Ooo, I enjoyed this issue thoroughly.
First, I love how Bendis keeps J'Son's motivations really unclear here. After all, he lays out the threat that Earth has posed to the galactic leaders that he's assembled -- the Asgardians, the Badoon, the Brood, the Kree, and the Shi'Aar -- but fails to mention that Earth has never really attacked Spartax. Sure, he makes the argument that once Earth develops space travel all bets are off the table, but you still have to wonder why he's so concerned about that threat now. It obviously leads you to wonder if it's all an attempt to manipulate Peter into returning to Spartax. If so, the plan worked pretty well. He gets Freya to put Earth under her protection, declares that it's off-limits to the assembled potentates, drops a hint to Peter that it's a sitting duck, gets Peter to go save it from the inevitable Badoon invasion, and, BAM, finds that Peter is dragged to Spartax in chains for violating the quarantine. Pretty clever.
But, as is required if this series is going to work, this issue isn't just about the possible manipulations of Peter's father. The Guardians themselves give us a rollicking good time and Bendis gives us a lot to love here. I loved Rocket declaring, "BLAM, murdered you" every time that he shot someone. I loved Peter and Tony's banter (and Tony dissing Captain Britain). I loved Drax and Gamora being Drax and Gamora. I loved that we have to wait for Groot to regrow himself. Along the way, Bendis peppers their conversation with enough nonsense words -- "What am I, a Figalleon farmer?" -- to keep up the campy space-opera theme that this series also needs to have to work. For good measure, Bendis also throws in enough Easter eggs -- from science-fiction references like Rigel-Seven to comic-book jokes like "Power Pack?" -- to make you wonder if Bendis has finally found the book where his corny sense of humor actually works.
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