A Horse is a Horse... Except When it Isn't
Welp. Legendary Star Lord's been a pretty damn solid series so far, and this is no exception. Well, last issue was a weird sort of detour, even in the art department; and this issue decides to kind of forget it. But seriously, you have a magic gem you invested so much effort across 3 issues getting and keeping and getting to Earth; a gem that lets you GO TOE TO TOE WITH GODDAMN THANOS, and you just THROW IT AWAY? What possible reason could you have for that? At least give us some kind of downside; bs or not, because that there is complete and utter stupidity not to keep something like that.
Mister Knife's Slaughter Squad seems pretty cool at first glance, but there's a point where you realize we're basically marking off a checklist of 'asshole aliens.' Shi'ar? Check. Badoon? Check. Skrull? Check. Oh look, a Centurian archer, haven't we seen one of those in the other Guardians? So only 2 new ideas here, and one of them is killed off. Although Misa the Shi'ar is pretty crazy and kind of interesting and I think she's a nod to Death Note with her name, shinigami-esque appearance, and weird obsessive love complex thing going on.
The pacing of this issue is where it really works. We're setting up something big here with a retelling of a heist with interruptions from Star Lord as he drinks and jokes around as Star Lord is wont to do. It begins a new story while leaping off the subplot from the first few issues. Mr. Knife is still fairly generic as are most of his crew; but that mysterious "Father Diablo" (whose name is admittedly no less generic than Mr. Knife) is by far the most enigmatic and interesting member of the antagonist group.
In Conclusion: 3.5/5
This issue came across as being a little short. The tale's constant interruptions worked well on a plot level, but ended up cutting the tale a bit short. There's a lot of genericism in the whole Slaughter Squad working for Mr. Knife; but there's a few genuinely compelling things here, and the character work for Peter Quill is excellent, especially with Kitty Pryde in the emotional mix. It works that their relationship is still playful; not truly serious. This issue also has the unfortunate task of throwing away loose ends from last month's anticlimax. Still a fun series worth picking up.