The ORIGINAL Guardians of the Galaxy Appreciation 2019

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

The first Guardians of the Galaxy are a team of freedom fighters in the 31st century.


Origin
In the 31st Century, the Guardians of the Galaxy are freedom fighters formed by a diverse group of beings.
The home reality of the Guardians of the Galaxy has been designated Earth-691.
The founding members are Vance Astro (later Major Victory), Charlie-27, Yondu and Martinex.
The team was founded to fight the Badoon race, who had conquered the Sol system and the Alpha Centauri system among others.
The Guardians became the leading force of the resistance movement against the Badoon.

Creation
The original Guardians of the Galaxy were created by writer, Arnold Drake and artist, Gene Colan,
in their first appearance in Marvel Super-Heroes vol 1 #18 (1/1969).
Mike Esposito was the inker for this debut.
Drake and Colan created the founding members being from the 31st Century reality called Earth-691.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Aside from Yondu, I am hoping to see the others appear in the movies post MCU Phase 3.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Marvel Super-Hoeroes #18 Jan 1969
"Earth Shall Overcome!" Origin and first appearance of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Charlie-27 returns from a six-month mission to discover that his home planet of Jupiter has been completely enslaved by the evil Badoon.

He knows that he wouldn't stand a chance against them on his own, so he teleports to other worlds to find help.
First, he joins forces with Martinex on the planet Pluto.
Then together they travel to planet Earth, where Vance Astro and the Centaurian Yondu have just escaped from Badoon forces themselves.
When Vance and Yondu encounter Charlie-27 and Martinex, they briefly mistake them for more Badoon guards

and a misunderstanding fight ensues. However, soon enough they realize that they are all fighting for the same side

and a new super-team is born... the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Script by Arnold Drake, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Mike Esposito (as Mickey Demeo).

[Phoenixx9]

Yay, I love these guys. The original GoTG team!

[K7P5V]

Yay, I love these guys. The original GoTG team!

Me too. Gerber's run from Marvel Presents is still a favorite of mine.

[Phoenixx9]

I never understood how or why these great originals were replaced!?!

Those other "guardians" could have come together as a team, but needed a totally different name, so that these heroes were not lost in limbo!

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

After their debut in 1969 their next appearance was in 1974 Marvel Two-In-One..

5 years later!!!!
They got used again in comics, published by marvel comics, thanks to the writer Steve Gerber.

[XPac]

I never understood how or why these great originals were replaced!?!

Those other "guardians" could have come together as a team, but needed a totally different name, so that these heroes were not lost in limbo!

Though I really do like the current Guardians, I've always feel real bad for the originals. The movie essentially cements the new group as THE Guardians, making the originals just sort of absolete.

But it was always hard to do stuff with the original guardians, because they're from a different timeline. It's tough to get them in the mix.

But the originals were cool. I became a fan of Starhawk in particular... hopefully more is done with them.