Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Faithless

Guardians of the Galaxy (2019)

by Donny Cates, Al Ewing, Tini Howard

Collects Guardians Of The Galaxy (2019) #7-12, Guardians of the Galaxy Annual (2019) #1.

The death of Rocket? The Guardians of the Galaxy are taking some well-deserved R&R — but their vacation will soon be cut short when a familiar, radically powerful enemy returns. What does this have to do with everyone’s favorite raccoon-like weapons expert? The bad news is Rocket is dying. The good news is he still has some fight left in him! Though with only a few Guardians willing to stand beside him…the odds aren’t looking good. As the threat of the Universal Church of Truth looms large over the cosmos, can Rocket hold on long enough to make a difference? Plus: Find out what really happened to Nova, Quasar, Adam Warlock and Darkhawk! And who better to tell their stories than Cosmo the space dog?

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 19, 2020

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

At this point can Donny Cates do ANY wrong? The Universal Church of Truth is back and a bigger threat than ever. I've always kind of hated them as a plot device in the past but Cates makes it work. Plus, we finally get to see what happened to Rocket! We also get to see what happened to everyone who got sucked into the wormhole in the 1st issue during the annual.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy flark, that was AMAZING!

Seriously, this was not only the best Guardians story I've ever read but the best Cosmic Marvel story I've ever read. I don't want to lay the hyperbole on too thickly but... I have tears rolling down my face as I type this; I shit ye not.

Basically, the Church of Universal Truth is back and a bigger threat than ever and all but two of the Guardians fall to them in the first encounter, leaving Groot and Moondragon to try and recruit an old friend. Those of you who have been dying to see Rocket Raccoon back in this book will finally get your wish... but you know what they say about being careful what you wish for?

Anyway, I don't want to give too much away, just read the damned book already.

P.S. - New artist Cory Smith is amazing. This better not be the last we see of him.

[Alexandra Elend Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

“I was a sheriff. A ranger. Found some friends along the wat. Fought in a few cosmic wars. Killed a bunch of bad @#$%& with some aggressively large weaponry. I was a Guardian of the Galaxy. I… I had a family. People who were good to me…”

My. Heart.

This volume squeezed my heart really hard and made me feel all warm and fuzzy at the same time.

If I had any doubts that I am most firmly obsessed with the Guardians of the Galaxy comics I was swiftly disabussed of them. If anything, I am even more obsessed with them now.
No small fit, since superheroes comics have proven to elulled me most of the time.

“After all I done for this @#$%& galaxy, don’t I get that at least? Don’t I get to decide how I’m remembered? Don’t I get to own this part?”

One of the things I love the most about these comics is the fact that they don't pull away from the emotional realitites of being a superheroe and deliver gut wrenching, sincere moments becasue of it. Seriously, It just feels so honest and real that it speaks to me.

Even with such a wide cast of characters there is always all these emotions that we are dealing with at the same time that we deal with the more heroic parts of guarding the galaxy.

Sure, I would appreciate to have more time with them all but, I'm pretty sure, there are other comics were I can do that if I look for them. Still, this combination is my particular favorite.

“Are you afraid to show your face to your followers? You, who call them faceless? Their faces are not like yours. Their faces are strange but they are their own.”

This volume was probably the most frightening of them all for me because the concept is something that always manages to give me chicken skin. Cold-sweat all the way. And I appreciate that throughly.

It didn't have any impressive fights or anything but I still enjoy the action a lot. Mostly because it was so closely tied to the emotional aspects this time around. It still manage to pull and drawn some interesting concepts into it.

Overall, I wouldn't complain if the fights became more difficult and needed more time to brew. I'm just saying, I love the emotional aspects and all, a lot, but I love the action that comes with superheroes just as much.

“Looking back on it, we never even talked about the mission. Never questioned the choice to go in. We all knew that… if the shoe had been on the other foot, Peter wouldn’t have thought about it either. He’d jump into hell for any one of us. So that’s… that’s what we did. We jumped… into hell.”

I enjoyed it tremenduosly.

To say that I'll be reading every single issue that get's published of them is an understatement.

That the art is pretty good and very much in my ally - if not quite exactly what I love - doesn't hurt a bit.

“No. You don’t belong to you, Rocket. None of us do. We owe it to each other to keep going. Because you won’t be there when you die. But we will. That’s what family means.”

________________________

Yet again, comics come to save me from a too-busy schedule that allows for no reading time except tiny snatches of time.

It doesn't hurt that I've been obsessed with these comics since the moment I discovered them.

I'm so excited!!!!

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a great volume! The team must reform and their first threat is the Universal church of truth from the future led by the Patriarch who turns out to be J'son and when the guardians are captured, its upto Rocket to save all of them with leftover team including Magus and we understand whats he been upto and the sickness thats taking him and then we have them all go to the ship of the Patriarch and fight him to stop his life engines and quest to attack earth, its an all out war and even the return of Drax and whatnot and that final battle was epic, great moments for Rocket and Groot in that suit with guns and then we see the face of the death in the future and Thanos always wins. It was cool and then we have that ending where all the 5 OG guardians get together with Rocket and its the end of this epic run, just such a great heartwarming story!! The art is gorgeous and callbacks to different stories and all and the colors just pop so well!

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Universal Church Of Truth is back, and they have a new messiah - someone that the Guardians are extremely familiar with. But to win, they'll need to get the entire band back together, and that includes Rocket Raccoon. But Rocket's got his own problems, and he's not exactly ready to get back in the krutackin' saddle just yet. Plus, what happened to the other characters who were plunged into a black hole during Hela and the Black Order's attack? Find out here!

Everything about this volume fires on all cylinders. The Guardians are at their best/worst, the threat that they're facing feels really powerful and so the chances of them succeeding are slim to none, and there are enough fist-pump moments to fill an entire football stadium. The artwork's fantastic as well, and I hope more people take note of Cory Smith after this. Oh, and the annual that starts everything off is narrated by Cosmo. What more do you want?

So why only four stars?

The ultimate resolution of one plotline feels like a complete misstep. A lot of the dramatic tension surrounding the story is that something is inevitable, and there's no way to stop it. But then it gets stopped literally off-panel, and everything is fine. It just takes all of the tension out of it, and feels like a let down. It's a little thing, but it's such a major part of the story that it feels much more impactful otherwise.

Overall though, Cates' Guardians has been excellent. It's such a shame that it's only the 12 issues and an annual, because he clearly has a lot more he could say about these guys.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Donny Cates run on Guardians ends on a solid note.

We finally see Rocket in his final days. He's really not doing too good. On top of that most of the guardians are now kidnapped by the church of crazy fucking cult like assholes. You know, typical religion. With most of them, including Starlord kidnapped, Groot goes to recruit a couple of friends, including his trusty raccoon. But will he be able to?

As much as I enjoy 90% of Cates output, this is on the weaker side. This isn't to say it's bad, it really isn't. The moments with Rocket and Groot are wonderful, it still moves at a fun quick pace, and there's some great action moments. Saying that, it wraps up to nicely and cates knew another writer was going to change everything soon after. Also, Starlord seems really dumb at points here, which is odd.

Overall, good stuff, fun, but I can see why Cates himself acknowledges this as one of his weaker books. Saying that it is still pretty fun! A 3 out of 5.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The galaxy can wait." - Starlord

Well, this was just amazing!

Great, fun, touching, solid story-telling along with beautiful artwork with some wonderful coloring and there you have it. I'm waiting to read a bad story from Cates. Seriously!

I didn't expect to like it that much. Really liked it and wanted some more than just two volumes!

Be sure to read the Silver Surfer: Black series too.

Highly Recommended!

[Aldo Haegemans · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5/5

[Lucas Savio · Rating 3 out of 5]

sem sombra de dúvidas o primeiro volume é melhor que esse que não deixa de ser bom, creio que só os assuntos abordado não me agradaram tanto quanto o primeiro, por exemplo o foco na serpente com sua parceira amorosa tem menos mas em compensação foca bastante no que aconteceu com o Rocky que também é muito massa porém a igreja não achei tão interessante e me pareceu um pouco confuso o final porém a arte eu gostei bastante e me divertiu também bastante, Donny cates no final das coisas sempre faz um arroz e feijão bem feito só que vindo do primeiro volume gostaria da mesma pegada.

[Valéria. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catesovi tieto veci skrátka idú, neskutočne dobre sa to číta, skvele je to prepletené nenásilným humorom, postavy sú zaujímavé a nie na jedno brdo. Again, teším sa čo bude ďalej.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Faithless (Annual, #7-12). The fight against a future Church of Faith doesn't have the depth of Cates' previous story, in large part because it's a big mind-controlled fight, and those rarely turn out great. Still, it's got some great plot development for Gamora and Rocket and a fun twist at the end. [3+/5]

[Judah Radd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun, and occasionally touching, story that pays great respect to past marvel cosmic while also blazing new trails. I love Donny’s writing style as always.

Great shit, definitely get it.

[EmBe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eins ist mir nach der Lektüre dieses Comics wieder klar geworden. Das Figurenvorrat des GotG-Universums ist begrenzt und gestorben wird - eigentlich nicht richtig. :-) Der Tod oder besser das Ableben von Akteuren tritt entweder massenhaft auf, wie der Tod der Nova-Gardisten am Anfang von "Gefährlicher Glaube". Oder er wird - verschoben in das nächste Album oder als Teil eines Untergangbildes sozusagen ästhetisch bewältigt. Auf der anderen Seite wird der Tod aber auch personalisiert. Der Patriarch der "Kirche der universellen Wahrheit" erzählt von seinem bildhaften Erscheinen am Ende der Zeiten. Ihn zu besiegen rechtfertigt den Tod von vielen Lebewesen in der Gegenwart. Da sind wir schon in der Haupthandlung. In den kleinen Erzählungen davor, die quasi auf den Hauptteil mit dem Titel "Ungläubig" einstimmen, geht es um Glaube, Auslöschung und Wiederauferstehung. "Fremder Horizont" geht es um ein Wesen, das eine außerirdische Spezies vor dem Aussterben rettet. Wie der dorthin versetzte kosmische Superheld Quasar herausfindet, aus eigennützigen Motiven. Das ist auch der Grund weswegen er ihm ein Ende bereitet.
Die Comic-Welt bedient sich gerne mythologischer Vorstellungen der antiken Völker und setzt sie sehr materiell um. Das sieht dann oft sehr eindrucksvoll aus.
Die Guardians of the Galaxy müssen der "Kirche", die Glauben fordert und erzwingt, natürlich Einhalt gebieten. Um dabei erfolgreich zu sein, muss Rocket Racoon wieder auftauchen. Seine Rolle ist auch ein großer Pluspunkt, zumal man erfährt wie Rocket Racoon zu dem wurde, was er ist. Ja es geht natürlich darum, das richtige zu tun und um Zusammenhalt und Freundschaft - und Liebe. Da ist die wie immer actionreiche Handlung für mich zumindest fast Nebensache. Ich bewundere eben die Kunst der Zeichner und Koloristen, die sie umsetzen und so viele Perspektiven und Bewegung virtuos beherrschen. Diese Farbigkeit und Vielfältigkeit kann kann kein Film umsetzen.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an arc that's good up until it's ending. The stuff with Rocket? That's all good! Some great moments that Donny Cates hammers home over and over. Everything leads up to this big galaxy-wide climax while still being focused on the core emotional arc these characters are going through.

At which point Cates wraps a neat little bow on everything, congratulates himself for being such a great writer, and ends it. It's all done. Lingering plot threads? Nah those get solved in a single page. Big mysteries? Nah, go read his other books. Huge scope? The biggest scope is the number of titles Cates has worked on just to settle on a few issues to tell it all. In the end, Donny Cates is Donny Cates' biggest fan and Donny Cates thinks that Donny Cates' work is really damned cool. And sometimes it is! But most of the time what he thinks is cool is telling you how cool his work is and that isn't cool.

At least there's no big convoluted crossover (except, you know, all of Cates' work is one big convoluted crossover) like Civil War II or Infinity Wars to ruin it and we can keep it all in one nice series.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

COLLECTS GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ISSUES #7-12, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ANNUAL (2019) #1

This collection brings Cate's too-short run to an end, and there was some good stuff here. If you are a big fan of Marvel Cosmic stories, as I am, then this is a run worth checking out. There are ties to the past, and seeds for the future.

[Megan Farve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t have a great love for the Guardians of the Galaxy graphic novels but I really loved this volume. I even found myself tearing up a bit. Maybe it’s just the quarantine getting to me, but I think not. This was just a great volume!

[Emmanuel Nevers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good conclusion and wrap up to the prior event before this Guardians run.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highlights:
A dying * Rocket gets all Gundam suited up.
Drax x 100+ is reborn.
Rocket spits in evil Drax face.

* comics dying

[owyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

like if u cried

[Books & Vodka Sodas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhhhhhhh

That was so good! My heart hurt! There were just so many really good high stakes moments. I love how they told Rocket in this story arc, but I think I like Gunn's version better. But ultimately it's a beautiful story found family, and the people who love you unconditionally.

And the people willing to die for you.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good. Cates was made for this--why only 12 issues?

[chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently Cates wanted to kill Rocket off, but Al Ewing wanted to keep him alive for his upcoming run. Honestly, I'm fine with the decision to keep Rocket alive. It's kinda hard to imagine the Guardians without him.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Faithless gets points for a touching portrayal of Rocket's looming demise, but the surrounding adventure is fairly basic. The New Guardians Gang get sucked into the Universal Church of Truth's clutches, becoming fodder for the church's desired death of Death. Naturally, the Church needs to take out Earth's population to achieve this end, so Peter Quill is pretty cheesed off. It doesn't help that the Church's leader is Quill's father - I kind of expected a twist there, with an unexpected Big Bad being revealed later, and was somewhat disappointed that J'Son really was just the main bad guy.

Rocket, Groot, and Moondragon endeavor to save the Guardians while Quill attempts to take out the Church from the inside. It's all quite exciting and every scene with Rocket is a good one. But there are few surprises and the action is pretty contained. I enjoyed Faithless, though it didn't meet the high bar Donny Cates' other Marvel works have set.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Donny Cates é um dos novos queridinhos dos leitores da Marvel e poderia-se dizer que tem o "dedo de ouro", os personagens que ele toca e empreta a sua visão sobre eles se tornam dourados, brilham em suas histórias próprias. Mas, aparentemente esse "dedo de ouro" de Donny Cates não funcionou tão bem como os Guardiões da Galáxia, que se encaixariam tão bem no universo cómico que ele começou a tratar tão bem a partir da criação do Motoqueiro Fantasma Cósmico na série de Thanos. Neste segundo volume dos guardadores da galáxia nos deparamos com o destino dos vários heróis que tinham caído pelo buraco negro que acabou transformando alguns deles. Um deles, o guardião Rocky Racum acaba sendo afetado por essas forças e começa a adoecer. Ao mesmo tempo a Igreja da Verdade Universal começa a preparar um plano para trazer de volta um novo messias, que agora não é mais Adam Warlock, mas um Guardião que foi baixa de guerra em tempos recentes e que não revelarei quem é por funçaõ de spoilers. Contudo, apesar de ter uma premissa interessante, esta história em quadrinhos não parece tão bem executada quanto poderia ser. Os desenhos de Cory Smith também não me agradaram. Então este acabou sendo um quadrinho bem mais ou menos.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first volume was a lot better. But this was still pretty good. Although it felt rushed. All this build up...and then a simple solution that stops the unstoppable big bad. Good character moments. But also a lot of character arc build up that was dropped... again it seemed to wrap up the story and Cates Guardians run. He's a talented newer Marvel writer. I worry Marvel is spreading him too thin.

[Alfredo Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably like 3.75 stars. Cates's writing is strong and slick as always, Smith's are is pretty good, but not unlike the first one I'd say it struggles juuuust a little to find its footing. The post-film era Guardians have been in a constant state of flux, cycling through new series and creative teams at an alarming rate, and so the in-story team seems to be similarly all over the place. I know this is the case with just about all modern day superhero comics from the Big Two, but Guardians seems to really struggle to go much longer than a year with any given iteration. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I feel like every year the team is restructuring and rebuilding as the new creatives set the table before they swing right out the door. I know that Cates, who managed to reach a 35 issue run on Venom, left this book to take over Thor from Jason Aaron after his acclaimed seven-year run on Thor. (Speaking of the rare run on a book that manages to last, even though Aaron himself wrote six or seven #1 issues!) I wonder how long Cates would've stayed had he not got that other job. I wonder how long he'll stay on Thor!

Anyway, this arc is pretty good. It kind of builds itself as a culmination of all of Cates's cosmic Marvel writing, which we know isn't true because that was King in Black, such as it was, and he's still on Thor besides, and as a big endpoint I'm not sure how satisfying this arc was. As a rousing Guardians tale with a focus on Rocket, it's fun. Maybe a little lore-dependent, but I like that now and again, when I'm fortunate to remember the lore in question. I'm excited to read Al Ewing's follow-up to this series, but as of this writing HE just ended HIS run at 20 issues! So I don't know, maybe Guardians doesn't sell well enough to sustain long runs? Maybe it's kind of stepping stone where writers go play until they get a big book? (I think Ewing is being absorbed into the Krakoa X-books team.) Maybe the Guardians movie so fundamentally altered what these characters are that they'll forever flounder in a flux state between the two versions? Maybe long runs are dead in the era of extremely corporate superhero comics? (Don't tell Jason Aaron, who is already 50 issues deep, though it's only been four years thanks to the weekly schedule.)

As long as there keeps being good zany fun rad space comics, I won't complain too much! (Or maybe I just did?)

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Universal Church of Truth is back from the future to brainwash the past to save the future from death - or something. But if it’s not Adam Warlock/Magus in their latest cocoon, who is it? Meanwhile, Rocket battles space cancer - gee I wonder if he’ll overcome it? Have Faith.

Donny Cates’ second and final Guardians of the Galaxy book isn’t a patch on his first unfortunately. The story is really flat and uninteresting - the Church aren’t good villains, none of the characters have compelling storylines and the whole thing feels vague and half-baked.

The book opens with a godawful annual featuring some of the worst comics writers in the business like Tini Howard, Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler cranking out some dismal stories about Adam Warlock and Darkhawk that are pure torture to wade through. Hated them all and forgot them as I was reading them - they’re utterly disposable sludge.

Cates’ main story doesn’t have much excitement going on. The Church is winning until the last part when they have to lose and everyone in the meantime is treading water. What’s in the cocoon is mildly surprising until you remember that death, particularly in regards to this series, is a farce.

Which is the same complaint I had for the first book - if dying characters are an irrelevant joke, don’t make the reader go through the motions of making it seem like they’re really dying when there was never any chance of that happening. That’s why the “Rocket dying” storyline feels like such a waste of time.

Cory Smith’s art is every bit as excellent as Geoff Shaw’s in the first book - no complaints there; this book looks amazing. The story actually picks up slightly by the end as the characters fight back against the Church but it’s belated and predictable.

Mostly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2: Faithless is a too boring and unmemorable read - a disappointing conclusion to what was a corking first book.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galactic Attack from the long assumed dead Universal Church of Truth!
This time, with J'Son (Peter Quill's dad) at the head of it, they'll stop at nothing to fulfill their mission. They need life energy to power up their messiah, a destroyer who accompany them back to the future so they can destroy Death, who has eradicated everything. So... as you would assume, they start capturing and brainwashing heroes.
This book also does a great job of promoting an event that ultimately doesn't end up happening, yet it is handled in a way that you would assume it would, and thus it doesn't feel cheap. I'm referring to "The Death of Rocket". Our little crazy furry friend has deteriorating cybernetic parts and he's slowly dying. Keeping himself alive with a crazy Megazord-looking power suit. He is still healthy enough to shell out the quips and typical Rocket amazingness.
Overall, the story resolves and has great pacing. I really enjoyed it.
This also ends the short-lived run of this Volume of Guardians. Can we not just keep the numbering going and not have to start over so much?

Overall, I definitely recommend. Great self-contained Volume.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cates utrzymuje wysoki poziom serii, dając na wiele zwrotów akcji oraz całą masę przedniej zabawy. Tym bardziej się dziwię, czemu do licha to ostatnio tom spod jego pióra...

Nie bójcie się ciemności, ułudy czy zła. Tu znajdziecie pocieszenie, spokój i wiarę. Przed wami Powszechny Kościół Prawdy. Przyjmie każdego, nawet wbrew jego woli. Albo się ukorzycie albo zginiecie...

Znany nam kosmos przemierza dziwna jednostka, która zaczyna masowo " nawracać", każdego kogo napotka. A to przed potęgą wiary padnie korpus Nova, a to Kościół weźmie sobie na cel pozostałych Strażników Galaktyki.

A ci są nieco inni. Gadający Groot może dziwić, zdewastowany fizycznie Rocket zaś stanowi dobrą okazję do tego, żeby ekipa stała się prawdziwą rodziną. No i wreszcie dowiemy się, gdzie był do tej pory Rocket...

Mamy tu sporo dobrej zawartości. "Bez wiary" wygląda też bardzo dobrze, będąc graficznie spójnym z kilkoma innymi poprzednimi odsłonami. Szkoda. Cates ładnie zamyka wątki, dając sporo dobra swoim fanom, a nam pozostaje czekać na nowe rozdanie. Oby Ewing zaszalał, jak przy serii o Nieśmiertelnym Hulku.

[Lenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cates and Smith's epic Guardians run comes to a close in this concluding volume! Even though I'm less familiar with the Universal Church of Truth, it was still a fun ride that continued to capitalize on what's made Cates' run so strong - snappy dialogue, fun guest appearances that take advantage of Marvel's cosmic world, and above all, not taking itself too seriously. Except where it counts - we finally see Rocket again and it's a bit of a tearjerker with more than a few touching scenes between Rocket and Groot. My one gripe is with the flashback scenes, they were completely unnecessary and I wish those pages had been used for something else.

I originally read through these last couple volumes of GotG just to get to Ewing and Cabal's most recent run, but it was totally worth the journey.