By Nick Eskey

Legendary Star Lord #1

Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: Paco Madina & Juan Vlasco
Colorist: David Curiel
Cover: Paco Medina

Falling in line with the upcoming theatrical release of Guardians of the Galaxy, a couple of the team’s more likable (and perhaps a touch more scandalous) characters will also be seeing some center-stage comic debuts. The token human of the group happens to be one of those lucky two; Star Lord! Perhaps better known in the comic itself by his human name, the character Peter Quill will be appearing in his own reoccurring comic entitled Legendary Star Lord.

The comic does well as a first glance into the individual that is Star Lord; everything from childhood flashbacks, to skirmishes with ugly space pirates who will mostly likely never be seen from again, make an appearance. When we’re lead to believe that he’s nothing but looks, some selfishness, and a quick mouth, eventually we see a that underneath that bravado is actually a quick wit and a readiness for action; though he’s still quite selfish.

The art styling is very finely done. Paco Medina (pencilier), Juan Vlasco (inker), and David Curiel (colorist) all did a magnificent job in creating highly detailed characters. Everything from emotional outbursts to curves of bodies didn’t go unnoticed. It’s good to see that such attention has been placed in this comic. The backgrounds too were such highly polished sets for the events that take place. My big and only irk with the art was that much of the sceneries portrayed were nothing unique or special for the reader. Yes they were very well done, but haven’t we all seen a lone cemetery setting, or a standard spaceship before? Seeing as this is a first issue and reads much like an origin story, I’m hoping the proceeding issues will introduce readers to places they’ve never seen before.

Writer Sam Humphries does a good job to give a cursory glance at what is to follow, though I was somewhat reminded of the opening scene from the first Indiana Jones movie. And in regards to the writing, I couldn’t help but feel that the dialogues were also just that: cursory. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read some particularly painful dialogue in the past, and this is comic is nowhere near those. But I didn’t feel terribly satisfied that much of what the characters said added to, or further developed the overall visual story, but more or less spoke to what was already going on with the portrayed events and emotions.
Overall I’d say that this issue was a good start for the series that is to be. There are a few kinks that need to be ironed out, but nothing that can’t be solved once the comic gets some traction down the line. I personally would love to see what direction Humphries will take this character and his storyline into.