Legendary Star-Lord #5 Review: The Old Switcheroo
By Nick Tylwalk
Peter Quill has had his showdown with Thanos, and even though it didn’t end the way he originally hoped, it’s behind him for now. Does that mean he gets to take a break, maybe finally catch up with Kitty Pryde in person?
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Uh, no, because there’s still the small matter of the bounty that Mister Knife has put on his head. And even though we don’t know much about the interstellar crime lord, we do know that he’s bad news and he’s after any cosmic artifacts that can make him even more powerful.
Legendary Star-Lord #5 gets into Quill’s attempts to learn more about Mister Knife and the capabilities of his Slaughter Squad, a team of alien hitmen of various races longtime Marvel fans will recognize. There’s a Snark, a Centaurian, a Shi’ar, a Badoon and the mysterious Father Diablo from Planet X, which is where Skrull mutants hang out. Also a regular Skrull.
We learn about them mostly from Peter’s conversation with one of the Kymellians who tried to prevent the Slaughter Squad from obtaining something for Mister Knife: the Black Vortex, an object that’s about to become much more significant when it leads to an all-out Guardians of the Galaxy/X-Men crossover. And speaking of the Guardians, while Star-Lord has gone it alone in this series thus far, he does get some timely assistance from one of his teammates this time out.
Sam Humphries finds a nice balance between action and comedy as he has for most of the series to date, and he gives Paco Medina plenty of large panels that really suit his style. The Western touches in space continue to entertain — Father Diablo is even wearing a cowboy hat — and it’s almost like this is Cowboy Bebop with super heroes instead of bounty hunters. That’s a compliment, in case there was any doubt.
Read on, but be wary of the …
SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!
Star-Lord does his information gathering the fun way, which is to say he buys a Kynellian named Lucien some drinks while the horse-like alien tells of his encounter with the Slaughter Squad. Peter, as he is wont to do, continually puts down the bad guys, insinuating that they aren’t as tough as they sound.
After a brief interruption from Kitty, who’s upset about Peter standing her up on a holo-date, Star-Lord learns that Father Diablo is pretty powerful, and that the Slaughter Squad did, in fact, stumble upon the Black Vortex. Kind of like the Ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark, it’s apparently not a good idea to look directly at it.
Alas, in a plot twist you’ll probably see coming, Lucien is actually the Skrull member of the Slaughter Squad. Star-Lord knows that too, which is why he had Drax nearby to lend a helping hand — which in this case is bad news for the Skrull’s hand. Thankfully Quill’s dating prowess has given him all the background info on different alien races he’ll ever need.
Favorite moment: It’s a series of moments, really. Here are the things Star-Lord calls Lucien during their talk: Seabiscuit, pony boy, Beta Ray Filly. Funny.
Final thought: Less happened in this issue than any of the previous four, but it’s still a fun read, and a nice change of pace from the angst-filled slugfest with Thanos in #4. Plus the series pivoted nicely from one focus to another, and Hmphries has been bringing the Kitty subplot along nicely too.