REVIEWS: Guardians of the Galaxy #3 & Wizard Beach #4

Guardians of the Galaxy #3

Same positives and negatives as the previous issue. The two could have (and should have) been condensed to one comic. Shaw's art remains great on everything except human faces, which are - at best - inconsistent from panel to panel.

To be fair there is some story progression, characters are shifted around a bit, and there is one important revelation, and one character finally asked the question someone should have asked when the story started, but most of this book is spent reinforcing what the reader already knows. Even more of this issue felt like padding designed to fill pages in the inevitable collected edition. At this point I wish I'd waited for it.

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Wizard Beach #4

On the flip-side is a book where every page and panel matters, and (as stated in previous reviews) the value is increased with backgrounds chock-full of jokes and unique events. Simply put: This is one of my top five favorite titles purchased since I started collecting two-and-a-half years ago after a ten year break from the hobby. So much so that I've reread each issue at least once. The beauty is that there is so much to see I catch stuff I missed the first (or second) time around! I'm bummed that the series will end with the next issue, and also that the book hasn't grabbed a whole lot of attention up to now. I've yet to see a less-than-positive review of an individual issue or the series as a whole, so with any luck it will find a larger audience once the collected edition is released in the fall. And with any luck that will be enough to generate a sequel! 😃