Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1

It has been a while since I have done a post solely for my blog Derf's Domain.  I have mostly just used this site to help promote interviews that I have done for the wonderful site Somewhatnerdy.  Well, it is a new year and I made a promise to my friends and fans to do more writing on the blog that started it all.  So, for my first exclusive post, I chose to review a comic I just had the pleasure of reading.

The comic I have chosen to review is the Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1. First of all, I know that this comic came out weeks ago, so most of you die hard fans are already familiar with what happened with this issue, but I wanted to share with you anyway.  The reason...I feel this was a well written one-shot that deserves praise.  I mean, you should already know that this is a classic since it was drawn by Frank Cho and written by the one and only Bendis.

The story starts off with Captain Marvel sending a message back to Earth about her new role as a member of the Guardians, when out of nowhere an emergency call comes through by Quill.  It turns out that a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier has appeared in deep space and they think it may be a Skrull trap.  So, of course they approach with caution.  That is when something odd happens.  The helicarrier hatch opens and out comes Nick Fury.

Once they let him board, they realize it really does appear to be the real deal. The Guardians think that it could still be a trap, but they let Captain Marvel take lead on this one, since Nick seems to be familiar with Carol.  Nick is cautious as well, especially when he sees Groot and Rocket.  The interaction between Rocket and Fury when they first met was hilarious.  (Look below to see what I mean)

Getting back to the story, it turns out that Nick and S.H.I.E.L.D are after the Skrulls.  The odd thing is, Nick and his agents as well as the skrulls seem lost in time.  Before more could be said, the skrulls attack.  During this battle, we notice that there is something odd about Fury and his team. In fact, first guesses point to skrulls, but then it is discovered that the S.H.I.E.L.D. team is nothing but LMDs or Life Model Decoys.  Each time a team member dies, another one is made.

Well, let's fast forward to the end of the battle.  The skrulls are defeated and flee. The LMDs go after the Skrulls and the endless cycle begins all over again.  This was truly a comic masterpiece.  The writing and research to tie in the two areas of time was absolute brilliance.

I gladly give this issue a perfect rating of 10 out of 10.  Nothing could have been done to make this issue better.  Well played Bendis, well played.

Until next time, get your READ on!