Guardians of the Galaxy #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

First, I have to say that I don't know when we decided to make Peter Quill super-hot, but, man, I am all for it.  Damn.

I think Bendis is totally going in the right direction by focusing on Peter as some combination of Han Solo and prodigal son.  It helps give his character a certain motivation that he's always been lacking (even though I don't think that I realized it previously).  It also gives the series a propulsive energy that you can see in the opening sequence where he goes from hitting on a Kree girl to arguing with his Spartaxan father.  Even if they were a little Bendis-y, I still really enjoyed Quill's conversations with both of them, establishing him as a rakish rogue who's a good time at a bar as well as a serious man with a surfeit of righteous anger.  Bendis also has plenty of room to explore this duality in the coming issues.  For example, why doesn't Peter want to be the Spartaxan prince?  Is he just mad at his father for abandoning his family?  If it's more than that, why doesn't he trust him?  Or, is he just that reluctant to take on that responsibility?  Bendis sets up the possibility that Quill's father betrayed him, something that doesn't initially feel right to me but certainly seems to be something that Quill himself would believe.  If he did betray him, then it becomes all the easier why he's reluctant to trust him enough to agree to return to Spartax and rule by his side.  Again, this intrigue seems a good decision from a plot perspective.  As I said, it gives Quill (and the series) a depth that he's previously lacked as just a guy "cavorting around the galaxy with [his] broken friends," to quote his father.

Beyond the focus on Quill, Bendis and McNiven deliver a great action sequence here, drawing in the rest of the cast in a way that reminds us that it's not just going to be a Peter showcase.  It's fun to see Iron Man outside his element and looking to cues from Peter for how he should proceed.

Finally, I'm particularly impatient for us to get to the story of his flight from the Cancerverse, particularly since it seems like it will have to answer the question about what happened to Nova.  But, in the meantime, I'm totally happy with the monthly shenanigans of Peter Quill, "questionable women," and the other Guardians.