The latest Guardians of the Galaxy run comes to an end with Guardians of the Galaxy Annual 2024, reuniting the creative team of Jackson Lanzing and Colin Kelly, Kev Walker, Matt Hollingsworth and Cory Petit. “Grootrise” centers around the Guardians of the Galaxy’s last stand; in order for their friend Groot to fully flourish and re-seed the universe with life, they have to stand against the might of the Spartax Empire. Triumph and tragedy await them at the end of this journey…
The Guardians have settled into multiple roles throughout their modern-day tenure at Marvel, from the universe’s last hope under Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning to an intergalactic force of peacekeepers under Al Ewing. During their run, Lanzing and Kelly have burrowed into the unescapable truth at the Guardians’ core: they’re a family, first and foremost. No matter how much they might irritate you, you’ll go to bat for your family. It doesn’t even have to be your own flesh and blood; family, trite as this might sound, is what you make it. The Guardians have made their own family, and they all fight to protect it – in Star-Lord’s case, he literally fights his own sister Victoria.
Walker’s artwork captures the majesty and menace of space, all the while giving each of the Guardians their own standout moment. One page has Nebula, Gamora and Mantis fighting off a horde of Spartoi ships, launching beams of blazing golden light. Another chronicles through the many lives Drax has led, before culminating in an image so glorious and sublime it has to be read to be believed. This being an Annual, Walker also gets the chance to draw some splash pages, and he delivers on that splash. Very few artists have managed to capture the grand spectacle that Marvel’s cosmic characters inhabit, but Walker is definitely one of them.
It helps that he’s joined by Hollingsworth and Petit. Hollingsworth’s color work in Guardians of the Galaxy Annual 2024 delivers fiery white explosions, burning red solar flares, and lush green landscapes across the bluish-black expanse of space. Petit’s lettering slowly shifts out of the bark brown tones that have encompassed Groot’s hive mind, to normal white and black speech bubbles – further tying in with the themes of rebirth scattered throughout this series.
Guardians of the Galaxy Annual 2024 brings the latest Guardians run to a spectacular, emotional close. In their closing letter, Lanzing and Kelly reflect on the road they’ve taken and how, like the Guardians, they’ve come out of it changed. It’s those kinds of statements that let you know you’re reading a good comic; if the creators pour their heart into it, chances are it’ll stick with you long after you close the page. I know that I’ll be looking up at the stars, wondering where the Guardians’ next adventure will take them.
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