Review: Guardians Team-Up Vol. 2- Unlikely Story

Quick Summary

Pros: Two of the stories here are good and have compelling narratives. One of the stories is excellent and is further enhanced by great artwork.

Cons: Two of the stories here are just alright and one of them feels out of place.

Overall: Though not every story in this book is a winner, the ones that are successful may be enough to make this book worth checking out. Out of the six stories collected here, two are good, one is great, and the rest are simply average. Unlike the previous collection, none of the stories here are downright bad and even the average ones manage to add something to the mix. All in all, this is a book for big fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy, especially those who really love Groot.

Story

Guardians of the Galaxy Team-Up Vol. 2: Unlikely Story fairs far better than its predecessor and ends up, for the most part, being a decent comic. The stories here range in quality from some that are simply mediocre to some that are genuinely interesting and stand out well on their own. This creates an experience that offers meaningful dives into character motivations and some silly comedy as well. Overall, the positives here outweigh the negatives and create a book with a unique level of appeal.

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On the positive side of Unlikely Story, there are a number of stories here that are entertaining and offer something unique. The Gamora/Nightcrawler story is an exciting display of action that allows both characters to show off their skills and abilities. In addition, the Star-Lord/Black Cat story is a romantic adventure with a few unexpected twists and turns. Both of these stories stand out in this collection and help push its quality in a positive direction.

However, the most significant positive here comes from the Groot/Silver Surfer adventure, written by Ray Fawkes. This almost completely silent chapter has Groot and the Silver Surfer attempt to save a member of Groot’s race from dying in prison. The adventure allows the Silver Surfer to display his awesome cosmic powers and allows Groot to show his empathy. The conclusion to this team-up is also highly emotional, something enhanced by the profound silence throughout the comic. This makes Groot’s “I am Groot” one of the most meaningful expressions, from him, that I have ever seen and is the perfect way to conclude a stellar story.

Unfortunately, not everything in Unlikely Story is great. Both the Ant-Man/Drax and Rocket Racoon/Deadpool stories end up being rather mediocre. They focus more on cheap and generic comedy rather than anything more meaningful. Some of the jokes here are funny and help prevent these chapters from being downright bad, but the overall appeal here is still rather low.

Unlikely Story also contains another Deadpool story that is even worse than the first. This Galactus/Deadpool adventure mostly just revolves around Deadpool simply annoying Galactus. It is an alright concept that is drug out far too long and ends up being mostly unappealing. Plus, it is completely unclear how this fits in with the rest of this book, as neither Galactus or Deadpool are members of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

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Art

The quality of the artwork in Unlikely Story ends up being similar to the quality of the storytelling, in that there are a few good chapters and a few ok chapters. On the positive end of things, the Groot/Silver Surfer chapter, by Bengal, is this collection’s crowning artistic achievement. It depicts a gorgeous adventure in space that wonderfully captures the cosmic forces at play throughout the story. Meanwhile, the Star-Lord/Black Cat comes in as a close runner up in terms of visual appeal. The rest of the chapters don’t meet this same level of quality but also manage to avoid having any major problems that would take away from the visual quality of the book as a whole. This creates a book with mostly positive visuals that should easily satisfy most readers.

Continuity

Guardians Team-Up Vol. 2: Unlikely Story continues the Guardians Team-Up series from Guardians Team-Up Vol. 1: Guardians Assemble (Review).

The Guardians Team-Up series ends with this volume.

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

• Ant-Man Security Solutions started in the Ant-Man series, collected in either Ant-Man Vol. 1: Second-Chance Man or The Astonishing Ant-Man: The Complete Collection.
• The weapon from the Ant-Man story was misplaced during the Original Sin (Review) event.
• Deadpool mentions a recent encounter with Macho from Deadpool #36, collected in Deadpool Vol. 8: Operation Annihilation.
• Rocket mentions a recent encounter with Macho from Rocket Raccoon #4, collected in Rocket Raccoon Vol. 1: A Chasing Tail! (Review).