Drax #1
DRAX #1
Capsule Review
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Writers CM Punk and Cullen Bunn set out to entertain us for a few pages, and accomplish nothing less. Also, nothing more. If it were possible to fold laundry while reading a comic book, this book would be an ideal candidate. There are a couple of laughs, a lot of smashing, some decent characterization (mostly), and nothing to tax your intelligence. Scott Hepburn’s art is as workmanlike as the rest of the package. If you like Drax, read it. If you don’t like Drax, don’t read it, and say that you did. Either way, you’ll wind up in the same place.
Approachability For New Readers
It’s fine. Drax has more intellect here than in the movie, and Ben Grimm’s appearance is just as much a mystery here as in every other Guardians book, but it’s largely familiar faces doing familiar things.
Read #2?
Sure. There’s always more laundry to fold.
Sales Rank
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Posted on December 31, 2015, in Reviews and tagged All-New All-Different Marvel, CM Punk, Cullen Bunn, Drax, Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Comics, Scott Hepburn. Bookmark the permalink. 14 Comments.
The modern incarnations of Drax crack me up, considering that “my” bronze-age Drax wore a distinctive purple super-“hero” costume complete with gold wrestling belt!
I really enjoyed the movie Drax but I would find it surprising if that version of the character would carry a solo series.
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I’m the same way … “my” Drax will always be the 1970s Jim Starlin incarnation. I think of this new Drax as a different guy, frankly. He works better as a supporting character in Guardians (film and comic) than I would have expected, and in this new role the old Starlin character would have been a poor fit.
I’ve already forgotten what was in Drax #1! And I know if I read it again, I will forget just as quickly. Maybe that’s a good thing.
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Thanks but no thanks!
Starlin’s Drax acted more like a plot device than a character but it was a really fun one!
It’s sad that, instead of fleshing him out, uninspired writers spoiled all the fun and turn him into an ugly mockery.
What a revoltin’ development!
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To be fair … I liked Drax as a supporting character in the Guardians of the Galaxy, both on film and as part of the recent Brian Michael Bendis run on that book. (And I say this as a card-carrying Jim Starlin fan). I think it goes too far to brand this new Drax an ugly mockery. He’s an evolution. He still hates Thanos, he still destroys things, he’s still a bit of a hothead and a square peg. This isn’t an especially necessary comic (or character) but it’s not awful.
(Damning with faint praise, I know).
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To be unfair…My comment wasn’t only directed at this comic but rather the cumulative treatment inflicted upon Drax since the end of the first Thanos saga in the seventies.
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Yes, if there is anything a comics writer can count upon, it is that he is writing on water … subsequent writers are going to re-write, re-boot, and re-arrange all that came before. It’s practically a religion.
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Definitely gotta echo that sentiment about this version of Drax being able to sustain a monthly ongoing. He won’t, but neither would the old Drax, unless Starlin was writing it.
Kinda’ surprised this wasn’t better received by you guys since Bunn and CM Punk were writing it. That bad huh?
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The writing wasn’t poor, it was just by-the-numbers. The book wasn’t terrible, nor was it especially memorable or necessary. I did note that I’d read issue #2, which equates to a thumb’s-up in my particular review scheme … but it’s a 51/100 kind of thumb’s up.
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By the way, Happy New Year! And here’s to a great 2016 for this blog.
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Thanks!
I admit I’m more than a little surprised that Longbox Graveyard is still a thing in 2016. Come June I will have been at this for five years. Oy!
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I’ve just started dipping into these Marvel #1s and not enjoying them much so far. Though I’ve literally only read a couple. This was one of them though. I get what you are saying about it being a ‘folding laundry’ book. But I just felt like there was nowhere near enough story or a hook to get me coming back for more.
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My recommendation system is binary — all I do is say whether I’d read the next book or not. And I would read the next Drax, but it would be the last book off of that week’s reading pile. On a more granular scale, I’d give Drax 51/100 … but that’s better than 49. A little.
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