Comic Book Review: Guarding The Globe #3
Image via skybound.com
If I’m about anything in comic books, it’s accessibility. One major problem I see that’s preventing the comic book industry from growing is how intimidating it must be to a brand new reader trying to decipher seventy years of character background and stories.
Sure, the long term readers need to know their favorite character has a rich history and background whilst breaking new ground and continually bringing something new to the table.
It’s got to be tricky to find the balance between accessibility and character progression. I find that Steve Niles does a great job of constantly making his comic book Criminal Macabre accessible to new readers with every single issue, as does Eric Powell with The Goon. But these kinds of examples are few and far between.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Guarding The Globe #3 out of Image Comics is another example of a comic book that is accessible to a new readers.
Reading Guarding The Globe #3 I felt like I was reading the first issue of the series. Phil Hester introduces all the main characters in a way where you know who they are and what they’re about by the time you’ve finished their portion of the comic. With over ten characters getting various degrees of the spotlight, that’s not an easy task. And not in a clunky X-Men “Feel the weather manipulated by Storm, mutant goddess with the powers of weather!” type thing we see all too regularly.
But don’t think this is a whole heap of sitting around and talking with no story progression. That’s not the case at all. Although we’re introduced to about a dozen characters this issue, the story still moves along at a steady pace and build to a crisis to be dealt with in the next couple issues or so.
The art by Todd Nauck and John Rauch is brilliant. The action sequence of The Elephant smashing through the little barber shop, the Atlantians and especially the fight between El Chupacabra and the Astounding Wolf-Man are drawn with fluidity and motion and I couldn’t help but think that this could be one of the best drawn comics I’ve read.
Listen, if you’re looking for something new try out Guarding the Galaxy #3. It’s a good read but it’s also accessible, which is what you want from a brand new comic.
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