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Guardians Of The Galaxy #9: Review

Dec 2020
Al Ewing, Juan Cabal

Story Name:

9: I shall make you a Star-Lord

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Guardians Of The Galaxy #9 Review by (December 11, 2020)
The cover starts a 4-issue countdown but no-one seems to know what it is counting down to.

This issue mixes up the origins of the 2 Star-Lords.

The 1st Peter Quill (without the middle name Jason) was made Star-Lord by the Master Of The Sun in Marvel Preview (magazine) #4 in an alternate timeline. His mother was Meredith who was killed by alien Ariguans, and the MOTS gave him the Element Gun. The  writer of this 1st story was Steve Englehart who used astrological terms and called the initial story 1st House: Earth.
Chris Claremont took over the writing for later stories and abandoned the mystical trappings in favour of a more straightforward SF approach. The 2nd app (MPr#11) revealed that his father was the alien Jason of Sparta and the MOTS had given Peter a sentient starship called Ship.
After MPr#11 came #14-15, and then Doug Moench wrote tales in Marvel Comics Super-Special #10, MPr#18, Marvel Spotlight #6-7 and Marvel Premiere #61. He too wrote it as straight SF, even turning the MOTS into a scientist. The trail ends here in 1980.

The current Peter Jason Quill was 1st seen in 2004 in Thanos #8-12 escaping with him from the Kyln space prison. But he didn't get an origin until Guardians Of The Galaxy (2013) #0.1. Here there was no MOTS, his mother *was* Meredith but his father was J'Son of Spartax and the murdering aliens were Badoon. The Element Gun was something J'Son left behind, and the final scene of that issue is the same as the opening scene of this 1 in the hospital with exactly the same Gun. This was the 1st app of this Meredith, J'Son and Element Gun. Peter didn't have the Element Gun earlier, but in the new 2013 GOTG series he's suddenly toting it. The tale of how he 1st got into space wasn't told until Star-Lord (2015) #1-5.

Peter had impossible memories of the MOTS in #1-2 of this series, using much the same words as here. And Gamora had a vision of the MOTS as possibly the life-force of the Galaxy in #3 after Peter had 'died'. On the other hand at some points in this issue *Peter* looks like the MOTS. And the title page of this issue suggests that the current origin has suppressed the old origin, which is now breaking free. Is Quill at the end a new amalgam of both versions? I just don't know.

Peter says the Element Gun is like a Hieronymus machine. That 'machine' was invented by Thomas Galen Hieronymus in 1949 to detect certain 'emanations'. Normal scientists looked inside the machine and claimed that it couldn't possibly do anything. Hieronymus built several versions of the machine with different components but arranged in the same way and some people claimed they all produced the same results. John W Campbell, editor of Astounding SF (later Analog), claimed to have built a version which contained only a diagram of the workings, and that worked too.
The connection with the Element Gun I suppose is that Quill rebuilt it in various ways and they all worked. But they only worked for him, as the Hieronymus machine only 'worked' for some people.

The scene at the end is part of the King In Black event which the GOTG will get dragged into next issue.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Guardians Of The Galaxy #9 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
The Master Of The Sun speaks to young Peter Jason Quill and tells him he has been chosen.

Then young Peter awakes in a hospital bed to be told that his mother is dead but he has survived with injuries. A nurse hands him his space gun with the Sun symbol on it.

The MOTS speaks again to older Quill facing the Olympian Gods (at the end of #2). He tells him his weapon (the Element Gun) is invincible but it's only as powerful as *he* makes it. Peter triggers the manual countdown on the singularity bomb and says he has a plan to survive the explosion. He gets the gun to recharge from the power of the Gods themselves, and then the bomb explodes.

Now the Master continues by saying that he may not be what he seems. But he will make Quill into Star-Lord and allow him to have a whole new life if he wants.

Most of the rest of the issue is divided into pseudo-astrological sections.

1st house: The house of beginnings.

We are told it is 12 days later when Peter awakens naked in a bed with his Element Gun on the bedside table.

2nd house: The house of possessions.

He checks its charge but it replies "Charge unknown". He sets it to Earth setting and it spits out a lump of rock, so that seems to be OK.

3rd house: The house of communications.

Someone calls to ask if he's alright. His translator implant enables him to communicate with this blue-skinned male, who says that Peter was babbling in a strange language when they found him.

4th house: The house of homes.

We learn that they're in a house on the back of a flying tortoise above the land they call Morinus which means World Beyond The Sun in the language of their ancestors. A blue-skinned female joins them and they exchange names. She is Aradia and the man is Mors. She explains that they are nomads, unaffiliated with any of the 12 Houses. And Peter thinks he'll fit in.

6 months later we see the 3 of them fighting men with breathing apparatus on a ship while another ship nearby sinks.

5th house: The house of play.

1 year into his life here they are relaxing by a fireside beneath a cubic moon. Aradia offers to let Peter join her and Mors' sexual union, but he says that's not the way of his people and there's someone (Gamora) waiting for him to get back home. Aradia thinks he's weird.

6th house: The house of health.

In the 3rd year Peter uses the Element Gun to create a green object made of peridotite which he says is 1 of the heaviest types of rock. Aradia asks him how the Gun works and he has to admit he doesn't know. He says he's taken it apart and rebuilt it, changed the housing and once built a copy. He likens it to a Hieronymus machine but it won't work for anyone but him. He now creates a green peridot statue (of Gamora), and says that the Gun's never needed recharging since he arrived here. She wonders what the power source could be, and he cryptically says he hopes it's far away (ie the Greek Gods).

Mors arrives to say they've been hired to rob a flying castle.

7th house: The house of partnerships.

12 days later they are flying with artificial wings fighting bird-men. They now have a clear run towards a cloud bearing a castle encrusted with Sky Gems. Apparently the bird-people hired them to attack their own home because it will aid in diplomatic negotiations with the Land Kingdoms.

9 years in and they are escorting possibly the same bird-people carrying large eggs. Mors has something like a giant toothbrush slung over his shoulder, and Quill's Gun now looks like the 'toy' he had as a child.

8th house: The house of death and rebirth.

In the 12th year the trio are in a heated pool in a temple called the Gateway. Myths say it is a place of destiny which will change your life forever, and the Gateway will take you home. But Peter says he's given up that dream. This is his home now and he's ready to join them fully.

9th house: The house of ideas.

It's the 143rd year and Aradia is pregnant. Peter quotes something from their philosophical texts which ends "... and you become the Master Of The Sun." But he adds his own extra bit "The only weakness in working your will is you." which he says he thinks is a false memory he had when he got the Element Gun. Aradia says it sounds like something from a fairytale. Mors asks if the Gun has limits. Quill says he hopes not, and we see he's rebuilt it differently again. He's about to tell them about the power it stole ...

10th house: The house of life's work.

... when the Olympians arrive to take their power back. They begin by blasting him, and explaining that each time he used the Gun he gave a little power back to them. Now they have enough to face him.

11th house: The house of community.

A year later the Gods are still chasing him. He's flying again, fighting them with his allies the Bird-people. Aradia joins them and assures him that Rocky (presumably her son) is safe with Mors. That is until the Olympians destroy the world. But Quill knows they won't do that until they've got *all* their power back from the Gun and him. He has a plan, and she follows him down to ...

12th house: The house of endings.

... the Gateway pool. He intends to go through the Gateway so that the Olympians will follow him and leave Morinus alone. Aradia asks him not to forget them, and then he jumps in ...

... As he sinks the Master's voice returns to tell him he is now a Star-Lord, Master Of The Sun and Master Of The Solar System, and of something more universal. But what will he do with it?

Peter Quill awakens on a plain of skeletons, still wearing his Morinus clothes. And then he sees Rocket Raccoon and Nova. Rocket tells Quill to look behind him. He turns and sees a flying black dragon.



Juan Cabal
Juan Cabal
Federico Blee
Rafael Albuquerque (Cover Penciler)
Rafael Albuquerque (Cover Inker)
Rafael Albuquerque (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Cory Petit.
Editor: Darren Shan. Editor-in-chief: C. B. Cebulski.

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