Guardians Of The Galaxy: Bane Of Blastaar #1: Review

Apr 2023
Ralph Macchio, Davide Tinto

Story Name:

The world at my fingertips

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Guardians Of The Galaxy: Bane Of Blastaar #1 Review by (May 6, 2023)
This 1-off issue is a sort-of re-intro/reminder of who the Guardians Of The Galaxy are alongside the new series, but strangely quite a different group in a different role.

Blastaar 1st appeared in Fantastic Four #62 during a previous period when he'd been depose and exiled from Baluur. He made random apps after that until Annihilation: Conquest where he met Peter Quill.

Gosnell's Bar was 1st seen in #5 of the previous (2020) Guardians series as their 'base' after Knowhere was destroyed.

The metal Corbomite has nothing to do with Star Trek's Corbomite Manoeuvre.

The Guardians' spaceship Almond was 1st seen in #14 of the 2020 series but was destroyed in #16. #14-16 were part of the battle against the coming of Dormammu (#13-18) and as such there's no room for this adventure there. However Almond succeeded their previous ship Bowie which was destroyed in #11 during the fight against the Olympians (#11-12). There's a 3-month gap between #12 and #13 so this issue can fit in there, making this Almond's 1st app.

This also fits in with the Guardians wearing their matching uniforms as the official police force of the Galactic Council, which they donned at the end of #12. There are people missing from that roster here:- existing members Captain Marvel (Phyla-Vell), Marvel Boy (Noh-Varr) and Moondragon plus new members Quasar (Avril Kincaid) and Quasar (Wendell Vaughan). Mantis was also added to the team for the Dormammu affair.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Guardians Of The Galaxy: Bane Of Blastaar #1 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
In the Negative Zone on the planet Baluur the tyrant King Blastaar promises (again) to lead his army into the positive universe to conquer the Milky Way galaxy. And he promises death to any of his people who don't support him. He goes through a portal to a base on a positive planet they've christened New Baluur where they've been building a weapon to 'obliterate the positive universe', but the head scientist has to explain that they've hit some snags. Facing his King's wrath he says they're working flat-out to fix them. Blastaar leaves him with a threat if he doesn't.

But we have seen that many Baluurians oppose his plan. And this scientist Graybar is 1 of them. He has done all he can to delay the project but now he decides to get help elsewhere ...

... which is in Gosnell's Bar where the Guardians Of The Galaxy are drinking (and using the opportunity to briefly mention their history). Peter Quill (Star-Lord) reminds them how he 1st gathered the Guardians together as a group after they helped fight of the Phalanx invasion of the Kree (which was recounted in the Annihilation: Conquest event). Gamora reminds him that he had to get Mantis (the former Celestial Madonna) to secretly use her mental powers to persuade them to agree. Mantis is unapologetic because the result was good. Nova (Richard Rider) reminds them that he was part of the Nova Corps before he joined them later, and they're very different kinds of team. Gamora reminisces that Thanos made her the 'deadliest woman in the Galaxy' but she's become better, but less lethal, in the GOTG. Drax The Destroyer adds that he was previously Earthman Arthur Douglas who was killed by Thanos and then reborn as his nemesis. Rocket Raccoon points out that he and Groot were in Peter's pre-GOTG team (in Annihilation: Conquest, but he 'conveniently' forgets Mantis was there too), and then adds that they need a big threat to keep them occupied.

At this point Graybar walk in and asks for their help. He tells them about labouring under the tyranny of Blastaar, who Quill knows well as a villain. But now he tells them about the weapon which will use Blastaar's power to transmit an antimatter pulse across the Galaxy to kill all life, and then he will lead his people to colonise the now-empty worlds. Blastaar is prepared to resist a major assault from the likes of the Kree or Shi'ar, so Graybar has come to them for a stealth attack to stop him. They all agree to take the mission.

They approach New Baluur in the Guardians' spaceship The Almond in stealth mode and land outside the base where Graybar says he knows a way in. Rocket as usual wants to blast their way in but everyone excedpt Drax disagrees. The Baluurian leads them to a little-used side entrance but it is of course closed. Nova plans to blast it open until Pete reminds Rich about stealth and gets Groot to lever it open with plant-power. Nova impulsively flies ahead for a reconnaissance but triggers another door which shuts behind him. Graybar says the building is composed of the almost indestructible Baluurian metal Corbomite, and Drax's fists and Rocket's gun make no dent in the door. But then Star-Lord pulls out his element gun and turns the door to glass which Drax gladly smashes through.

A bit further on as they get near Blastaar's chamber a piercing alarm goes off in their vicinity until Groot smashes the speakers. And then a giant cyber-assault robot arrives to deal with the problem. Graybar says he designed the thing and it can be disabled by the power cord on the back of its neck. Quill tries to use his element gun to turn the metal to plastic but it hasn't rebuilt its charge yet. And Graybar pushes him out of the way of a laser beam which hits *him* dead centre. Drax holds back 1 of the robot's fists while Mantis somersaults up its arm to reach the power cord and rip it out. And that threat's over. But Graybar dies.

All through the mission Rocket and Nova have been verbally sniping at each other. But now everyone pulls together the make the Baluurian's sacrifice not be in vain. They dash down the corridor to where the antimatter machine is held, guarded by 2 armoured Baluurians who Gamora takes out with 1 scissorkick while Groot's tendrils disarm them. They enter the chamber to find Blastaar attached to the machine ready to power it up. Star-Lord sends his troops into action because his element gun still isn't working. Groot tries to infiltrate some tendrils into the machine but gets hit by electric feedback. Drax hits Blastaar's jaw with a 'blow that would have staggered Thanos' but the villain just kicks him away. He also fends of Nova's blast and retaliates, and this is while the machine is siphoning off much of his power. Gamora tries to find a weak point while Mantis sneaks up and tries to remove the syphon connection from his back, but he grabs both of them by the throat. Rocket at last fires his gun but its only effect is to make the villain drop the females. Blastaar sends a quake through the floor which catches all they GOTG except flying Nova. Pete tells Rich it's now all up to him.

The Human Rocket zooms out of the building and locates the external antenna which is going to fire the anti-matter beam. He hopes to destroy it before it fires but then senses he's too late. So he flies straight into the mouth of the weapon pushing against the beam until his forcefield blocks the exit which causes the 'gun' to explode. He falls exhausted form the sky. But Star-Lord had anticipated this and Groot is ready to soften his landing.

Inside the building Blastaar demands that his scientists shut the machine down before feedback causes it to explode. But it's too late and the villain is blasted by his own power. He's now too weak to stand up to the Guardians but his troops are still here. However it turns out that *nobody* loved him and they're all glad to take their hated leader home and punish him accordingly. And the Guardians return to Gosnell's Bar to raise a toast to Graybar.



Davide Tinto
Davide Tinto
Yen Nitro
Todd Nauck (Cover Penciler)
Todd Nauck (Cover Inker)
Rachelle Rosenberg (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Cory Petit.
Editor: Kat Gregorowicz. Editor-in-chief: C. B. Cebulski.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

> Guardians Of The Galaxy: Bane Of Blastaar: Book info and issue index

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