Guardians of the Galaxy is a 2023 comic book series from Marvel Comics, a relaunch of the Marvel Comics team, written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing (Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty ) and art by Kev Walker.
One year ago, the Guardians were on top of the galaxy. After the Infinity Wars had torn them apart, Peter Quill and his surrogate family had slowly begun pulling themselves back together again and healing in response to then-recent threats: The near-resurrection of Thanos, the return of the Church of Universal Truth, and the reborn Olympian Gods.
In the wake of concurrent major cosmic upheavals, the team emerged from all these trials in its largest, most powerful, and most optimistic incarnation yet. This re-energized era of the team culminated with the Guardians joining forces with the Mutants of Krakoa to save the galaxy from the demonic entity Dormmamu. Things were finally looking up for the Guardians for the first time in a long, long while.
And then it all came crashing down.
In the aftermath of The Last Annihilation, the Guardians were suddenly betrayed by one of their own — a betrayal which shattered the team and their spirit. Now, one year later, Quill and what's left of the Guardians are roaming the distant, lawless space-lanes to try to outrun their tragedy and cope with the pain of their failures and losses.
But the Galaxy still needs it Guardians, because trouble's a brewing out in the wild green yonder. Something is approaching that will force Quill and his team to venture out further into the final frontier than they've ever gone previously — a cosmic odyssey which will push them all to their absolute limits like never before.
What is this mysterious something? A threat known only...as Grootfall?
The first issue was released April 12, 2023. According
to Lanzing, their Guardians is intended to run for 10 issues.
Guardians of the Galaxy provides examples of:
- The Bus Came Back: The Guardians return after a nearly year-and-a-half long hiatus following the conclusion of Al Ewing's run in September 2021.
- Continuity Nod: The Manifold Territories are the new region of space that was opened up by Utau at end of Reckoning War.
- Downer Ending: #4 ends With Rocket being the Sole Survivor as he fails to stop Grootfall from destroying the planet refuge.
- Noodle Incident: What happened in the year between the Ewing and Lanzing/Kelly eras that tore the team apart? Even with Groot's transformation into Grootfall, how it happened and what's become of the other Ewing-era Guardians is initially left as a mystery.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: Solicitations and WordOfGod confirm issue #6 will dramatize the interim between the Ewing and Kelly/Lanzing eras, revealing what happened that broke the team.
- Person of Mass Destruction: The Guardians' former teammate Groot has become a huge, world-devouring infestation.
- Space Western: The pre-release interviews and Walker's designs show this incarnation of the team is heavily leaning into Space Western tropes and aesthetics. The Manifold Territories are also effectively serving as the series version of the Western Territories.
- Time Skip: The relaunch jumps the team's story ahead one year after the events of The Last Annihilation and the end of the Ewing era.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: The fates of Rocket and the other Ewing-era Guardians are intentionally being played as a mystery.
