Hey, Geeks and Geekettes! It’s Mid-Week-Mini-Christmas, also known as Comic Book Wednesday, and that means COMIC REVIEWS!!!

This week we’ll be focusing on my two favorites, Guardians of the Galaxy and Red Hood and The Outlaws, the latter of which comes back after a month away while DC did their Villains Month; we’ll talk about that some. Now then! ON TO THE REVIEWS!!

Guardians of the Galaxy is probably my favorite comic out right now, for a number of reasons. Love or hate Bendis, he’s on a mission; to give a comic that ties into Infinity, but also prepares new and old readers alike for the upcoming movie based on this title. Are the characters exactly like the movie? No, yet neither are they exactly like we’ve seen before. This title also introduces Angela, formerly of Image comics, and her return to the comic book page. I love her dynamic with the team and the possibilities she presents if she stays in the title, and as future story arc ads suggest, she does.

This issue also touches on a sensitive subject; Rocket Raccoon and his status as Raccoon or alien. Now, we don’t get a lot of info on this, but we do get a snip-it. A crumb. A tiny iota of information to chew on while we anticipate where Marvel is taking this character for the future. Check this out.

So still yet, no definitive answer on him being a raccoon or not, but it’s a step. Check out http://www.guardthegalaxy.com/2013/10/retcon-alert-rocket-raccoon-is-no.html for a full report on the issue and speculations on where this character might end up.

As for the rest of this comic, we get some back story on Angela, who FINALLY speaks out-loud. Some cute back and forth between Tony and Peter, with lots more glowering and glaring from Gamora! After hearing Angela’s story about experiencing the same time-space break-event that Peter did, Peter lets her go to Earth to see it for herself. Having only heard stories about the place (Her Spawn history wiped? This Angela is a completely new Angela? Hmmm. Not sure how I feel about that.) Angela finds herself bewildered and a bit sad at what she finds. The Guardians follow her to Earth, Peter and Tony approaching her to gauge her reaction at what she finds. Peter gives her a communication device, telling her to reach him anytime she needs. She replies that she hasn’t gotten him anything, and flies off, insisting on returning the favor. Odd… But as she disappears, Peter asks Tony if he’s worried that Angela isn’t the only surprise from the time-space event. Tony says yes, he is, but wouldn’t it be nice if she was it? And we get a shot of numerous large and dangerous-looking alien ships headed to Earth.

As with the other issues, this one goes quickly, very fast-paced, so it feels like you don’t get much information. But we got Angela talking, a piece of Rocket info, foreboding alien invasion, and we didn’t have to wait more than month to see it! I’m calling this a win, guys! Haha

Red Hood and The Outlaws comes back after a month away during DC’s Villains Month. The absence of the title and DC’s neglect to add it to the Villans Month line-up was a big disappointment to Hoodies, and a missed opportunity to use Villains month as a legitimate way to spend some time giving us back-story and information on villains that are a big part of the current story, but may not get much spotlight. Jason and the crew are currently neck-deep in League of Assassins, whose roster holds some elaborate and fun characters, old and new. Focusing on this team, even if you didn’t want to touch on their previous connections to Jason, would be fun and informative, giving us info on the new characters and confirming whether or not the more familiar ones have been entirely rebooted or not. Cheshire, Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger, December Graystone (formerly Blood Mage), and Rictus could hold a title of their own, given the chance to let these characters flourish. Not to mention the rest of the Untitled. Or even focusing on ONE of the League. This was a wasted opportunity. Deeply disappointing to Hoodies, RHATO fans.

That being said, we return where we left off, Jason has no memory of his past, Roy and Kori are prisoners, and the Untitled have invaded the Acres of All, bent on destroying the Well of Sin, protected by the League of Assassins. Cheshire, after watching Roy have a mini-emotional meltdown, takes him to Kori’s cell to see her, and shows her own emotions towards Roy. This woman is obviously unstable, but sees something of herself in Roy, implying he’s not yet as broken as she is. I’m interested in seeing where they take this, and if they follow the pre-52 storyline. Roy getting Lian and becoming a father really made me love the character. I still own the first comic he meets his daughter in. This storyline is very important to me, so expect to see me keeping a close eye on it.

Jason figures out that they’re unable to kill the Untitled; simply holding them at bay isn’t working. He tells Bronze Tiger that the sword “tell” him the Well is the key. Jason drives the leader of the Untitled into the Well, which drains him of his powers and seems to spit him back out. The League over power the Untitled with the bat-men and drive them all into the Well, at which point the one behind everything makes himself known. Ra’s al Ghul bathes in the Well, now imbued with the power of the Untitled, and reveals he’s the one behind it all.

I predict the next issue of this, we find Roy and Kori escaping, Jason has to decide whether to join Ra’s or fight him, and the League becomes true enemies of the Outlaws.

While not my favorite issue of the series, I’m really glad to see the title back on the shelves.

As always, be sure to drop us a line at http://www.facebook.com/geekinpodcast and http://www.twitter.com/geekin_podcast , and let us know what you thought about the issues this week, what you think the future holds for The Guardians and The Outlaws, and check out our Weird West Week posts from last week. Some really cool stuff in there.

KEEP GEEKIN’!