The Good
Ever since THE THANOS IMPERATIVE #6in 2010, we've been left wondering what happened to Richard Rider. While it seemed he, Star-Lord, Drax, and Thanos all died in the Cancerverse, we later saw all return, except Nova. Last issue Gamora, tired of not having answers, tied up Star-Lord and is forcing him to final reveal what happened. Only last issue we only got the beginning. It turns out there's a bit that happened and Star-Lord is giving all the details.
What we see here is what they all went through. We could imagine that being in the Cancerverse wouldn't exactly be a vacation but now we discover that it was more brutal than we imagined. Not only did Star-Lord, Nova, and Drax have to deal with being stuck there, they also had a faulty Cosmic Cube about to consume whoever used it as well as Thanos to deal with. If that wasn't enough, we discover there were even more problems that come up.
What's fascinating is seeing Star-Lord in a more serious position. We know he's portrayed as a bit of a goof or scoundrel. Brian Michael Bendis conveys the dark times he went through. You can feel how somber his telling of the story is. There are some big massive scenes and some surprises as Ed McGuinness depicts the events with his usual flare. Jason Keith's colors enhance the scenes. There are a lot of shadows and dark areas throughout but the color really shines in all the right places.
The Bad
I actually thought we'd be getting all the answers here. We do get some. We do see more of what happened. If this is something big, we want to see all the details. It's still hard to read through this issue and reach the "To be continued..." part. That makes you think the story won't be concluded next issue but the solicit for #20 says it's the conclusion and issue #21 is the beginning of the three-part Planet Venom arc. The battles are nice here but it still feels like it's putting off actually getting the answer to the question we've been asking. But since we've been waiting since 2010, one more month won't kill us.
And wasn't Star-Lord's hair less blonde back in THANOS IMPERATIVE? I'm still trying to figure out what happened to his hair as well.
The Verdict
Brian Michael Bendis and Ed McGuinness are taking us back to the final (?) days of Richard Rider. It's been a fun trip seeing Nova, Star-Lord, and Drax fighting against and alongside Thanos after the moment we thought they all died (even though it's comic books and we knew they'd someday come back). We don't get all the answers here since there's still one more part to the story next issue, but we do see some great flashbacks to fill us in some of the gaps. Bendis' sets the tone nicely and McGuinness' art and Jason Keith's colors make it all look great. We still have to wait one more month to discover Nova's fate but Bendis and McGuinness are cranking up the action.