Guardians of Knowhere #1

By Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Deodato and Frank Martin

If you were wondering where the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy gang is during all this Secret Wars business, the answer is Knowhere. Ok, that was lame, but I couldn’t resist. This week Brian Michael Bendis shows us a great many things; including but not limited to what happens when you leave your domain and why you should never pick a fight with Angela. So come along as we try to figure out exactly what Knowhere has to offer us this week.

Brian Michael Bendis is an icon in the comics industry. He has written almost every relevant Marvel character and his books sell high volume. Bendis has an interesting job in this issue of separating these guardians from the ones he writes for the now defunct 616. Bendis pretty much starts this issue off with action right out of the gate, which is unusual for him. He establishes that Angela is not a woman you want to mess with as she takes on Drax without a second thought. This is an issue that deals with strong women as Bendis show both Angela and Gamora are tough ladies. Bendis doesn’t reveal much about the story, but he raises an interesting question in this issue. What happens when a character doesn’t believe the almighty Doom exists? Brian Michael Bendis sure knows how to hook readers, doesn’t he? If there are any gripes, it’s that Bendis does his overlapping repetitive dialogue for a few pages, which can be annoying. He also makes this a bit of a quick read, which is a real nitpick.

The pencils this issue are handled by Mike Deodato with colors by Frank Martin. From the first two pages we are treated to a full-page of a Celestial head floating in space and a two-page splash of a space station. These are extremely well done pages that are a great way to start off an issue. Much of this issue is a fight scene between the characters, Deodato pretty much draws everything he touches well and these scenes look excellent. As our heroes go to an unfamiliar village, Deodato gives us a nice establishing panel of the layout of the land. We see gardens and huts and all kinds of things that help us understand the surrounding area. The moody colors from Frank Martin really help establish the difference between Knowhere and the new destination of the Guardians. This issue may not have been so successful with a less skilled colorist, but Frank Martin just rocks it in this introductory chapter.

Guardians of Knowhere is a thrilling story so far. Brian Michael Bendis continues to write good stories with characters we care about. The art team really did a wonderful job this issue and stole the spotlight, but that will happen when you have a great team like Deodato and Martin. This series is off to a fast start that should get better as it moves forward.