Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 5- Through the Looking Glass

Quick Summary

Pros: The opening chapter is very interesting and is a great solo read. The conclusion gives resolution to some previously established storylines and helps push the Guardians into the future.

Cons: Despite attempts to smooth the reading process, the crossover contained here is still fragmented. The conclusion drops the main story element from the previous volume and randomly introduces new story elements.

Overall: The final volume in this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy is a bit mixed when it comes to quality. The narrative here succeeds in telling an individual story and wrapping up drama centered around Star-Lord. However, it makes missteps in handling other characters and presents the crossover in a mediocre fashion. This collection may be worthwhile to those who are invested in the series but will be less so to those with only a vague interest in the comic so far.

Story

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 5: Through the Looking Glass, by Brian Michael Bendis, has a few highs and a few lows that even out to create a rather average collection. The opening story of this volume is thought-provoking and well-executed in a way that feels true to classic works of science fiction. In addition, the conclusion is interesting and opens the Guardians of the Galaxy up to a number of new possibilities. However, the conclusion also haphazardly introduces new plot points while dismissing previously established ones. This volume also contains mediocre stories from a crossover that are presented in a fragmented fashion. In the end, this is an alright collection that does a few things right and a few things wrong.

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The opening chapter of Through the Looking Glass contains the best story found in this collection. It has the Guardians encounter a ship from Earth, initially believing it to be filled with normal S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. However, they soon discover that this ship is actually filled with regenerating, life-like robots on a perpetual mission against Skrull invaders. Uncovering this strange mystery proves to be a very enjoyable experience, especially in the moment where the truth is finally revealed. It also is a wonderful dive into sci-fi that feels reminiscent of classic episodes of Star Trek, which suits the Guardian’s very well. Like a classic episode of Star Trek, it also ends with a thought-provoking message and a unique look into what the future may hold for humanity.

Unfortunately, from there, things start to go slightly downhill. The next two chapters detail portions of The Black Vortex (Review) crossover event. On their own, these issues are average and only contain a few memorable moments. Though quick summaries help explain what happens in the rest of the crossover, this volume still skips a lot of the crossover, leading to a fragmented reading experience.

The rest of the collection wraps up plot points that have been teased for a while now, specifically those relating to Star-Lord’s assentation to the Spartax throne. This portion of the narrative is interesting, as it opens the avenue for a number of possible storylines. It also is

Though this portion of the collection does provide resolution regarding some previously teased story elements, it is also quite choppy when dealing with other storylines. Gamora’s feelings of betrayal toward the rest of the Guardians, the central plot point from the previous volume (Review), are completely dropped. Meanwhile, her status as a danger to the rest of the team comes as a complete surprise and radically changes the composition of the Guardians without prior setup.

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Art

The opening chapter of Through the Looking Glass features some solid artwork from Frank Cho. His work on the characters looks nice and every page is laid out in a way that assists in telling the volume’s story. Though this is only one chapter, it helps add to the book’s visuals.

The rest of the collection is a bit more mixed when it comes to quality. This portion of the book, drawn by Valerio Schiti, looks great in some places but strange in others. Depictions of space are creative and match the diversity one would expect to see in Marvel’s cosmos. This leads to some pages that are fun and some pages that are downright awe-inspiring. However, other pages lack the same level of detail and lead some cartoonish looking characters. This mishmash of detail ends up evening out in the end but definitely leaves readers with the feeling that this could have been a more visually impressive book if the quality was more consistent.

Continuity

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 5: Through the Looking Glass continues the story from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4: Original Sin (Review). This collection also contains two tie-in chapters to The Black Vortex (Review) crossover event.

This version of the Guardians of the Galaxy series ends with this volume. However, elements of this series continue in the Guardians of Knowhere (Review) and Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde (Review) miniseries, which are complementary to the Secret Wars (Review) event. The Guardians of the Galaxy series starts back up again with Guardians of the Galaxy: New Guard Vol. 1: Emperor Quill (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• The Kree-Skrull war is mentioned a number of times. This story is collected in Avengers: Kree/Skrull War.
• The destruction of the Skrull Empire is mentioned. This happened in the Annihilation event, now collected in Annihilation Book 1.
• Hank McCoy’s decision to bring the X-Men of the past into the present is referenced a number of times. This action took place in All New X-Men Vol. 1: Yesterday’s X-Men.
• Thane’s recent struggles and aspects of his current situation are explained in Thanos: A God Up There Listening.
• The young Cyclops’s decision to leave the X-Men happened at the conclusion of The Trial of Jean Grey. Meanwhile, his adventures with his father are detailed in Cyclops Vol. 1: Starstruck and Cyclops Vol. 2: A Pirate’s Life for Me.
• At one point, Star-Lord mentions seeing a massively destructive event on Hala. This is likely a reference to the Phalanx invasion at the very beginning of Annihilation: Conquest Book 1 (Review).