Guardians of the Galaxy #1 cover In Guardians of the Galaxy #1, our messy cosmic heroes face the wrath of their most fearsome foe yet: Groot?

With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hitting theaters in a matter of weeks, it makes sense for a new (and arguably overdue) Guardians comic book series to coincide with it. It’s been over a year since Al Ewing, Juan Cabal, and their various collaborators departed the title after an impressively strong run, so following them was never going to be an easy act. Based on this issue, however, it seems incoming writers Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing and artist Kev Walker are going to zig where they zagged with a completely different take on the material: a space western.

Set sometime after the events of The Last Annihilation, wherein the Guardians banded together with basically all of Marvel outer space to defeat Dormammu and Ego the Living Planet, this new series opens with a very intriguing question: what exactly is Grootfall, and how did it come to be? As we learn in the issue, the current lineup of Guardians —Star-Lord, Gamora, Mantis, Drax, Nebula— have tasked themselves with protecting far-off planets from the threat of Grootfall, a phenomenon that seems to engulf entire planets in Groot’s image. If you think that sounds lovely and cute because you think Groot is lovely and cute, it most certainly does not seem to be the case here.

The “good guy breaks bad” plot is nothing new, especially not in superhero media, but there’s enough novelty to the fact that it’s Groot apparently going bad that leaves room for curiosity and interest. That, plus the space Western aesthetic Walker really gets to lean into with his art, makes Guardians of the Galaxy #1 a solid opening for what will hopefully be another worthwhile and esoteric take with these characters. I don’t think the Guardians get enough credit for being as malleable and fluid as they’ve proved to be over the past few years in comics, with each new run feeling quite different in tone from the last. They can be wacky, they can be serious, but the best Guardians stories are often both. As serious as the stakes seem to be here, they’re contrasted by a campy Western flavor that has never quite been hit upon as Kelly and Lanzing are going for. According to them, this first arc will be especially episodic in nature before going more serialized from that point, but I hope they don’t totally shake this vibe too soon, because there’s a lot of fun to be had in this mode. Until then, however, Guardians of the Galaxy #1 is definitely worth checking out.