{"id":276,"date":"2015-06-07T16:33:03","date_gmt":"2015-06-07T23:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/?p=276"},"modified":"2015-06-07T21:20:10","modified_gmt":"2015-06-08T04:20:10","slug":"guardians-team-up-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/?p=276","title":{"rendered":"Guardians Team-Up 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahhhhhh, a Guardians of the Galaxy comic written by Bill Willingham. \u00a0It’s like slipping into a warm bath.<\/p>\n

This issue\u00a0begins with the delightfully improbable premise of Nightcrawler participating in the 648th Quinquennial Blade-Fighting Championship on a\u00a0distant\u00a0planet, only to face off against Gamora in the semi-finals. \u00a0This issue is just loaded with fun details, many of which are found in the ongoing narration by the hosts of the televised event, Wendophon of Hin and Huldan Wull of Kreevar Underwave. \u00a0\u00a0For example, when speaking of Gamora’s bouts:<\/p>\n

Hul: “But by far, her most impressive<\/em> battle was her mid-elimination bout against the Vradel Swarm, a community shared-mind creature. \u00a0Amazingly, it was determined by the judges to be a single opponent<\/em>.”
\nWen: “Yes, and I for one think that was a bad ruling on their part, Hul. \u00a0That swarm thing is not a single fighter by any<\/em> stretch of the imagination.”
\nHul: “The point is moot now. \u00a0Not many of them survived Gamora’s knives.”<\/p>\n

And it shows Gamora fighting off a bunch of tiny armored purple pixie-things. \u00a0It’s nice<\/em>. \u00a0It’s something\u00a0more than\u00a0just a bunch of stupid alien mercenaries with space-guns. \u00a0My other favorite bit is when Good Morning Empire is interviewing the reigning champion, Kree warrior Haracon the Ghostmaker:<\/p>\n

Haracon: “I’m not interested in rehashing tired old war stories. \u00a0I’m here to support my charity: Tanks for Tots.<\/em>”
\nBollo Brok: “Of course. \u00a0Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your favored cause?”
\nHaracon: “As you may know, thousands of underprivileged Kree toddlers<\/em> have to enter their first battle school without<\/em> any prior heavy armor experience. \u00a0That puts them at a severe scholastic disadvantage<\/em> to children from wealthier Kree homes. \u00a0Tanks for Tots<\/em> sponsors those less fortunate kids to visit heavy weapons proving grounds, to soak up vital early tank and heavy artillery experience. \u00a0We give them the head start<\/em> they need to compete later on a level field.”<\/p>\n

I also enjoyed the variety of the opponents — for example, when Nightcrawler faces off against the top Skrull defender, six-time Skrull blade champion Contessa Yuow Yuow Screet (I love<\/em> these names, it’s not just idiocy like Bibbleglap or X’krr’kxt). \u00a0Since the rules allow for one blade per appendage, she’s just a huge bunch\u00a0of tentacles and swords<\/a> atop two legs, with some spooky red eyes peeking out from the central mass. \u00a0Even better, according to the hosts, “This is an original<\/em> shape perfected over many years and absolutely proprietary to her. \u00a0She calls it Blade Fury<\/em> and no other Skrull shifter can legally try to copy it.” \u00a0But Nightcrawler manages not to overpower her, but to get in close where her own tentacles and swords can’t penetrate, then achieves victory with what the judges deem a killing touch, since they determined “if a kill could<\/em> take place, it’s the same as if the kill did<\/em> take place.” \u00a0Of course, this judgment becomes more complicated with\u00a0opponents like Gamora when taking\u00a0her regenerative abilities into account.<\/p>\n

And it’s all just nice<\/em>. \u00a0It’s all these little details that give texture and depth to a story’s setting, even if it’s a wacky space story about aliens swordfighting against each other. \u00a0Nightcrawler is clearly enjoying himself in the role of wisecracking swashbuckler, and even Gamora breaks into a smile or two and goes beyond the usual grim, stilted warrior-woman dialogue. \u00a0The story leads up to the final bout\u00a0between Nightcrawler and Gamora, with reigning champion Haracon as a spectator. \u00a0In the course of the battle, Nightcrawler reveals his teleportation abilities that he heretofore has yet to demonstrate during the competition; he teleports himself, Gamora, and Haracon in stages up to Gamora’s ship in orbit, in order to capture and prosecute Haracon for his role in the massacre at Fort Resolve, since the\u00a0only reason they both entered the competition was because they knew Haracon would be there in person.<\/p>\n

This issue is everything a fun, lighthearted, inconsequential space-adventure should be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahhhhhh, a Guardians of the Galaxy comic written by Bill Willingham. \u00a0It’s like slipping into a warm bath. This issue\u00a0begins with the delightfully improbable premise of Nightcrawler participating in the 648th Quinquennial Blade-Fighting Championship on a\u00a0distant\u00a0planet, only to face off against Gamora in the semi-finals. \u00a0This issue is just loaded with fun details, many of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comic_round-up"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions\/294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.codyscomiccorner.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}