Writer: Donny Cates

Penciler: Cory Smith

Inker: Victor Olazaba

Colorist: David Curiel

Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

“FAITHLESS” issue four of six

When we last left off, readers saw the Rebirth of Drax the Destroyer and the impending death of the universe at the hands of the Church of Truth and their army of Draxi. I am left wondering; will Rocket’s death be able to trump the death of everything? I mean he is a cute and cuddly raccoon ( opens the comic up and looks at Rocket)…Oh! Oh dear! We need some animal euthanasia specialists stat!

Now, we open with a reference to Gamora’s bad parenting in Tini Howard and Ariel Olivetti’s six issue Thanos mini. Gamora regales us with the story of her first years under Thanos’ command, which consisted of a lot of sitting on the ship and getting abused by Thanos and his crew. We finally come to find out that Magus in child form is the unknown listener. Instead of sending him somewhere safe after running all over the galaxy with him, Gamora just gives Child Magus a ship and basically says ”do whatever you want but you can’t stay here. And oh by the way, if that sucks, punch in the destination I left in the computer and it will take you to a planet filled with people that were hurt and possessed by the Church of Truth.” What could go wrong?

Well, in this opening sequence we see exactly what could go wrong. This recovering society of a traumatic event, hate everything about the Church. At first, they are cool. However eventually, they think the world will be better off without Magus. Even though this Magus has turned out good, the people are going to kill him. So, he defends himself and kills everything on this planet.

Magus is telling this story to Groot, Moon Dragon, and Rocket. When Magus finishes, Rocket tells him the dire situation Star Lord and the other Guardians are in. So, they ask Magus for his help with the Church. Rocket has barely received the answer before he is overcome with bouts of weakness. Groot quickly rushes his friend back to his armor suit where it now seems this suit is the only thing left keeping Rocket alive.

On the Flagship Temple-Destroyer, Peter Quill is really hoping that this newly hatched Drax remembers him and all the good times they had together. To his disappointment, the answer is no and this Drax is under the direct control of J’son. The same goes for all the other newly hatching Draxi and they are all given the order to kill.

Final Thoughts:

This is a fast-paced issue that at first glance was pretty good. I really have no problem with the art except Peter Quill’s face. It always seemed a bit off. The story, on the other hand, has become obvious in nature. It is here solely to set up future storylines. Magus is thrown in as the Deus ex machina and is mainly trying to make a boring Thanos series relevant. Guardians the Galaxy is all about the team and we have hardly had any team or teamwork in this whole series. It feels like characters are not used as characters but for their powers only.