Gamora #4 Review and *SPOILERS* - Marvel Monday

Truth is the Beginning

Written By: Nicole Perlman
Art By: Marco Checchetto, Andres Mossa
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 22, 2017
Publisher: Marvel

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

The Gamora book has been fine. That’s probably the best way to describe it. It hasn’t been particularly special but it’s been good enough for an enjoyable read. That said, the fact that this book is missing from solicitations isn’t exact surprising. Of course, Marvel isn’t exactly the best at telling us when a book is legitimately cancelled but this one seems like a no brainer to me. Again, the book is perfectly fine but it takes a lot for a book like this to survive. More of a once in a blue moon kind of moment. However, let’s jump into this issue and see how this series will do as it nears it’s inevitable end.

We pick up with our bounty hunter who is working for the Badoon. She has come to since being put unconscious and seems to regret his actions but of course, he doesn’t have the time to change his ways as the world is coming to an end. We jump back with Gamora who has met the Vestigials, a group of exiled Zen-Whoberi. The group intends to leave the planet together with the power of the crystal that they found in the package that the Badoon sent to the planet. L’wit attempts to reason with Gamora but only angers her. This causes Gamora to launch a knife directly at L’wit but it doesn’t connect as in that moment a sudden gravity surge takes place, allowing L’wit to escape her restraints and flee the area.

The Vestigials tell Gamora to let her go as they attempt to leave the planet. Unfortunately, the crystal is missing a small piece which causes it to be unstable and unusable. Gamora happens to know where the missing piece is. Its in a ring that hangs around L’wit’s neck. L’wit collects her thoughts and is suddenly joined by Ezrik, the man that Gamora saved from sacrifice in a previous issue. After talking with him, L’wit decides to go spend her final moments together with the man who raised her. Meanwhile, Gamora and the Vestigial leader have taken a hoverbike and traverse the dangerous landscape. The Vestigial leader manages to anger Gamora on the way to L’wit.

After jumping across a river of lava, Gamora and the leader come face to face with Ezrik. Turns out Ezrik has joined the cult that attempted to sacrifice him and is now doing the same thing to others. The cultists offer to let the Vestigial go if he gives them Gamora. He draws a gun on her and she is taken into their capture. Once they have arrived at the cultist’s camp though, Gamora breaks out of her restraints and goes on a killing spree just as before. As she attacks, she is suddenly joined by a bunch of raiders led by the bounty hunter from the beginning. L’wit turns out to be in the cultist’s capture as well and uses the chance to escape. It is here that she finds her father and the two plan to leave the planet together when her father is suddenly killed by Ezrik. Ezrik flees and Gamora comes to face L’wit once again. L’wit tells Gamora some hard truths as the two fight but she ends it by attempt to jump into the river of lava, killing herself and taking control of her fate. At the last second though, Gamora grabs a hold of the necklace around L’wit’s neck and stops her suicide attempt. This is where the issue leaves us.

Gamora has continued to get better and better but the comic continues to suffer from the fact that this story takes place in the past. Gamora can’t be in any real danger because she still exists in the present and we haven’t had enough time with these new characters to really care deeply about them. When the father is killed, it’s an emotional scene but we never knew enough about this guy to really care. We care more about L’wit and seeing that final scene really was enjoyable. Having her reveal things about Gamora that Gamora wouldn’t be able to admit to herself at this point was powerful and we left with a big cliffhanger. Once again, the cliffhanger would have been bigger if we didn’t know that Gamora was going to succeed. Granted, this is her book but the stakes just aren’t there. At least the art in this book is fantastic.

Bits and Pieces

This is probably the best issue of Gamora and despite all the problems that I do have with this series, I find it incredibly enjoyable. The art in this issue is phenomenal and the dialogue is very well done. Unfortunately, the lack of stakes and the speed in which we fly through plot points really hurts this comic and I don’t see how this story can continue after this story arc. This book is missing from future solicits and I can understand why.

7.3/10