Stale Tales Through Time — Reviewing ‘Imperial War: Imperial Guardians’ #1

A Galactic Union was on the verge of creation, finally bringing a semblance of peace to a chaotically divided universe. Unfortunately, a number of parties have been working to undermine that whole endeavor for their own selfish reasons.

Pieces of what happened behind the scenes are laid out with Imperial War: Imperial Guardians #1. The latest, and final, Imperial event one-shot is delivered by Dan Abnett, Jonathan Hickman, Cory Smith, Wayne Faucher, Luca Maresca, Espen Grundetjern, and Cory Petit.

At the end, the Imperial War one-shots, leave much to be desired.

Like a number of its counterparts, this one shot was very much a slew of exposition and moments that include proverbial trading of water. Nothing of significance is really added, other than some breadcrumbs to be followed up in the final issue of Imperial and whatever book some of these characters appear next for Cosmic Marvel.

Abnett and Hickman have a plan here. It’s not a bad plan, I will say, to showcase the power of a figure and myth, and how it can lead people to go against their own best interests in order to cling to an old way that passed. They also dip into how that myth can be coopted by devious individuals with destabilization goals in mind. Having the three heroes involved teaming up, as well as the Super Skrull’s controlling turn, are all fine things.

There is just a ton of exposition, explanation, and not much to really lean on here. It’s just events with characters patched in with some motivation and development on display, but very scant amounts. I’m not left in a spot where I particularly care about what happens next with these characters, which says a lot. I like Gamora and really like the concept of Darkhawk.

Smith and Maresca, with assistance of Faucher on Smith’s work, do a lot to make the issue work.

Both artists have a style that leans into having slightly rougher textures in many spaces, giving things that more lived in and tougher sort of appearance. This fits with some of the locales and tones that are visited in this story and larger event. Their action and non-action sequences flow smoothly and capture the emotional or strong beats, what few there are. All of the actual action really moves on the page giving things the right level of tangible energy.

Additional inks help bring more of these elements to the forefront, giving them more weight in building out the foundations of the visual world on display.

Colors are a solid mixture throughout. Grundetjern uses a palette that balances the more neutral or natural backdrop choices with more toned-down vibrant colors. A lot of the colors are weightier and set the overall tone, giving each world or space a unique feeling. Brighter and vibrant colors are utilized to highlight the fantastical nature of being on alien worlds as well as flashy costumed figures. These are kept at the same levels as the other work in many regards to keep it grounded in a way.

Tons of captions and dialogue are in play in this talkative expository adventure. Petit makes sure it all flows in a logical and not too overwhelming way, as well as can be done since there is often a ton on the page to really take in. Character voices still have some unique textures to them, even if there isn’t much room to really express full emotional or character beats. What is there, though, finds a way to pop out well.

Imperial War: Imperial Guardians #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.