The original Guardians of the Galaxy team was one of many 1970s Marvel creations that didn’t find themselves with a title of their own, which means they were relegated to crossovers and supporting roles. The most noteworthy story of their early days was The Korvac Saga, which brought the characters into the modern day from the far-flung 31st century; even the proximity to our modern-day heroes only saw them get individual team-up stints in Ms. Marvel and Marvel Two-in-One.
It would take the Guardians over 30 years to find themselves properly seated in their own book. Guardians of the Galaxy debuted in 1990, part of a publishing initiative that brought many new series out in a short window of time: the adjectiveless Spider-Man and X-Men books, New Warriors (which also featured its own version of Vance Astrovik, a Guardians character), and Ghost Rider, to name a few.
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Guardians of the Galaxy Epic Collection: Quest for the Shield collects 20 years of Guardians stories, from Korvac (also collected in Avengers Epic Collection – The Yesterday Quest) to the first six issues of their ’90s book. Two decades in a single volume might illustrate how underutilized the characters were – and how little fans were clamoring for them.
Very little world-building had been done for the Guardians during their early time in Marvel Super-Heroes and subsequent team-ups, which meant there was plenty of room for writer/artist (and eventual Image Comics founder) Jim Valentino to stretch his creative muscles. What was the universe like in the 31st century? How would we fill that future cosmos?
It might be surprising to find that the Marvel heroes of the 20th century have made a massive, unbelievable impact on the 31st century. Our story begins with the Guardians on the titular quest for the shield: Captain America’s shield, hidden behind alluded to riddles like the final relic in an Indiana Jones film.
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More pressing, the team finds itself in conflict with a war-hungry race of beings calling themselves the Stark. We learn that Tony Stark launched his technology off-world to keep it out of the hands of alien invaders (in the Guardians’ reality, Earth fell to Martians in the War of the Worlds); that armor, intended to drift endlessly in space, crashed on a primitive planet. Its peoples now worship Stark like a god; what’s more, high-tech armor is a requirement for their species.
Valentino would pack the 31st century with distressingly warped Marvel legacy – later stories feature a gang of Punishers and introduce the first Cosmic Ghost Rider. The first six issues, collected here, only get us as far as the quest is concerned: is Cap’s shield really out there, and who else is hunting it?
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Guardians of the Galaxy: Quest for the Shield mixes the Guardians of the 31st century so innately in with the Avengers through massive crossovers and singular guest spots that it seems only natural that when the time comes they would begin to feel like a legacy version of that team, though sometimes it feels like they’re fans primarily of a single member. With a spaceship named the Captain America II, desperation for that hero’s shield, and even wearing little Star Trek-style transport badges that look like US-themed stars, the Guardians are clearly Cap-philes.
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20 years of comics illustrate a neglected franchise; the beginning of their series hinted at a very brief rise, one filled with compelling new detail and fun reimaginings of classic concepts. Korvac and the series are the high water marks of the original team, which means Quest for the Shield is a banger even at its most granular. It’s a deeply-exciting collection for fans of the characters, and it only leaves those fans desperate for another volume of the 90s series.
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