This issue is a mess, but it's a fun mess.
Peter rolls with the revelation that he has a half-sister a little too easily in my book, particularly given that his status as a quasi-orphan is front and center in his mythos. Moreover, not only does Peter take this fairly significant revelation in stride, but the siblings develop an unexpected bond pretty quickly. Humphries more or less explicitly ties this development to their mutual distrust of their father, but he unfortunately doesn't explain why Victoria hates J'Son so much. Sure, she makes a convincing case why she had to work for everything that she has as his dark-skinned illegitimate daughter. But, it explains why she would hate the Spartans, not necessarily J'Son. He clearly didn't disown her if she rose to the rank of Captain of the Guards. (Though, if he was a dick about it, then it would make total sense.) Moreover, Humphries implies that Victoria just has a good feeling about Peter; she tells him that she read it in his eyes that he didn't mean to insult her. But, is that enough to trust a guy that just toppled your father's empire and doesn't exactly have the best reputation when it comes to law enforcement?
However, if Victoria's goal really was to earn enough money to pay her guards and help some refugees, you could see where she might be willing to believe the other stories about Peter -- the ones where he's, you know, a guardian of the galaxy -- and throw in her lot with him. She doesn't say that, exactly, but it seems to be a sub-text of her decision to trust him -- at least after her anger over him calling her ship dumb fades. In other words, Humphries is asking us to go with him here, and I'm willing to do it. Victoria's a noble character with a sense of scoundrel about her. Put another way, she's the opposite of -- but the same as -- Star-Lord, and it totally works. I'm willing to draw the connections that I need to draw to buy their relationship (though I would like a little more detail about her relationship with their father). Like I said in my review of the most recent "Earth 2" issue, Humphries could spend a few issues showing their bond developing only to get us to the same place, so I'm willing to just get there without the fuss.
After all, Humphries reminds us why we trust him with the scene where Peter explains his death wish. If Peter's oddly unemotional about Victoria, he's not about Thanos. He reveals that he's dreading facing Thanos, even though he knows that he has to do so. He mentions the deal that he made with Thanos to escape the Cancerverse again in this issue, and I know that we're going to get to the bottom of it in the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" issue. It's been clear since Bendis took over the character that the Star-Lord who sacrificed himself with Nova to end the threat of Thanos was a different Star-Lord than the one that we've seen lately. He was fun, but more serious. Humphries implies that the fun-loving guy that we've seen since his return is really just a guy looking for a way to drink and screw -- ahem, "carouse" -- his way to some peace. He's a guy who took a few step backwards in the maturity department to free himself from the darkest place that he's ever known. He hasn't found that peace, and it's time for him to face the music. Bendis hasn't gotten into this depth with Peter in "Guardians of the Galaxy," but it feels right to me. In that way, Humphries basically justified this solo series right here. We get to see behind the bravado, and it's a complicated character study -- though still one with the charm and the wit (obviously). For the first time, I recognize the dry hero that I loved in "Annihilation" existing somewhere in this blond scoundrel. That alone is worth the price of admission.
(Also: is Mr. Knife yet another Spartan sibling? Because he looks like he could be Star-Lord's evil twin. Maybe it's J'Son? I guess we'll see.)
**** (four of five stars)
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