Review: Guardians of Knowhere

Quick Summary

Pros: The book has plenty of action. The artwork looks good and matches the story well.

Cons: Much of the book’s first half is wasted on development that ends up being inconsequential. The conclusion has a jarring narrative switch that ends up focusing on an underdeveloped plotline. The final chapter feels out of place.

Overall: Moderately entertaining action and appealing artwork are really the only positives going for this mostly bland comic book. The story here is lackluster, the narrative has noticeable structural problems, and the final chapter feels completely out of place. This may appeal to readers looking for some crazy action from the Guardians but is not likely to appeal to readers uninterested in this concept.

Story

Guardians of Knowhere, by Brian Michael Bendis, has plenty of action but doesn’t really impress in many other regards. It details a few of the Guardians’ adventures in Battleworld and has them go head to head with some powerful enemies. However, for some reason, most of the narrative development done in this book’s first half ends up going toward characters and concepts that fail to make it to the book’s finale. Instead, the finale focuses on brand new concepts that feel completely underdeveloped as the book closes. In the end, this story has plenty of flash but very little actual substance.

(spoilers start here)

Guardians of Knowhere starts out by explaining the Guardians’ position in Battleworld and developing a new villain, Yotat. Their new outlaw status immediately leads to some entertaining escapades and the entrance of a powerful villain immediately leads to some entertaining battles.

Then, somewhat suddenly, Yotat is defeated and is no longer a problem at all. At the same time, a new villain shows up and takes over the focus of the narrative. It is a jarring switch that leaves Yotat’s story with little to no resolution and gives the new villain a rather poor entrance. The resulting battle is still fun but it lacks any substance that a more sufficiently developed finale would have. This ends up being the collection’s biggest problem, as most of the development done in this collection is wasted by the end.

Guardians of Knowhere closes with a chapter detailing an Illuminati story from long before Secret Wars (Review). The story is interesting but feels completely out of place in this collection. Besides a shared connection to the concept of a Battleworld, this story has almost nothing to do with the rest of the book.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Guardians of Knowhere is one of the volume’s best features. Mike Deodato Jr.’s work throughout this collection looks wonderful and is a great complement to this story. The very first page of the book kicks things off with a gorgeous shot of Knowhere that instantly establishes the narrative’s unique location. High-quality visuals like this continue throughout the book and give the work a cosmic feeling that suits the tone and setting incredibly well. Overall, the visuals in this book are impressive and help enhance the reading experience.

Continuity

Guardians of Knowhere takes place in the alternate reality of Battleworld and is a tie-in to the story from Secret Wars (Review). This volume also continues story elements from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 5: Through the Looking Glass (Review).

The story of the struggle for control of Battleworld continues in Secret Wars (Review). The Guardians of the Galaxy’s story continues in Guardians of the Galaxy: New Guard Vol. 1: Emperor Quill.

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

• Gamora received her cosmic powers during Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men- The Black Vortex (Review).
• The final issue in this collection references the previous Secret Wars event.