Published Mar 13, 2026, 11:45 AM EDT
CBR senior staff writer Brian Cronin has been writing professionally about comic books for over fifteen years now at CBR (primarily with his “Comics Should Be Good” series of columns, including Comic Book Legends Revealed). He has written two books about comics for Penguin-Random House – Was Superman a Spy? And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed and Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? And Other Amazing Comic Book Trivia! and one book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, from Triumph Books. His writing has been featured at ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Times, About.com, the Huffington Post, Vulture and Gizmodo. He features legends about entertainment and sports at his website, Legends Revealed and other pop culture features at Pop Culture References. Follow him on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin and feel free to e-mail him suggestions for stories about comic books that you'd like to see featured at brianc@cbr.com!
The Guardians of the Galaxy are back in the Marvel Universe, only the team is VERY different in the wake of the Imperial crossover. That crossover saw Maximus of the Inhumans manipulate all the great powers of the Marvel cosmos into a new Galactic Union (while placing the Inhumans at the head of the Kree Empire, splitting it off from the brief Kree-Skrull Empire), and now that this new peace has been achieved (though sketchy means), the Imperial Guardians are a special ops team that will work with Maximum to PROTECT this new peace.
Of course, as we saw in the Imperial War: Imperial Guardians #1, that meant Maximus' agent, the Cosmic Ghost Rider, KILLING Gamora and Darkhawk when they began to investigate Maximus' machinations. Then, as shown in this week's Imperial Guardians #1, the Cosmic Ghost Rider brought them back to life, and after learning that Peter Qull, Star-Lord, is backing Maximus' play, Gamora and Darkhawk agree to join Captain Marvel, Amadeus Cho and, yes, the dude who KILLED THEM, the Comic Ghost Rider, in a new team of Guardians.
As writer Dan Abnett told us in an interview a while back, "With this book, the real hook is the premise - what are they doing and why - and the drama comes from how they deal with it, and get to know each other. There’s a lot of ‘conflict’ within this team… but more on a personal, level rather than open rivalry. I think it works really well, in the spirit of the Guardians of the Galaxy but in an entertainingly different way. These guys are not plucky outsiders doing what they can. They are a “professional” and single-minded special ops squad."
Now, with Imperial Guardians #1 in stores, Marvel has given CBR an exclusive first look at next month's big SECOND issue!
IMPERIAL GUARDIANS #2 (OF 5)
Dan Abnett (W) • Marcelo Ferreira (A) • Cover by SEAN IZAAKSE
ULTIMATE FAREWELL VARIANT COVER BY TBA
VARIANT COVER BY GERMÁN PERALTA • VARIANT COVER BY MARTÍN CÓCCOLO
GUARDIANS 3000 VARIANT COVER BY CHRIS CAMPANA
• The Galactic Union has brought peace to the galaxy. But who will keep that peace? It’s another day and another dirty job for the IMPERIAL GUARDIANS as MAXIMUS of the Inhumans sends his black-ops team to handle a problem that nobody else wants to touch.
• Our heroes head for Xarth, a minor civilization with major ambitions. The Xarthians have got their hands on something that could make them major players on the galactic stage overnight – or bring down the Union ENTIRELY. And you know they’re not going to give it up without a fight…
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99
As noted in the solicitation, the Guardians are headed to Xarth, and the Xarthians aren't going down without a fight, and so we see Gamora and the Cosmic Ghost Rider tear about some Xarthian agents in stunning action pages from artist Marcelo Ferreira!
However, there is also a page with Captain Marvel talking to Darkhawk, and helping him with the fact that, after he was killed by the Cosmic Ghost Rider, he began to see some dark visions of the future, and they are messing him up big time. Captain Marvel is helping him through the issue (perhaps she can mention her OWN past ability to see into the future).
You'll have to check out Imperial Guardians #2 next month to see these gorgeous pages with dialogue!
English (US) · 