'This fully illustrated tome is a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of the Marvel blockbuster. Follow the film’s complete artistic evolution, featuring stunning concept artwork, behind-the-scenes photographs, production stills, and in-depth interviews with the cast and crew. Here is everything you need to know about the film from its key players, including director James Gunn, co-producer Jonathan Schwartz, executive producer Jeremy Latcham, head of visual development Charlie Wen, along with the talented concept illustrators and storyboard artists who worked on the set and behind the scenes to create the art of Guardians of the Galaxy.'
I was working in a comic shop when the Marvel Cinematic Universe began, and there was a huge sense of excitement from it. As soon as Iron-Man hit, and we got the post credits scene with Nic Fury namedropping the Avengers people became unbelievably hyped, realising this was a shared universe that was going to build towards the most ambitious project comic book movies had ever seen. People came into the shop talking about the films, and wanting to learn more about the characters on the screen. People took more of an interest in folks like Captain America and Thor, giving them a second chance when they might have overlooked them before.
By the time Guardians of the Galaxy rolled around the shop wasn't there anymore, but I'd have been super curious to see what people's reaction to this unknown team would have been. Even for those who read a lot of comics, the Guardians were a group that tended to fly under the radar, who maybe appeared in a crossover for an issue; but even then it would be a niche story. The MCU had played it fairly safe until Guardians of the Galaxy picking characters that had some wider recognition at least, but the Guardians was a big gamble for them. An unknown team with a bunch of aliens that included a raccoon man, and a talking tree, it wasn't like anything that had come before. Luckily, writer/director James Gunn managed to not only make the film succeed, but made the Guardians a household name. The latest entry in the Marvel Studios Infinity Saga art book series takes a look at the first entry in this hit trilogy of movies.
One of the things that I love about this series of art books is seeing how the filmmakers bring the comic to life on the big screen. Seeing iconic characters go from the pace to the real world is a fascinating experience, but in some of the previous books these sections have to be shared with more mundane things, such as how they designed Tony Starks house, or creating the small town where Thor hangs out. With this latest release, however, everything is new. It's set in space, there's very little here that feels recognisable or normal, and because of this the book is absolutely jam packed with stunning art, and unused concepts that you'll find yourself wishing could have been on film.
Guardians of the Galaxy also brought to life a lot more characters than previous films, from the Guardians themselves, to their villains, background cameos, and others they meet along their journey, it's a bit of a who's who of the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe. This means that the majority of the book is given over to character designs (my favourite thing). Having been familiar with how the characters looked in the comics prior to their big screen debut, I was very interested to see how they changed as much as they did, and the book covered this in spades. Whether it's seeing versions of Peter Quill sporting a full helmet rather than just a mask, or versions of Yondu with a huge fin on his head, these versions feel much closer to their original look, and give you a fascinating idea of what the film could have been like before the designs were further refined.
It's also fascinating to see why some of these changes took place. Quill had his helmet scaled back to being just a mask because the fully helmeted look was a bit more menacing, and they needed the audience to identify him as the hero quickly. Drax was a fascinating one to see here too, as it gave a much more in depth look and explanation for his film design than anything in the films. There's some fun designs that put Drax in a form of armour, with the armour creating the shape of his tattoos, but the ritual scarring design that was settled on was an idea unique to the film; and the book shows them off beautifully. There's a two page spread showing close-up shots of a few of his scars, and explaining the events from his life they depict. This was a scene that was cut from the actual film, so getting to see that here, with photos that you can examine and take in in your own time, is great, not least because it's given me a whole new understanding of the character.
Whilst there are designs for most of the characters where you can find things you like over the ones that made it into the film, and may even prefer some of the unused designs, two characters that seem to have been the perfect versions of themselves are Rocket Raccoon and Groot. The book says that they landed on the perfect Groot design pretty early, and looking at some of the alternative designs you can see why that was the one they went for. A walking tree isn't easy to make work, especially if its supposed to be a character that can emote, and some of the rejected designs are a bit too cold and alien to work. Rocket is the same, with some of the rejected designs feeling too cartoonish, or too unpleasant to look at. One of them looks like a mutant Wookie. It seems the design team really nailed the perfect looks for these two characters, and looking at some of the images in this book its clear we got lucky.
The film also had to create spaceships, planets, and weapons, as very little in the movie was from Earth, and so everything had to be created from the ground up. Much like the character designs it's great to see some of the alternative looks we could have had. The Guardians ship was bigger and longer in some designs, with one looking like a futuristic hot rod. There are versions of the Dark Aster that resemble twisted floating heads that evoke demonic imagery. Some of the Nova Corp uniforms make them look less like beat cops and more like robots. It's amazing how despite the varied looks of the different cultures of the film everything seems to work together so well, especially when you see so many designs here that are good designs, but would have thrown that unified feel off if they'd have been chosen instead.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a film that probably shouldn't have worked. It was so different and so risky for Marvel, yet it became one of the best parts of the MCU, and I'll maintain that the three films (and their Christmas special) is perhaps the best, most consistent comic book movie series made. This book offers a fantastic insight into the creation of the film, one that will please both film fans and comic readers alike.
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