Guardians Of The Galaxy #6 Review

Written by: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing
Art by: Alex Lins
Colors by: KJ Díaz
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Marco Checchetto (cover A)
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: September 20, 2023

Guardians Of The Galaxy #6 gets to the heart of the matter when the Guardians are forced to confront their memory of the fateful day when Grootfall come to pass.

Is Guardians Of The Galaxy #6 Good?

Oy! Guardians Of The Galaxy #6 is what happens when a creative team tries to get fancy and existential but misses the mark by a country mile. Symbolism and metaphors are fine, but clarity is king. #NeverForget

When last we left the Guardians, their attempts to reach Groot’s consciousness failed. Out of options, they made the only choice they could and flew into Grootfall to reach Groot from the inside. Now, the team takes turns recollecting what happened a year ago (Is there a memo at Marvel where all the MCU-adjacent titles have to incorporate some BIG BANG that happened a year ago in comic time?) when the team went on a mission to investigate an emerging threat.

The team finds Sequoia, Groot’s homeworld, nearly dead for some unknown reason. Grief-stricken, groot finds the last living and oldest tree, Granopy, which gives Groot its life force, presumably to preserve the species. The transfer turns Groot into an unstoppable terraforming force, sending the seeds of his race into the surrounding galaxy, regardless of how it destroys the life already living on planets touched by Grootfall.

Now, the Guardians band together and “merge” with Groot, converting Grootfall into Quilfall or Guardianfall or something. The issue rapidly devolves into metaphorical imagery past the mid-point.

What’s great about Guardians Of The Galaxy #6? The answers come, and they’re better late than never. Unfortunately, the wait wasn’t worth the payoff, but at least we’re here.

What’s not so great about Guardians Of The Galaxy #6? Lanzing and Kelly didn’t need to waste five issues worth of setup for this answer. If they were directed to stretch out the mystery to build hype, curiosity, and anticipation, they’re getting bad advice. Further, once the “how” becomes clear, that should have been the jumping-on point for a rescue/quest plot. Instead, the story devolves into convoluted nonsense to make the fate of the Guardians seem complex and existential, but it just doesn’t work.

How’s the art? It’s fine. As you can see from the credits, there’s a guest artist and colorist on the book, which is odd for the one issue that should be the game-changer in the series. Still, Lins and Díaz deliver perfectly good visuals to help tell the story, regardless of how convoluted it gets.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Guardians Of The Galaxy #6 finally gets to the meat of the mystery about Grootfall with solid art and an interesting premise. Unfortunately, the latter half of the issue tries to get existential and fancy but only achieves convoluted nonsense with an unclear resolution.