathstroke, Ravager, Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, Nightwing (not Dick Grayson), and a LOT more.

In the New52, Pérez gave his hand at writing Superman after he has promised creative freedom. Unbeknownst to him, his book was slaved to Grant Morrison’s Action Comics. As amazing as Morrison is, he is very vague and not forthcoming when it comes to his approach to writing. Frustrated, Perez was glad to get off the series after the first arc. After leaving his last DC Comics book, World’s Finest, Pérez joined BOOM! Studios, a smaller company, as an exclusive writer and penciller, given actual creative control over his own books. Left on bad terms but harbors no ill will, just didn’t like direction DC & Marvel were going. He is currently happy writing his own creation, Sirens, and touring the country for various cons, where he has a great rapport with fans.

Outside of the comic book work, Pérez has been known to work for organized charities such as: The Charlotte Firefighter’s Burned Children Fund, The Muscular Dystrophy Association, Make-A-Wish, as well as the Florida Hospital Diabetes Association and The Juvenile Diabetes Association. He is a founding member of The Hero Initiative, a non-profit designed to help comic book creators in need.

For charity, The Hero Initiative sells “100 Project” books, a collection of artist covers

None of the media in this article belongs to Hush Comics; it all belongs to their respective properties (DC Comics). Join us tomorrow as we continue our countdown to Denver Comic Con with Arrow star, Stephen Amell.

Diggin’ Through the Crates: RZA “Fast Cars”

Artist: RZA (Ft. Erica Bryant & Ghostface Killah)

Song: Fast Cars

Album: Birth of a Prince (2003)

Lyric: “Used to break days smokin’ coke and digi/ Til I bulk up to the Incredible Hulk like Bill Bixby/ Face green, knuckles burst out like Wolverine.”

Character Reference/Meaning:

Don’t make RZA angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. Based on this line, it could possibly be due to drugs or fast cars or whatever. Coming out of RZA’s third studio album, Birth of a Prince, he brings us this hard-hitting song Fast Cars. Reading this lyric, I can guess two things about RZA. 1: Drugs – RZA use to like them and knows a lot about them. 2: He is a nerd because not only does he use a very famous superhero rivalry reference in this song, but he also use to watch the Incredible Hulk TV show back when he was just a wee lad. Now I’m not going to spend much more time speaking on coke or digi or the alcoholic drink named after my favorite hero, simply because I don’t know anything about that mess. However, what I do know is the Hulk and the Wolverine. Looks like it’s time to flex my nerdy-ness.

Picture, if you will, a young RZA at 8 years old sitting on the floor watching a scrawny man named Bruce Banner (played by Bill Bixby) become an enraged massive man monster deemed “The Hulk” (Played by Lou Ferrigno). Lou Ferrigno actually made an appearance in Hulk movie which coincidentally was released the same year as this album, 2003. Young RZA continued this tradition of his for 5 years, until the show ended. Now my guess is that this void of no Hulk is what sent him spiraling down the drug hole, but it’s just a hypothesis. Now this line by RZA could mean that when he drinks it makes him go a little crazy, he flexes out, balls his fists and is ready to go off. However, it could also mean that he dropped the drugs and decided to become a man-powerhouse such as the Incredible Hulk just as Bill Bixby did as Bruce Banner. And When RZA finally decided to do that, he got up and decided to puff out his chest and fight off the world like Wolverine. I prefer the latter theory. I appreciate this line because whether RZA realized it or not he put a classic rivalry together with the Hulk and Wolverine.

This fight has been immortalized in several comic series. Such as Ultimate Wolverine VS. Hulk, Incredible Hulk #181 (first appearance of the Wolverine), The Incredible Hulk #454, #340, Hulk #8. This feud is also shown in Marvel Fanfare, the Infinity Gauntlet, and various Wolverine and X-Men comics. Seriously people, this rivalry is even in cartoon shows such as Hulk VS and a Marvel Knights motion-comics adaptations. So when Bruce Banner is Hulked out with his face green and filled with rage, what else is Wolverine to do but tighten up his knuckles and burst out his adamantium claws, engaging in what is always an epic battle? Similar to how RZA battles on the mic. It’s only nature, bub.

Written by Evan Lowe