By the time Peter Quill arrives, he’s already a legend. He and his whole group are. They’ve just landed in the middle of some kind of civil war, and one of their most powerful allies has become something of a vicious force of nature. Things seem to be falling apart, but it’s nothing that they haven’t had to deal with before in Guardians of the Galaxy #1. The writing team of Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing opens up a whole new series featuring the popular spacefaring heroes. Artist Kev Walker lends a gritty gravity to the action that is granted extra depth and luminosity courtesy of colorist Matt Hollingsworth.

It wasn’t long ago that the Guardians were destroyed. They’re still kicking around, though. They’re still trying to scrape together some hope for the future in the bleakest corner of the galaxy. Their legend precedes them. They are recognized as the heroes they are...but they’re not exactly recognizable after all that’s happened to them. Now, they’re dealing with the mess that is a monstrous Groot on a barren, dusty planet out in the middle of nowhere. They’re trying to do the right thing. It’s not going to be easy. They’re headed straight into a civil war. 

Lanzing and Kelly dive straight into space western mode from the first panel. It’s okay. The team in question works as a group of space cowboys. It just feels kind of silly without more thematic weight behind it. The Guardians are recognized as saviors that are nearly godlike...and there’s a clever gravity to that, but Lanzing and Kelly don’t have a whole lot of time to explore it in the first issue, as they are far too busy introducing familiar characters to bother much with the central plot that they will be inhabiting in the series ahead. 

Walker makes a clever fusion of old western cowboy visuals and modern space fantasy imagery. It looks good. (It does.) It lacks the inventiveness to make much of an impact beyond mood and tone, though. The writing team isn’t giving Walker a whole lot of drama to render, but the action is well-executed throughout. The desert planet feels atmospheric enough...bolstered as it is by Hollingsworth’s colors. It should have a lot more weight than it does, though. The overall look of everything is very sleek and well-conceived. Lanzing and Kelly have failed to point any of it in a compelling direction as of yet.

Lanzing, Kelly, and company have plenty of time to bring the series into focus. A cowboy-heavy space western set in the Marvel Universe has plenty of potential. It just needs to find the right direction. The first issue is not without considerable visceral impact. Everything seems to be moving in the right direction. It just doesn’t seem to have found the right direction by the end of the first issue. This isn’t a great sign. The ensemble is good, though. The setting is interesting. The basic elements need to come together a bit more to really gain speed.

Grade: B-