Guardians Team-Up #1 Review

Guardians Team-Up #1
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Art Adams
Colors by Paul Mounts
Published by Marvel Comics

Ask any Marvel fan over the age of 35 about the classic series Marvel Team-Up, and you will usually get a broad smile and a wistful comment like, “They just don’t make comics like that anymore.” Which is unfortunately very, very true.

For the uninitiated among you, Marvel Team-Up was a title that paired two or more Marvel heroes in one story, with Spider-Man in one slot more times than not. They were usually one-and-done issues that had no bearing on continuity and almost never reflected current events in the Marvel Universe as a whole. Marvel Team-Up was usually a bit silly, never overly dramatic and could be counted on to put a smile on your face.

Marvel has tried several times over the years to bring the concept back with little success. It would seem readers today might be a bit too sophisticated for a book that, at its core, just wants to have as much fun as can possibly be crammed between two covers.

Live Feed

Need to spend money at Disney World? Take a look at EPCOT where you will find Disney's Art of Animation shop /

Along Main Street

Here's when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is coming to Disney+Along Main Street

5 songs that would fit well on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Along Main Street

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 gets Blu-ray release dateAlong Main Street

These Disneyland rides get the longest queues the fastestAlong Main Street

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind songs ranked from worst to bestAlong Main Street

If that’s indeed the case, Guardians Team-Up is going to have a very short run, because the first issue is the most out and out fun I’ve had reading a comic in the last couple of years.

As the title implies, Guardians Team-Up sees the newest stars of the Marvel Universe, the Guardians of the Galaxy, team up with different characters every month for what can only be called a classic good time. The first issue sees the GotG meet up with the Avengers as they fight … well, it doesn’t really matter, does it?

See, Guardians Team-Up #1 is a story unto itself. No mention of “Time Runs Out” or Secret Wars or even current continuity conspires to spoil the fun. Bendis is just having a blast, and it shows on every page. The dialogue is crisp and witty, the plot totally over the top, and a great time is had by all.

But if I’m being honest, Bendis doing his usual solid job on the script is irrelevant. Anyone could have written this comic and I would have still bought and loved it. Why? Two simple words:

Art Adams.

To see Adams once again drawing a Marvel comic fills my heart with so much joy I can barely contain myself. He is the artist of one of my favorite comic books of all time (New Mutants Spacial Edition #1), and I will buy any title he decides to grace with his considerable skill. Adams so rarely does interiors any more that to see him draw not only the Guardians, but a truckload of Avengers too is quite a treat. He has lost none of what had made him such a legend in the industry, as he can fill a page with action and detail but not have the core of what’s going on be lost. The colors of Paul Mounts make Adams’ art seem to jump off the page, giving the entire issue a vibrant, larger than life quality that is only possible in the medium of comics.

The Bottom Line: If you like your comic books serious and melodramatic, look elsewhere. You won’t find any of that in the first issue of Guardians Team-Up. If, on the other hand, you enjoy the occasional reading experience that is a throwback to a simpler time when comics could be fun and entertaining without having to tie into whatever big event happened to be going on at that moment, this is your book.

For fans of the original Marvel Team-Up, it will be like coming home again — and there’s nothing wrong with that.

More from Bam Smack Pow

Home/Comics