ICYMI: Imperial Guardians #5: Corporate Mismanagement FTW

On their latest mission, the Imperial Guardians find themselves facing…the Imperial Guardians?! After battling their impostors, our ragtag team finally starts to put together Maximus’ true plan, but due to forces outside of their control they may never be able to stop it.

Imperial was hyped up to be the revamping of Marvel’s cosmic characters. Jonathan Hickman, the man responsible for the Krakoan Age, Secret Wars 2015, and Ultimate Universe 2.0 was now bringing his considerable talents to space. Imperial saw the return of the Inhuman Royal Family after their supposed deaths, the dissolving of the Kree-Skrull alliance, and the ascension of Peter Quill that saw a complete shift in the hierarchy of power in the universe. One year later and all that potential has been sadly flushed down the drain. Each title announced in the wake of Imperial lasted only five issues, with one of the titles (Exiles) not coming out at all. This is less about Imperial as an event itself and more about Marvel as a company over the last decade or so when it comes to both their editorial and marketing departments’ lack of faith in stories. Initiatives like Imperial and the recently ended Ultimate 2.0 tell the tale of a company desperately searching for its next hit instead of having faith in the books finding an audience. There is way more I could rant about, but we’re here to talk about Imperial Guardians.

Dan Abnett admirably does his best to tie up as much as he can in this final issue to mixed results. The battle with the “fake” Imperial Guardians (which is lead by Death’s Head and is comprised of Century, Quasar, Knightwatch, and US Agent) is a fun distraction, but really its a consolation prize since the rest of the issue is the two teams figuring out Maximus’ grand plan only for neither to get their hands on him in the end. Even Gamora’s words at the end seem like an attempt by Abnett to apologize to the fans for the book ending so abruptly.

Marcelo Ferreira brings fun, albeit standard, pencils for the final issue. THe battle between the two teams is well done, but aside from that not much else stands out.