With the onslaught of content produced by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is easier to forget that the marvel multiverse is way bigger than what the fans perceive. The content not only contains movies and shows but also has numerous comics to its name. Moreover, the marvel that fans know and love has always had a deep history with respect to its comic culture. Writers over at marvel have always loved to fiddle with character traits, putting them in situations where they are forced to confront things beyond their comfort zone and in the end, grow from encountering such challenges.
The thing about comics is that the characters and their core traits change as often as the writers do. It is only natural that each author will have their own take on a character and would want to bring about a change or depth that stands the test of time. As far as the turbulent history of marvel is concerned, it is readily apparent to all fans that the comic company is plagued with ret-cons and half-developed timelines that never saw the light of day.
But the good news is that with the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel has become more sure-footed about their radical changes. Even some of the new storylines in the upcoming Marvel movies is inspired by the latest stories in the comics. Ref: Thor Love and thunder. However, such an occurrence is rare and quite honestly far in between but it does make one curious as to what is going on in the Marvel Multiverse beyond the cinematic universe. Take the latest installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy comics. The group had been battling a new villain known as the King in Black. Now although they had fought certain villains before and even cosmic entities but this one was quite different or rather the story played out quite differently.
You see, during the guardian’s battle with the new Olympians Peter Quill aka Star-Lord sacrificed his own life to save his friends and after that, the readers assumed his fate was sealed. But Marvel being Marvel and Ewing being Ewing they found a completely new way to use this self-sacrifice as the starting point for a completely new story arc for the character. After quill’s “covering the mine” moment he does not die, but to his surprise finds himself on a planet called Morinus. This is not like any planet we have seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; it is a mythical land with its own set of rules. This is the place where Ewing flexes his writing muscles and takes the character of Quill/ Star-Lord on a spiritual journey.
It seems that time passes differently on Morinus as Quill enters and befriends two humanoids named Arcadia (presumably female) and Mors (apparently male). These two become Star-Lord’s companion in this strange land on his spiritual escapade into himself. Quill spends more than a decade in the company of these two beings undoubtedly sharing numerous experiences and moments of intimacy. Finally, after all this time he transforms from Star-Lord to a resident of Morinus and accepts both Mors and Arcadia as his lovers. The tone of the script and the picturization in the comic are both of gradual acceptances and not a radical change.
If you ask me this is a bold step from marvel to take an overtly macho character like Star-Lord and show how tender he is with respect to his love encounters. It sets a beautiful parallel to the real world and displays in one go how an entire decade has changed the man we all knew and loved. As per this canon, Star-Lord is no longer Star-Lord, he has grown into something way more. We get this beautiful panel in the #9 issue that solidifies this state and makes Peter Quill officially bisexual.
At this point, it seems prudent to mention that by looking at the comic it seems that the storyline is more than a mere popularity contest within the social justice warrior community. It is an essential part of the growth of the character and the relationships he forms in his presumed death. Although it might be a little weird for some people but as we know that is how love is. I, for one, enjoyed this issue, even when star-lord joined back with the guardians to end the fight with the King in black.
