Guardians of the Galaxy Free Online Comics Launches Today

Fans who visited ComiXology today may have noticed that a Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite #1 was available on the site for free. The series, written by Brian Michael Bendis and featuring the art of his Powers collaborator Michael Avon Oeming, is launching in Marvel's "Infinite" format, which allows readers to page through digital comics in a version of real time, where the click of a mouse can make words appear in sequence over a static image. It's something of an amalgamation of comics--which can be read at your own pace--and motion comics, which unfold in a guided order so that readers uninitiated to comics aren't faced with that first, pressing question: "What the heck does this page mean?" "An Infinite comic book is exploring the new world of digital publication but still maintaining the essential elements that makes a comic book a comic book," Bendis told Entertainment Weekly this morning.. "Most digital comic books are essentially scanned pages that the reader has limited ability to manipulate, but an Infinite comic makes the reader part of the sequential storytelling." The first installment focuses on Drax the Destroyer, who is rumored to be played by Jason Momoa in the forthcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film, which will start filming soon in London. Given that Star-Lord just had his own backstory retold in Guardians of the Galaxy #0.1, a print comic also available digitally, it's likely that the rest of the team--Gamora, Groot and Rocket Raccoon--will get Infinite Comics before or instead of him. Iron Man, who joins the team with Guardians of the Galaxy #1, is pretty well-established and probably doesn't need one.