What do I need to know before starting GOTG (2008)

[SCampo98]

I haven't seen the movies but I thought the 2008 series of Guardians of the Galaxy would be a cool comic to start reading. I read the first issue and although I am not confused about what went on, I feel as though there are things that I am missing as to the backstory of some of the characters and some of the conflicts they were in right before the 2008 series.

What are the things that I should know to provide myself with the best reading experience for this series. I feel like I will enjoy it, but I think it would be better if I understood the importance of characters like Nova (if he is important in the series) and the significance of Phalanx/Thanos. I would prefer not having to read an entire serious to be caught up, but if it is the only way to get the information then I'll have to.

[bloodofthegods]

Mostly just Annihilation Conquest (the main mini series ) and the Annihilation Conquest Starlord mini. The Quasar mini series was good too, and adds to a bit of understanding of the characters. The team started (though the members are different) in the Starlord mini, running basically a suicide mission. Conveniently all these can be found in the Annihilation Conquest Book 1.

That should get you a good feel for the present state of cosmic Marvel that is during the GotG by Abnett and Lanning. And you are in for a treat. It's a awesome series. And Conquest was the best cosmic Marvel event since Infinity Gauntlet.

Nova (Vol. 3) #4-7 are part of Conquest. But I read it after the fact, so I can't really say if they impacted me much because I didn't read them when Conquest was going on. But the first 20 or issues are have are a good read anyway. Just for the fact that Annihilation (the previous event) really kicked started cosmic Marvel again. And Nova kind of ends up connecting with some other cosmic events that follow Conquest.

Edit: There is also a 12 issue Thanos series from 2003 first written by Jim Starlin and then Keith Giffien. The last story in that series (from what I can remember thinking) might have been something that was going to lead into Annihilation and Conquest. More a theory I had. Some hints in the comic and the involvement of characters made me wonder when I read Annihilation if perhaps it was meant to have been done sooner, but got shelved for a while. But Annihilation wouldn't come till three years later.

Also to my theory, Starlin left writing the book for reportedly having not liked the direction Marvel wanted to take the book. Hence, why Giffien took over. I wonder if what Marvel wanted is what seemed to happen at the end of the book that Starlin didn't want to be a part of. Because the two halves of the series are very different and it's easy to tell the direction shifted. But now he's back writing for Marvel so I guess that made up. :-)