 Can Gary Dugan save the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise? Stay tuned. Hey everybody, welcome to another exciting episode of another edition of what we can geek them here on YouTube. My name is Giovanna Menendez, and today we're gonna be talking Omnis. Specifically Guardians of the Galaxy Omnibus by Gary Dugan, his run, which wasn't too big. It was only 817 or 18 issues, and it's collected in this very thin omni that you know should by all means and purposes should have been a Oversized hardcover in my honest opinion. So yeah, Guardians of the Galaxy Let's take a quick look at this Omnibus. We take the slip cover off. By the way, this is one of the cooler images I love the cover for this book. Here we have the back cover And of course the wraparound image looking pretty snazzy if I do say so myself Let's open it up so you guys can see it You haven't it's pretty cool with the Milano in the background all that stuff so aside from Spider-Man, which is my favorite superhero and Fantastic Four, which is one of my favorite teams and the inhumans and all that stuff I really really really enjoy Cosmic Marvel it is rich and Deep in the history and lore you can pull out any decade from the Fantastic Four days in the 60s and 70s up till now and yeah, there were some dark Blind spots, but for the most part you will always have a solid Cosmic story to fall back on in my In my case, of course, it had to be the whole annihilation Annihilation conquest and War of Kings trilogy and all that stuff that was what got me hooked with Cosmic Marvel itself I really enjoyed what Abnet and landing were doing with those characters and part of what made it extra special to me was the fact that you Reboot it and reintroduced the Guardians of the Galaxy before they were a thing in movies and and cultural awareness and all that stuff they took C and D listers that nobody cared about brought them to the forefront and Made something special and awesome to enjoy annihilation is one of the best Marvel stories around I love that story so much and in there you saw the reboot reintroduction of Star Lord and then Groot Rocket and everybody else started showing up again So when that whole saga ended with the cancer verse and all that stuff with Thanos imperative and then annihilators Etc. Etc. The Guardians were left in a state of limbo until Marvel now Where Brian Michael Bendis resurrected the team because hey, there's a movie coming out This was 2013 2014. There's a movie coming out about Guardians of the Galaxy So you might as well bring these characters back to one get more readers involved and to you know Get new people to enjoy stories about the Guardians. Now the main problem with the Brian Michael Bendis run I typically do not have a problem with the writer per se, but what I had issues with is At that time Marvel had or you could say they still do they have this mandate It was stronger back then where with Marvel now you had to imitate the films And the comic books had to reflect that especially with a property like Guardians of the Galaxy you ditched the old clothing and Everybody looked like their movie counterparts now. I don't really mind Because for me, I love the designs in the movie the costume the costume designs in that movie were great But I could understand why people would be upset now The run acted too much like a new reader-friendly story and Resurrecting all these characters that some were gone others were missing and suddenly Bendis just brings them back out of nowhere And he breathes a new characterization in them that was a little bit weird compared to what Abnet and Lanning had done with the previous stories. It didn't really match and that has been the constant Problem that I've had with Guardians of the Galaxy ever since Marvel now you had the all-new different era and The legacy and whatnot. I don't know. It's a lot of reboot. So now it is Dugan's turn to reboot I guess or take the ship into his own hands and and Tries to create something interesting and for the most part in my honest opinion Dugan does a fantastic job of not only Bringing in new readers with a contemporary mix of old classic and new but at the same time Crafting a story that will appeal to old-school comic book cosmic fans Yeah, there is a lot of elements, especially the first issue which I think was a free comic book day thing Where it's only it's half an issue I don't know what the page count, but it's like half an issue and it's this very bare bones cliche kind of cringe worthy Introduction to who these guys are with the whole music thing imitating Chris Pratt's delivery in the movie and all that stuff I found it really cringy and I actually kind of questioned what I was reading It wasn't until I got to the actual first issue where Dugan has the ability to flush things out a little bit more. I do know that there was a to It was a two issue per month thing or something And he had to get some help because there is a kind of people working in this book Gary Dugan Aaron Cougar, Marcos Toe, Evie, Evay's for Sina. I'm butchering that horribly. I'm sorry Ian Herring with art from Frazier Irving, Chris Samney, Greg Smallwood, Mike Hawthorne, Terry Pallett Roland Bokshi Bosch, Rob Reyes, Matthew Wilson, Jordy Belair and Dan Brown. I'm not making that up Look at that. Almost all that paragraph is just listing names. There is a ton of people working on this book Some stuff I do like others not so much there. I'll just get the negatives out of the way first There is this tendency in the book like when the story is getting good I think it's because they couldn't keep up with the scheduling thing and they stuck in an issue Where it's a completely different artist and the plot is different the the writing is different like you'll have this story about this modern version of the Guardians and then they are trying to get a very rare item for a Cosmic being and it's pretty cool. I'm not gonna spoil it just in case I'm just gonna give you the bare bones necessities of this book and then switches to a standalone issue Regarding Star Lord coming back to earth or back in time or something to record a special song for his mixtape That's it and then after it's done. We go back to the regular story. I don't mind those type of stories but Like when you're reading a manga or you're watching an anime for example You would leave that after a big story had finished a big story arc Usually about episodes 13 or 26 or something like that, you know for my anime peeps You probably know what I'm talking about the book just crams the issue right in and it's it's a heavy Cringe to read something that does not have to do with the awesome Story that you were reading about this heist that the Guardians are trying to pull off for this special character That is requesting an item so when the story resumes We get more of that with another artistic change then later on There's another story that involves Gamora and that is actually one of these subplots I guess or the actually the main plot of the book and it's fine But the contrast is so big from cooter and toe to suddenly go to somebody like Frazier Irving It's a drastic change then you get another issue from Ron race, which honestly looked like Phil noto-esque and it just throws you off because I'm like, okay. That looks really like Phil's artwork. I want more of that, but then now it switches to a lighter color palette judging from the cover image and Like seriously look at all this yellow Look at all the bright colors. I love this by the way this dark somber gray and green Yeah, it's a little bit jarring when You have artwork like this, which is phenomenal. It's spectacular. I'm a huge fan of the artist But then you read stuff following issues you read stuff like this, which is super more animated Cartooning and vibrant That I think could put some people off now the actual plot Gary does a good job of balancing The humor sometimes it's a little bit too much other times is fine but for the most part he captures the essence and the attitude and bravado and just the rag tag Ensemble that DNA did back in the day, but mixes it of course with contemporary Takes on the Guardians of the Galaxy and the movie versions and that's perfectly okay. I completely understand you have a juggernaut of Financial success with those Guardians movies you want to capitalize on Those characters and do everything imaginable to get new readers that want to familiarize themselves with What they saw on their TV screens? Or movie theaters or whatever, but overall the Guardians book is Fun I can understand why people would be bored Especially if they're fans of old-school Guardians and they don't want to see the movie versions Translated with hokey jokes and cringy interactions with each other and all that stuff that is completely understandable But I do have to agree that The tonal shifts are a deterrent for this book like you have that plot with the Guardians to assist with a theft of a special item and Then you have a subplot involving Gomorrah and then you have another subplot involving Drax who's now a pacifist and you have another subplot regarding Grewed himself which is pretty integral to everything. It's a multilayered story that I really appreciate it Brings the gang back together. It's fun nonetheless Actually now that I think about it the greatest highlight of this book would probably have to be the later portions With the reintroduction of a certain costume hero that I love if you're a fan of cosmic Stories this is the book for you because you will appreciate the return of a certain character Also the return of the Nova Corps Nova Corps are back They were dismantled dismembered this whatever and I do appreciate Dugan's ability to Get back to the older stories that Abner and landing were doing and Bring them back and continue that plot the aftermath of the cancer verse story The aftermath of annihilation conquest all that stuff still comes to play in this book and that To me is the selling point That is what I would recommend to people if you want to if you want a good continuation of that era This is probably the story for you, but whatever It's a solid fun romp with Lovable characters that either you love from movies or you've read previous stories with them Dugan again is able to mix and match Different voices and it he comes out with his own take it takes a little bit of everybody and Produces own flair and gusto that I think old-school Marvel fans will Enjoy for the most part and new fans will eat it up and really fricking enjoy it as for the art Tonal inconsistencies like I mentioned I was not a fan of so many artistic changes But for the most part it looks solid I wanted the whole book to be bright and colorful because that's my preferred palette choice for a lot of these books, but What we do get is pretty cool and the filler artists do a good job Even though the stories get in the way of the larger narrative now I should mention if you're getting this book please be aware that it ends on a big cliffhanger and it continues into the Infinity Countdown storyline. I don't know why they couldn't include those eight or nine issues or something like that into this and make like the real Dugan cosmic omnibus if you will but whatever so you're gonna have to get the This thin omni and the infinity countdown trade paperback. So yeah I won't do a review on infinity countdown, but if you guys want me to do one Added to the queue list I guess Yeah, Guardians of the Galaxy by Gary Dugan an exercise of creative Thinking and how to maximize your potential with different variants and how to get the best results That's what I would say about this run. Also I would do want to show you guys inside the flap. I'm not gonna go to the actual image, but this is some of the Stuff that you can find here You have rocket Groot and a special guest as Nova Corps members Yeah, it gets crazy. I'm pretty cool. I really enjoyed it I also liked what they did with Gamora and her Soul searching and other characters as well trying to find their footing in a vastly different Post-secret Wars world. So, yeah, what do you guys think? Did you like Gary Dugan's run? Or Gary Dugan's work on Guardians of the Galaxy. Let me know down below I'm very interested in hearing or reading some of those opinions guys as always Thank you once again for liking commenting subscribing and following me here I don't we can keep them on YouTube But you can also follow me on your favorite social media platform Facebook Twitter Instagram all that stuff by the way I am going to show you the Magic statue this has nothing to do with Guardians of the Galaxy But I did get a request on the previous video to show you the statue which is all kinds of awesome So yeah, stay tuned after the credits. I will catch all of you on our next episode