Synopsis
Guardians Of The Galaxy #11 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Despite discovering last issue that the returned Star-Lord could be a major weapon against Knull in the King In Black event, the Guardians Of The Galaxy decide instead to fight the Olympian Gods who are chasing Peter Quill.
Nova (Richard Rider) reminisces about the planet Daedalus 5 which Annihilus used the power of enslaved Galactus to destroy (in the Annihilation series). He, Star-Lord, Gamora and their forces evacuated as many of the planet's inhabitants as they could, but many more were left behind. 2 of Galactus' former Heralds, Red Shift and Stardust, died that day.
Now he's brought the Guardians to that dead planet to make their stand against the Olympians. Meanwhile he's phoning in a therapy session with his psychiatrist on Halfworld who he's been describing the past events to. The doctor is supportive and continues to bolster Richard's sense of self-worth. Nova says he's called in backup, and others of his current Guardians team are seeking weapons in the starship Bowie. (We see Groot, Hercules, Marvel Boy and Rocket Raccoon there, and Captain Marvel (Phyla-Vell), Moondragon and Quill on the planet.)
The doc is worried about how Richard feels about Peter returning from the dead. Apparently Quill spent over a 100 years in another realm Morinus, without ageing, and is now a souped-up Star-Lord. Richard is glad to have him back but he has unanswered questions ...
... which the requested backup Gamora wants answers to too, as she drops in (literally) from a spacecraft in the sky. She was angry enough when her love ran off with Nova without telling her and got himself killed, after swearing to her that they could give up adventuring and settle down together (#1-2) - so angry that she quit the team. Now he's back after apparently years of not contacting them. Peter doesn't help things when his mind confuses her with the female Aradia he met during that time. So she hits him ...
... and then ignores him in favour of preparing for the foes. The craft lands and disgorges members of her alternate GOTG, Drax and the Prince. She mentions that Blackjack O'Hare (Rocket's arch-frenemy) is too busy to come.
Phyla chides Moondragon for obviously mentally eavesdropping. Heather Douglas claims she's worried about Peter and Gamora's mental state, but she can't 'read' them. Gamora has her thoughts tightly controlled, and trying to scan the new Star-Lord is like looking at the Sun. Phyla is still angry that her wife, the Moondragon/Heather from their alternate timeline, merged mind and body with the Moondragon/Heather from this reality. She says that *her* Heather wouldn't invade her friends' privacy.
Heather takes them to a memory of when she proposed to Phyla and gave her a ring. But Phyla still can't trust that it's *her* Heather she's 'talking' to. They come from a world of true heroes, but on this world heroes are conflicted and she fears it's corrupted her lover. But her Moondragon says she merged to help this world's copy, and that Heather surfaces to remind her that she lost *her* Phyla (at the hands of Thanos in GOTG(2008)#24). Phyla can't deal with it and walks away.
Peter tells Rich that he remembers his past on this world but he also has obviously fresher memories of his more recent life on Morinus. He's changed such a lot that he doesn't remember the person he was in that past. Richard then apologises for bringing Peter back from where he was obviously happy, but Peter says he would have found *some* way of getting home whatever. (And this is *not* how it happened. There's no sign of Nova 'calling' for Star-Lord in #10. And Peter decided to leave Morinus in #9 to lead the Olympians away from that place.)
The Bowie arrives with the extra weapons. But at the same time so do the Olympians with thunder and lightning blasting the sky. Pilot Groot struggles to land the starship as the others try to persuade him to abandon ship with them. But the Bowie explodes and crashes.
The Olympians are after Quill because he stole their godly power (#2). They have regained much of it but Zeus says they want the rest back, before resuming their conquest of the universe. Star-Lord vows to stop them, and the rest of the Guardians back him up.