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Marvel Pick Of The Week – April 27, 2016

By Matt Conner

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The Marvel Pick of the Week for April 27, 2016. Spoilers lie ahead, so beware!

Pick Of The Week: Star-Lord #6 by Sam Humphries and Javier Garron

I loved the romance and humor of Humphries’s Star-Lord And Kitty Pryde miniseries during Secret Wars. It was one of the few I recommended across the board. But the solo series that followed has thus far been a fairly bland attempt to swerve the comic book closer to the continuity of the popular Guardians Of The Galaxy movie, spending six issues on Peter Quill as a reluctant space pirate with mommy issues. With this issue, Humphries regains the charm and magic of that earlier book, and it’s amazing.

The plot of the book is that Peter and Kitty Pryde have broken off their engagement. Gamora and Rocket try to counsel them so they can at least stay teammates, but it’s just too awkward. After a decidedly awkward run-in, the couple is tricked into an ambush by iterations of their past selves and become captives of a very significant figure from the movie.

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Where Humphries had lost me with the Peter Quill solo story had been how distanced and generic the character had felt on the page, but with this issue, the character spins with jokes and heartbreak. The couple walk through markedly parallel reactions to the breakup, and neither of them can see that the other is hurting as much, and in the same way, as they are. This writer understands how strange and sad and exciting and ambivalent it feels to love someone you have chosen not to be with anymore. I never quite bought into Kitty and Peter’s engagement, but man, I love them as exes.

Also, Humphries is obviously a fan. The opening page is a call-back to Kitty’s most famous panel ever:

And the Star-Kat Squadron is a Best Of for the bizarre fashions these two have worn:

And I can’t close out without squealing over Humphries’s incorporation of Taylor Swift into this. Because music is so important to the movie Star-Lord and because this song is gosh-darn iconic:

Honorable Mentions:

Avengers Standoff: Assault On Pleasant Hill Omega #1, because Spencer writes Baron Zemo as super-scary most of the time but he’s not afraid to wring a little comedy out of the guy, either.

Unbeatable Squirrel-Girl #7, because a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure comic book sounds out-there, but on these pages, it’s easy to follow and completely fun.

Amazing Spider-Man #11, because Spider-Man’s pop culture zingers are always such a treat. (Maybe we should call him Incredible Spider-Man, right?)

The Ultimates #6, because for a cosmic entity with no legs, Lord Order sure can put on a pair of sassypants.

All-New Wolverine #7, because of course Squirrel-Girl brings her friend a real wolverine and of course she thinks Wolverine can talk to wolverines and of course Wolverine’s younger clone treats it like a puppy.

Carnage #7, because for readers of a certain age, the return of Victoria Montesi is a very good thing, and even better when she is drawn being played by Eliza Dushku.

Catch up on previous Marvel Picks of the Week here!

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