From the farthest corners of space, A Marvel Cosmic Appreciation

[stingnewell]

I like Phyla-vell ...as Phyla-vell ..why cant she just be that? Not everybody has to have some groovy name

Genis and Phyla have always had a problem keeping with one identity. Perhaps the two along with Hank should consider creating a grow with heroes figuring out what identity they should stick with.



Probably the saddest day of Drax's life



I feel your pain buddy missing a box of thin mints can eat a person up inside. Oh the humanity!

[stingnewell]

delete 10 char

[stingnewell]

When the news hit that Peter's father wasn't J'son of Spartox it had me puzzled just what alien race or character is Gunn going for in Peter's alien half. Any thoughts on who Peter's father could be or hints that suggested it that I've missed in the movie?

[THANOSRULES]

was a big fan of svelte drax as well

[stingnewell]

Next up Starfox



The youngest son of Mentor and Sui-San, Eros had the natural ability to excite pleasure in others, but his power had no effect upon his mutant older brother, Thanos, who worshiped the cosmic embodiment of Death and led an army against Titan. During this assault, Thanos killed and dissected Sui-San, trying to learn why he was born different. While his brother was captivated by Death, Eros loved life, and began visiting other systems for adventure and romance. Eros even visited Earth at least once, and was remembered in Earth's legends. Longing for new adventures, Eros visited Earth again and encountered the Avengers battling the Plantman. Eros asked to join their team and was accepted as an Avenger-in-training; but the Avengers were reluctant to present a man named "Eros" to the public so the Wasp rechristened him "Starfox." Eros was chagrined to meet fellow trainee Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), and he looked down on her, still stung by the death of Mar-Vell. Starfox learned teamwork and responsibility amongst the Avengers, but still found time to engage in several romantic liaisons, including a one-night stand with his teammate She-Hulk. The team also valued Starfox for his scientific knowledge as he was serving on a roster devoid of the Avengers' usual scientific geniuses. After many of the Avengers were taken to Battleworld to serve in the Beyonder's "Secret Wars," the Vision became the Avengers' chairman and promoted Starfox to full membership to fill out the roster. Starfox retained his standing when the other Avengers returned.

One evening, Starfox invited himself and the Wasp to a party in Soho which was held by Sersi, a member of Earth's Eternals. When Sersi was brought to the Eternals' city of Olympia to participate in a gathering of all Eternals, Starfox was brought along. In Olympia, he fascinated his Earth-bound cousins with the story of how Alars had founded Titan. Starfox participated in the Eternals' Ritual of the Uni-Mind, merging with them into a single psionic entity; but when the villain Maelstrom tried to siphon the Uni-Mind's power for himself, and the Vision and Scarlet Witch freed the Eternals from the Uni-Mind. Starfox managed to incapacitate Maelstrom with his pleasure powers, which he revealed to the Avengers for the first time. Maelstrom caused his own death by having his servant Deathurge kill him so that he could live anew in another cloned body. The Avengers subsequently thwarted Maelstrom's next plot to halt the Earth's rotation. After seeing Captain Marvel's courage in that battle, Starfox finally accepted her use of his friend's name, apologizing to her for the way he had slighted her.

Soon afterwards, Thanos obtained the Infinity Gauntlet (which housed the six Infinity Gems) and used it to offer the universe to Death. Thanos took Starfox hostage during the crisis so that his brother could witness his actions, but Thanos allowed himself to be beaten, not truly desiring victory in the end. Starfox continued to serve as an occasional Avenger, participating in the Avengers' mission to the Shi'ar Empire during the Kree-Shi'ar war, as well as joining the Avengers against Morgan Le Fay when she mastered the power of the Twilight Sword.

In the aftermath of that battle, Starfox befriended his fellow Avenger Tigra, and she set off into space with him to visit Deneb-VII. Tigra soon became bored of Deneb-VII, but the duo found new excitement when the universe was threatened by the Infinites, cosmic beings from another universe who had no regard for the lives of lesser beings. Starfox and Tigra teamed with Jack of Hearts, Quasar, Thor, Photon and Moondragon to face the Infinites. Starfox helped appeal to the Infinites through Eternity, the embodiment of space, and one of the Infinites ultimately chose to sacrifice itself to repair some of the damage they had done. Later, Starfox led a small army of Eternals in attacking Thanos (or possibly one of the "clones" known as the Thanosi) during his quest for the Celestial Messiah, but they were soundly defeated and Eros was cast into outer space, beaten senseless.

Starfox was put on trial for sexual assault, accused of using his powers to seduce a happily married woman. He was defended by lawyer Jennifer Walters, the She-Hulk. The law firm which employed her, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway, was contracted by Mentor to defend his son from the allegations. In the course of the trial, Ms. Walters came to suspect that Starfox had used his powers on her during their time in the Avengers, resulting in a brief sexual interaction. By this time, Starfox had been banned from the courtroom after it was determined that he was using his special abilities to influence the witnesses. When Jennifer Walters confronted Starfox with her suspicions via closed-circuit video link, he evaded her questions and then cut the video feed. Walters angrily charged out of the courtroom, transformed into She-Hulk, and caught Starfox as he was attempting to escape from Earth. She-Hulk dealt Starfox a savage beating, giving him no chance to defend his actions, knocked him unconscious, finally duct-taping his mouth shut to ensure that he could not use his abilities to elude punishment. However, Mentor, Starfox's father, effected his son's release by teleporting Starfox away to Titan.

Mentor eventually staged a native Titanian trial in the hopes of clearing his son's name. The Living Tribunal, interested in the equity of the process, called on She-Hulk as prosecuting attorney. Jennifer Walters, in an attempt to get to the bottom of the matter, agreed to a mind probe of both Starfox and herself. She discovered that Starfox did not use his abilities to influence her decision to sleep with him, but that he was deliberately responsible for her sudden infatuation with and marriage to John Jameson. An enraged She-Hulk once more lashed out at Starfox for toying with her life, bringing the legal proceedings to a halt.




Thanos now appeared at the trial, and testified that his brother Starfox inspired his obsession with Death when they were children, when attempting to make young Thanos accept the death of an animal he had involuntarily killed with his enormous strength. By Titanian law Eros would thus take full responsibility for all the genocides Thanos had later committed. In the following issue it was revealed that this was a false memory that Thanos implanted into Starfox's mind, and shared by a Thanos clone which the real Thanos sent. Thanos' implantation of the memory is what caused Starfox to briefly become mentally unbalanced, and use his power in this manner for the first time. Starfox agreed to have Moondragon shut them off completely rather than risk hurting more people.[26]

It is unknown if Starfox is still considered a fugitive from justice by New York State and the federal government.

[basbash99]

Annihilation, the book that jumpstarted the recent cosmic resurgence, should be required reading for anyone who is tired of events because its the perfect example of how great an event can be when done right.

Agreed, the main series and the accompanying mini-series were all pretty good. From there, the cosmic events kind of got progressively worse, altho I would say each still had its good points/good moments (the Star-Lord mini-series for Conquest, for instance)

Anyone have other recommendations for cosmic marvel reading aside from GotG?

I'd certainly suggest Jim Starlin's Life of Captain Marvel and even moreso Starlin's (early) work with Warlock. This would include Marvel Two-In-One Annual # 2 and Avengers Annual # 7.

The Avengers Kree-Skrull War - Avengers 89 - 97 (altho I can't say I'm a fan of Rick Jones' role in the resolution of the war)

The X-Men battle with the Brood (Uncanny X-Men 155 - 167 or so)



I also like What If # 32 - What if the Avengers were pawns of Korvac. Has a lot of the "abstract entities" and elders (altho some get jobbed battling the avengers)

I liked what I read of the Silver Surfer series by Englehart (later Lim)

I'm sure I'm missing a lot though. Never really got into the 70s Nova Series or the Quasar Series, maybe I'm missing out!

[Drakeon]

Heh, the art on Silver Surfer is one of the sticking points for me. It's a little retro for my tastes. Whilst I don't think the current books are amazing I'm just glad they seem to be doing well overall. I want to see the cosmic side fully established and for it to live on beyond the current writers.

Like I said, really looking forward to 3000 as I know Abnett can deliver the goods. Oh yeah, no Lanning involved this time. Plus, I never read the original Guardians so I'm pretty intrigud.

Was never a fan of Allred but his style works well on Surfer and how Slott is telling the story. Been liking the retro look on books like Surfer and Daredevil. Also the artistic look of Elektra and Rocket Raccoon.

[Drakeon]

I like Phyla-vell ...as Phyla-vell ..why cant she just be that? Not everybody has to have some groovy name.

Agreed. Always loved Phylla. Its a shame like Genis that they never had their own odentity outside of Legacy characters. Would love to see a family reunion and have Genis, Phylla, and Hulking get together. Interesting to note that two of Captain Marvs kids are gay, ones a half-skrull and one is crazy.Tons of story potential there.

[stingnewell]

Agreed. Always loved Phylla. Its a shame like Genis that they never had their own odentity outside of Legacy characters. Would love to see a family reunion and have Genis, Phylla, and Hulking get together. Interesting to note that two of Captain Marvs kids are gay, ones a half-skrull and one is crazy.Tons of story potential there.

I could never really get into Phyla-vell like I am with Moondragon. She just didn't seem to have some personal quest or interesting dynamics with other Guardian members for me to connect with. As to whether she should be in the next Guardians sequel, I'd be okay with Phyla-vell as Quasar.

[pinoypanzer]

Agreed, the main series and the accompanying mini-series were all pretty good. From there, the cosmic events kind of got progressively worse, altho I would say each still had its good points/good moments (the Star-Lord mini-series for Conquest, for instance)

Anyone have other recommendations for cosmic marvel reading aside from GotG?

I'd certainly suggest Jim Starlin's Life of Captain Marvel and even moreso Starlin's (early) work with Warlock. This would include Marvel Two-In-One Annual # 2 and Avengers Annual # 7.

The Avengers Kree-Skrull War - Avengers 89 - 97 (altho I can't say I'm a fan of Rick Jones' role in the resolution of the war)

The X-Men battle with the Brood (Uncanny X-Men 155 - 167 or so)



I also like What If # 32 - What if the Avengers were pawns of Korvac. Has a lot of the "abstract entities" and elders (altho some get jobbed battling the avengers)

I liked what I read of the Silver Surfer series by Englehart (later Lim)

I'm sure I'm missing a lot though. Never really got into the 70s Nova Series or the Quasar Series, maybe I'm missing out!

I'll endorse the Quasar series from the 1990's I believe it introduced Infinity and Oblivion and had characters like Maelstrom. It also had some tie-ins with the Infinity trilogy as well as Operation Galactic Storm.

On top of what you've recommended I'll add Thanos Quest, Cosmic Powers #1-6, Korvac Saga, the first 100 issues of Silver Surfer vol. 3 (includes the 2nd Kree Skrull War, The Herald Ordeal, the first confrontation to Tyrant, and epilogue to Operation Galactic Storm, #34-38 led into Thanos Quest, Dynamo City, the Infinity Trilogy tie-ins, and tie ins to Blood and Thunder)

I would also like to add a lot of the early Doctor Strange stories. The original Strange Tales I believe introduced Nightmare, Kaluu, Dormammu, Umar, Eternity, and The Living Tribunal. The original Dormammu saga was awesome which culminated with Dormammu challenging Eternity. The 70's Marvel Premiere #3-14 had Shuma Gorath and Sise-Neg. Also, The 1980's Strange Tales vol. 2 led to another battle with Shuma Gorath and Strange teamed up with Kaluu. A lot of these mystical entities crossover with abstracts so I like to include them in the cosmic pantheon. I believe there was a Thor Annual where Odin was playing a cosmic chess with Dormammu that was set up by Lord Order and Master Chaos.

I'll also add The Saga of the Serpent Crown affair which took place across numerous annuals including The Silver Surfer Annual #2

I know I'm forgetting others but this was what I could remember right now.

[stingnewell]

I'll also chip in. The Fantastic Four run by Lee and Kirby it introduces many of the marvel cosmic elements of Ronan, The Skrulls, Galactus, Silver Surfer.

[stingnewell]

Drax is also a skilled saxophone player and seems to love watching I love Lucy no doubt his memories as Arthur Douglas is still their somewhere in Drax.

[Wellman]

When the news hit that Peter's father wasn't J'son of Spartox it had me puzzled just what alien race or character is Gunn going for in Peter's alien half. Any thoughts on who Peter's father could be or hints that suggested it that I've missed in the movie?

Nothing other then he is part of a ancient race of aliens, Pete's mom called him like an angel (I for get if its was of light or if people are just adding that), plus that Yondu called him a jerk and didn't return Pete to him like he was hired to.

Alot of people are thinking Adam Warlock but I have two theories myself, one its Stakar Ogord aka Starhawk, which would be another OG Guardians of the Galaxy tie in along with Yondu and the other is that it a Eternal or Titan adding a indirect link to Thanos.

[stingnewell]

Nothing other then he is part of a ancient race of aliens, Pete's mom called him like an angel (I for get if its was of light or if people are just adding that), plus that Yondu called him a jerk and didn't return Pete to him like he was hired to.

Alot of people are thinking Adam Warlock but I have two theories myself, one its Stakar Ogord aka Starhawk, which would be another OG Guardians of the Galaxy tie in along with Yondu and the other is that it a Eternal or Titan adding a indirect link to Thanos.

I'm somewhat leaning towards Eternal given the line "very ancient". Also that line where she says his father was angel I think it was just added.

[JediMindTrick]

I think Phylla's problem is basically the same as what Sam Alexander's problem is now. She was pushed into a legacy role and fans of the old character didn't accept it well. I always liked Phylla but I'd never been a fan of Quasar until after he came back in Nova.

I'm hoping that Bendis somehow brings back Phylla in GoTG just to balance out the male to female ratio, especially since I think Captain Marvel will only be a temp thing unless they really do plan to use her in the second movie. Let her just be Phylla or Martyr or something so there isn't any negative feedback from the Quasar crowd.