Legendary Star-Lord #3 Review: He Fooled Around And Fell In Love

If you think that’s too blatant a reference to the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, there’s an even more direct one in Legendary Star-Lord #3. And it’s actually pretty funny.

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I’ve probably said this before, but so far, this book reminds me a lot of some of my favorite 90s/early 2000s anime series. There’s an overall story arc that’s in the background — possibly two, if you count both Mr. Knife looking to get even with Star-Lord and Star-Lord seeking revenge on Thanos — but there are self-contained adventures taking place along the way. This one, like last issue, ties into Peter Quill’s background, as it involves both the Badoon and a dude who’s like a wanna-be James Bond from the Spartax Empire.

Writer Sam Humphries puts our hero in a familiar situation (as in, it just happened two issues ago) but comes up with an all new and exciting way for him to get out of trouble. That’s been one of the real pleasures of this book so far, in the sense that the deck is always stacked against Star-Lord and it’s mostly his wits instead of his abilities or gadgets that help him escape relatively unscathed.

The more I see of it, the more I’m enjoying Paco Medina’s art on this series as well. It’s actually a perfect fit in terms of style matching the tone of the book, which means Quill laughing in the face of danger. Yet Medina also draws a pretty menacing Thanos.

The subtitle of this review actually has a double meaning within the story, and a triple meaning if you count the reference to a song from Star-Lord’s Awesome Mix, Vol. 1. We can discuss on the other side of the …

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

Star-Lord is in jail. Again. This time, though, it’s a Badoon prison, and all he has to help him escape is a Spartoi spy named Carmody and a seemingly mute Badoon youth. Oh, he’s got one more thing: the holographic, interplanetary version of Skype, which he uses to get some help from Kitty Pryde. Her plan is … maybe not the best, but it’s effective. And it probably worked out better than if she had sung, “Peanut butter jelly time!”

Naturally, Quill escapes, ditching Carmody and keeping the Badoon kid while falling head over heels for a new ship called the Bad Boy. It turns out to be an ironic name, because after he drops Tiberius (named after ‘Earth’s coolest awesomest space captain”) at the orphanage we saw in issue #1, Star-Lord manages to resist the advances of Donna in favor of getting back on the holo-line with Kitty. Is our hero in danger of becoming a one-woman man?

Alas, there’s no virtual kiss, and not just because the ship’s A.I. breaks it up. It also blabs about Star-Lord coming to Earth, but not on vacation. He’s determined to pick up his quest for Thanos again. I have a feeling it may get sidetracked another time or two though.

Favorite moment: Star-Lord has a WWRRD bracelet — meaning What Would Rocket Raccoon Do? I have got to get me one of those!

Final thought: If your favorite thing about Star-Lord is his cool mask, you’re going to be pretty disappointed with this book. It’s like this is a Marvel movie or something and there’s a directive to make Quill show his face as often as possible …

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