Imperial Guardians #3 – In Search of Answers and Closure

What happens when you need X-Force but aren’t mutants? You get the Imperial Guardians. In a political space-faring world where survival outweighs heroism, Gamora, Captain Marvel, Amadeus Cho, Darkhawk, and Cosmic Ghost Rider may be your last hope. After deploying to a warship under the direction of Maximus, and tracking down major galactic threats, the team tries to plan their next steps. Captain Marvel provides Darkhawk with the power to continue while facing her own demons and failures. It’s enough to help our team as they move on to their next black-ops mission

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Creative Team

Writer: Dan Abnett
Penciller: Marcelo Ferreira
Inker: Jay Leisten
Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: Cory Petit
Cover Artist: Sean Izaakse
Cover Colorist: Nolan Woodard

Writing

I don’t pretend to fully understand why this team works so well, but I do know it’s because of the writing of Dan Abnett. In Imperial Guardians #3, Abnett gives readers another satisfying special mission for this rag-tag band of misfits. One of the things that Abnett has done particularly well in this series and this issue in particular is to show other sides of some of our favorite heroes. I mean, c’mon how often do we get to see the fun joking side of Carol Danvers? Rarely, dear reader, the answer is rarely. Despite that here’s Carol playing along.

Abnett managed to craft a story featuring this group of characters and got Gamora to be the serious mom of the group, rather than the most obvious choice in Carol. This series has gotten better with every issue, and that is in part because Abnett has developed this loose band of renegades into something that, while not feeling like family, definitely has a closeness to it. I know this series has an end in sight, but Abnett’s writing leaves me wanting more of this series than readers are going to get.

Art

Marcelo Ferreira, Jay Leisten, Rachelle Rosenberg continue to stun on Imperial Guardians. Ferreira shows impressive versatility this issue. When the scenes demand chaos, he displays a raw, looser style but can quickly shift to meticulously clean line work when the scene demands clarity. His line weight mimics the emotional weight of the scene in a meaningful way.

Jay Leisten and Rachelle Rosenberg work in perfect harmony. Leisten blends the sharp definitive line work with Rosenberg’s rich palette through his inking. Leisten provides the weight, texture, and shadow while Rosenberg crafts a masterclass in light and hue to bring life into the shapes, lines, and edges crafted by Ferreria and Leisten. Cory Petit continues to show off some of his best work on this series. This issue with it’s interview style panels could pose a real problem both for spacing as well as flow and Petit guides you easily through the panels and pages.

Final Thoughts

Imperial Guardians continues to get better every issue. I understand why the interview-style panels were chosen and have to admit they’ve grown on me. This is just good, serious, fun. The series has an old school feel with its art style and beautiful writing that allows us to see characters in ways we aren’t used to.

Overall Grade: 9/10

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