LEGENDARY STAR-LORD #3
Written by Sam Humphries
Art by Paco Medina
Published by Marvel Comics
Release Date: September 3, 2014
Recently Marvel, whether advertent or not, has brought a dose of fun back to superhero comics. Books like Superior Foes of Spider-Man, Hawkeye, and Ms. Marvel, to name a few, have been a breath of fresh air. Instead of being mired in decades old continuity and a self serious, dower tone, these books have a look and feel completely their own with a lot of heart to boot. They welcome new readers with open arms and love to have you around. You just might laugh a few times too. So now we have Legendary Star-Lord, written by Sam Humphries and drawn by Paco Medina. It features the ever charming Peter Quill as he meets friends, makes enemies, and just tries to do the right thing. It continues the tradition of fun for Marvel books.
In Legendary Star-Lord #3, Peter Quill is once again being held captive. This time he is in a Badoon jail where he meets a cynical spy named Claus Carmody (awesome name by the way), as well as a young Badoon boy. Quill must use his wits, and a little help from others, to find a way out this situation. Don’t worry, banana costumes and Aquabats lyrics happen. An emphasis of this issue is Quill’s relationship with Kitty Pryde, which feels really sweet and honest. However this is not your normal relationship. With Peter being in space and Kitty on earth, they need to communicate through hologram, but they’re superheroes they’ve dealt with much weirder things.
Quill’s number one priority at the moment is to take down Thanos, a feat that seems impossible. The impossibility of the task he has embarked on undoubtably makes it a compelling one. He has a hard journey ahead of him. I’m sure the lead up and encounter will be an entertaining journey, as this is such a fun world to inhabit. Peter Quill is a great guy to hangout with for 20 or so pages each month.
Sam Humphries is a writer I hadn’t really connected with until this book. I’m not sure why because he’s an incredibly solid writer as this book shows. He has an unprecidented handle on the character of Peter Quill, fleshing him out as a real person. Peter’s brash and arrogant but we see his insecurities as well. He nails all the humor too. Almost every page has a joke or visual gag on it. Humor is something that can feel forced pretty easily in comics, but here that is not the case. It feels effortless.
So with Sam Humphries bringing his A game, artist Paco Medina rises to that level as well producing some inspired work. Before his work on Star-Lord, Paco did a few issues of Nova. Those issues showed his knack for drawing cool ships, gorgeous space vistas, and future tech. However, with Legendary Star-Lord he just takes it to a whole new level. In one panel a Badoon guard is revealed. The Badoon guard towers over Peter. He’s decked out in full armor and wields a massive blaster. It’s a great design that feels over the top and campy in all the right ways. Paco seems to be stretching his legs out with this one.
With three issues in the books Legendary Star-Lord has yet to falter. Sam Humphries and Paco Medina are helping to make Peter Quill one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe.
The Verdict: 8.5/10
