The Good
The Guardians make it to the Planet of the Symbiotes... finally.
Let's get the obvious right out of the way. Venom's new look is awesome and completely fitting for a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. What's the best thing about it? There's a Guardians logo on his shoulder. Ok, that's not the best thing, but it may be my favorite thing. What is really cool about it is that it fits the team he's on and the fact he's in space. He's wearing a symbiote spacesuit, and it's awesome.
Valerio Schiti and colorist Jason Keith do an awesome job in this issue. They give the reader bits and pieces of what this world looks like, in an uncharted part of space and it's very alien, even for all the things we've seen in the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe. The art provides this fun, yet dark tone to this book and Keith is doing a wonderful job with colors and shading, especially here. The art is easily the best part of this book, followed closely by the way Brian Michael Bendis writes these characters interacting with each other, which is fun and very enjoyable.
The Bad
In the three-part Planet of the Symbiotes story, the Guardians get to said planet during the third part and man, does it feel rushed. Conceptually, this was something that needed to be explored within all of Marvel's lore and it feels completely like a throw-away moment.
From there, the issue tries to completely change everything everyone knows about the Symbiotes within three pages of backstory about what the symbiotes are and the Guardians just come to accept it all, and the reader is also expected to as well. The issue rushes the reader through all of this so it can move forward into The Black Vortex, next month. By the end of the issue, the reader will be completely unsatisfied with everything about this story, except for the fact that Flash Thompson, as Venom, somehow looks even cooler, which I didn't think would be possible.
All-in-all, we still don't know much about the inhabitants of this planet. Sure, they lay out their mission in a large information dump, which is a tad aggravating in itself, but this is a completely underwhelming story and it shouldn't be. This should be a cool, stand-out moment for this book and Marvel, not just a story that gives a dude a new costume.
The Verdict
As The Planet of the Symbiotes closes up, it was easily one of the stories I was most excited for this year and one of the biggest let downs of the year. We get some great art and Venom in a cool, new costume which actually makes him fit on the team a whole lot better, but that's about it. This issue is a rushed information dump of everything Symbiote in order to progress to the next issue. This was a story that I wanted to be great, and it wasn't. If it weren't for the art, this would be rated a bit lower. Disappointment aside, if you want to see how Venom gets his new suit, saddle up. Otherwise, skip out on this one.