Imperial Guardians #1
Marcell Hines
Recap
Gamora, Captain Marvel, Amadeus Cho, Darkhawk, Cosmic Ghost Rider! Five unlikely operatives recruited by Maximus of the Inhumans. Their mission? Protect the delicate balance of new Galactic Union by ANY means necessary... and failure is NOT an option. Expendable, deniable and disavowed, they are the Imperial Guardians. But can they do Maximus' dirty work and keep their consciences clean? Why has a Kree Grand Admiral gone rogue and attacked Hala? What's going on with Darkhawk's mind? What deluded fool thought COSMIC GHOST RIDER was a team player? And, most importantly... what kind of game is Maximus REALLY playing?
Review
The Imperial war has ended, a new galactic order has been established under the rule of Peter Quill, the Star Lord. However, there are jobs that not even the alliance will do. For that they will have to “trust” their Imperial Guardians. Gamora, Captain Marvel, Darkhawk, Brawn, and Cosmic Ghost Rider have all been chosen to discreetly do the jobs that no one else can in order to maintain this fragile new balance.
Imperial Guardians’ was advertised as ongoing, before swiftly being cut to five issues. This is a systemic problem within Marvel that we don’t have time to go into here, but we can start with a history lesson on how we got to this point.
When it was first announced “Imperial” was marketed as Marvel’s latest attempt to revitalize their much-neglected cast of cosmic characters. They drafted Jonathan Hickman, roughly a couple of years removed from his franchise-defing revival of the X-Men with the Krakoan Age, to create this galaxy-spanning murder mystery that not only brought back the Inhuman Royal family (who hadn’t been seen since 2018’s “Death of the Inhumans”), but a complete shift in galactic power at the feet of Peter Quill. What should have been a brand new start for the final frontier seemed to be cut off at the knees before it even left the starting block. Imperial Guardians’ strong start is in spite of it’s issue handicap.
Longtime cosmic writer Dan Abnett, leads our unlikely heroes minus his partner in crime Andy Lanning. That being said Abnett more than holds his own. His Gamora is much sharper than her MCU counterpart in terms of personality, but it very much aligns with the tone of this book as well as her characterization during Abnett’s time on the GOTG pre-MCU. Everyone on the team plays their role well and Maximus the Mad (the team’s handler) is a delightfully arrogant antagonist. The book’s tone is mostly serious, but there are moments of dark humor to lighten things up.
Marcelo Ferreira’s art matches Abnett’s script beat for beat with just enough realism and grit to get across the tone, while also managing to show the wonders of intergalactic starships, fantastical aliens, and huge explosions. Rachelle Rosenberg’s colors also help give everything just a touch more authenticity.
Final Thoughts
Despite its shortened series length, Imperial Guardian still starts strong with a fun cast, a gritty narrative, and expressive art.
Imperial Guardians #1: Clipped Wings Fly High
- Writing - 8.5/108.5/10
- Storyline - 8/108/10
- Art - 8.5/108.5/10
- Color - 8/108/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
