Comics Review: Guardians Of The Galaxy (2020-) #2

Synopsis: Peter Quill fights for his life against the King of the Gods! Rocket fights alone against the legions of Hephaestus! Phylla-Vell makes a choice between love and duty – with death on the line! And somewhere, a black hole bomb ticks down to zero…The Guardians’ first mission comes to a cataclysmic end!

Review: Things get really tricky in this second issue, which sees one of the Guardians preparing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

The Story

Picking things up from where the last issue left off. Marvel Boy has found the legendary Hercules, who has been held prisoner by the gods. While Marvel Boy works to free Hercules. Peter Quill makes an effort to stop the Black Hole Bomb, but has to get past Hephaestus before he can do anything. Elsewhere Nova is in need of serious medical attention.

Artwork

Juann Cabal provides some awesome artwork for this issue. The army of automatons looks rather threatening. Especially the faceplates, which Quill warns Hercules about late on in the issue. Speaking of which. One of the standout panels in this issue is the image of Hercules clapping his hands with such immense power that he topples a group of the automaton army. I also loved the sequence near the start of the book where Quill meets Artimus.

Overall

A solid issue with a cliffhanger ending that will keep fans guessing for a little while. Al Ewing is doing some great work here and the balancing act he does between giving us lots of action and character beats if done really well. I love the addition of Hercules to the story, but I am curious to learn more about the new versions of these Greek Gods. And speaking of gods. I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll likely see Ego return to the series.

Overall. A fun read, but I’d really like to see Gamora brought into the story, which I think could well happen in next month’s issue. Given how this one ended.