Guardians of the Galaxy #10

Just for the record, I was either going to read this or "Dark Avengers" #2... Needless to say, GotG won out rather easily.

Overall- I keep saying that this is one of the best comics I read monthly, and THIS issue proved that definitively, once and for all. Before I read this comic book, I was of the mind set that far and away, the best writer Marvel has under contract is Ed Brubaker, who writes "Captain America" and "Daredevil". You know what? After reading this month's "Nova" and "Guardians of the Galaxy", I think Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are as good as, if not at times better than the magnanimous Mr. Brubaker. I'm telling anyone who reads these words, if you see "GotG", grab a copy and give it a shot. It is really one of the best written comic books on the market today.

Oh yeah, that's right, this is supposed to be a review for "GotG #10. Let me take care of that, so I can continue to heap praise onto this glorious comic book. We begin with Blastaar and his immense Negative Zone army invading the 42, which is the Initiative's inter-dimensional prison. Blastaar figures that he can invade the Earth through the portal located deep in the heart of the 42. However, Blastaar doesn't realize that the portal is completely locked down, and can only be opened from the Earth side. Star-Lord and Jack Flag(!)are still trying to hold off Blastaar's forces, but are rapidly running out of time, as many of the inmates being held at the 42 are surrendering, since they are gravely outnumbered.

Luckily for Star-Lord and Jack, the rest of Star-Lord's team, the Guardians of the Galaxy, arrive outside the prison after Mantis heard Star-Lord's telepathic cry for assistance last issue. The Guardians fight through Blastaar's horde and ultimately arrive at Star-Lord's location, at about the same time Blastaar does. The Guardians teleport away with Jack and Star-Lord, leaving behind an enraged Blastaar.

Later, the Guardians teleport to Reed Richards(Mr. Fantastic)and the staff at Camp Hammond and warn them not to open the portal to the Negative Zone, since Blastaar has a massive army standing there waiting to attack the Earth. Reed agrees to keep the portal closed, but is a bit dubious, since he has never heard of the Guardians. As for Blastaar, he finds the inter-dimensional gateway and is angered to discover it is locked down. However, Blastaar decides to enlist the help of one of the inmates of the 42, who is supposed to have the ability to open any lock. So, although temporarily thwarted, the threat of Blastaar is still very real.

Besides the main story, we also discover that Adam Warlock and Gamora have arrived at the main headquarters of the Universal Church of Truth, which is the Church Adam's future evil self(Magus), goes back in time and creates(yes, I know, time-travel is a pain in the ass.). Anyway, Adam tells the leaders of the Church that since his future self created the Church, he should lead it now. The head of the Church says that Adam will be given leadership of the Church under the condition that he proves he is the one foretold to lead them. Adam responds that he will prove himself the true leader of the Church by saving all of creation. How's that for a lofty goal!

I really can't think of anything else to say... If I was forced to only collect 5 Marvel/DC comics, Guardians of the Galaxy would be one of those 5. I feel that passionately about this comic book. It really is that good. Besides the story being excellently done, the dialogue was top notch. I could just open this comic at random and find an example of why this comic was SO damn good. This issue easily gets my highest score, a 10 out of 10. I'm telling anyone out there, if you have a comic that you're currently reading that isn't living up to expectations, drop it and give this comic a try. This comic far exceeds my expectations month in and month out, which is pretty amazing since I always expect ALOT from this comic series.