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Star-Lord Reading Order, Peter Quill’s Cosmic Adventure in the Marvel Comics Universe

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The introduction of Star-Lord in the Marvel Comics Universe didn’t come with a boom but with editorial complications. Created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan in Marvel Preview #4 in 1976, he was, according to its creator, planned to go from “being a jerk to the most cosmic being in the universe.” This changed quickly as Englehart left Marvel and Chris Claremont took the character over and revamped him–which led to some legal troubles as the writer too openly used Robert A. Heinlein’s work as inspiration. After that Star-Lord only made a few appearances before going away. This version of the character is not even considered part of the regular Marvel Universe anymore.

In 2005, Peter Quill/Star-Lord was introduced by Keith Giffen and Ron Lim in the Thanos ongoing series. This led him to play a part in the Annihilation saga, and then in the new incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy series from Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. With a newly revised origin story, Peter is revealed to be the son of an alien named J’son who crashed on Earth where he met Meredith Quill. When J’son left to go back to fighting his intergalactic war, he didn’t know that Meredith was pregnant. A decade later, enemies of his father came and killed his mother. Now an orphan, Peter was raised by his mother’s best friend Lisa Chang, a commander at NASA. He was destined to join the stars.

During a mission in Space, Peter Quill’s ship malfunctioned and was found by a group of space pirates led by Yondu, the Ravagers. After some convincing, he was allowed to join them. That’s how his cosmic adventures started.

Star-Lord Comics Reading Order

The 1970s Star-Lord

Also known as the Star-Lord of Earth-791, this version of the character is not what his creator intended it to be nor it is connected to what people now know of Peter Quill. But you may be interested in exploring those 1970s (and a bit beyond) sci-fi adventures as Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning hinted that they wanted to connect it to the contemporary version of the character.

  • Star-Lord: Guardian of the Galaxy
    Collects Marvel Preview #4, 11, 14-15, 18 (Star-Lord stories); Marvel Super Special #10 (Star-Lord story); Marvel Spotlight (1979) #6-7; Marvel Premiere #61; Star-Lord (1996) #1-3.

Guardians of the Galaxy Icon

Star-Lord and The Annihilation Saga

This is when Peter Quill officially joined the main Marvel Universe when its cosmic universe was seriously relaunched in the mid-2000s with the Annihilation saga.

First, Star-Lord first appeared in Thanos (2003) #8-12, then in the first Annihilation event–more precisely the main Annihilation miniseries, but it’s hard to find it nowadays collected by itself.

Then came the follow-up, Annihilation Conquest. Peter Quill appeared once again in the main miniseries, but also in his own miniseries.

Star-Lord The Saga Of Peter Quill

Some of those stories are now available in a Star-lord dedicated book:

Star-Lord and The Guardians of the Galaxy by Abnett & Lanning

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s acclaimed Guardians of the Galaxy series starts here. It’s a good entry point if you want to skip the whole crossover event that precedes it.

  • Guardians of the Galaxy by Abnett & Lanning Omnibus
    Collects Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #1–25, The Thanos Imperative: Ignition, The Thanos Imperative #1–6, The Thanos Imperative: Devastation, material from Annihilators #1–4, Annihilators: Earthfall #1–4.

Those are also collected in the following cheaper books:

Star-Lord and The Guardians of the Galaxy by Brian Michael Bendis

It’s the entry point for those who want a version of Star-Lord and The Guardians of the Galaxy similar to the ones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Before going into more details, you can also find those stories in one big omnibus:

  • Guardians of the Galaxy by Brian Michael Bendis Omnibus
    Guardians Avengers Assemble (2012) #1-8; Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #0.1, 1-27; Guardians of the Galaxy Annual (2014) #1; Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow’s Avengers (2013) #1; All-New X-Men (2012) #22-24; Free Comic Book Day 2014 (Guardians of the Galaxy) #1; Guardians of Knowhere (2015) #1-4; Guardians Team-Up (2015) #1-2.

When Brian Michael Bendis introduced this new version of The Guardian of the Galaxy, he didn’t explain immediately how Peter Quill was back at the head of this team following the events of The Thanos Imperative event. This is explained later in Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #18-20. Instead, he started with an Avengers story with Thanos in which the Guardians intervene in the middle of it. After that, the new GotG ongoing series started.

Starting after GotG #20, the Legendary Star-Lord from Sam Humphries, Paco Medina, and Freddie Williams focused on some of Peter Quill’s solo adventures.

Read Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #21-23 after issue #8 as issues Legendary Star-Lord #9-11 are part of “The Black Vortex” storyline, as well as issues #24-25 of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Once The Black Vortex” story is concluded, jump back to Legendary Star-Lord #12 before going back to Guardians of the Galaxy with the last two issues, #26 and #27.

To read the full “The Black Vortex” story, you can check out this following book, it’s certainly simpler that way.

  • Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex
    Collects Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha #1; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 #24-25; Legendary Star-Lord #9-11; All-New X-Men #38-39; Guardians Team-Up #2; Nova #28; Cyclops #12; Captain Marvel #14; Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Omega #1.

Star-Lord and Marvel Universe Post-Secret Wars

Then came the 2015’s Secret Wars that gave us the Star-Lord & Kitty Pryde miniseries and the Marvel Universe went through what was a sort of relaunch with a new status quo.

  • Secret Wars
    Collects Secret Wars #0,#1-9, Free Comic Book Day 2015. Peter appeared in a few issues of the main event. After issue #4, read Star-Lord & Kitty Pryde.
  • Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde
    Collects Star-Lord & Kitty Pryde #1–3, Generation Next #1, Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Omega #1.

Post-secret wars, as the superhero universe is somewhat redefined, Star-Lord still have a solo series, but is not a full-time member of The Guardians of the Galaxy (the series is still written by Bendis). Nevertheless, Peter still appeared in the series, but not in the same position.

Then came Civil War II that changed the Guardians of the Galaxy as the team finished by being grounded on Earth. Check out the reading order for the event to know how to read the following issues.

After Guardians of the Galaxy #13, the team is disbanded. The creative team of Chip Zdarsky and Kris Anka is now in charge of the solo Star-Lord series.

After Star-Lord #6 (and before Star-Lord Annual #1), the Guardians of the Galaxy reformed in Guardians of the Galaxy #19, the last issue written by Bendis.

No more Bendis, but the Guardians keep fighting on in a few one shots and a miniseries before a new writer took over for the next ongoing.

Star-Lord and All New Guardians of the Galaxy by Gerry Duggan

Gerry Duggan is the new writer and Marvel is launching is the All New Guardians of the Galaxy. The stories were published out of order, but know that Secret Empire is set in the middle of that, between issues #10 & 12, see the reading order for the event.

With Marvel Legacy, the numbering of issues changed, but the story continues.

Gerry Duggan being the architect of the Infinity Wars event, Peter Quill and the Guardians were part of it.

  • Infinity Wars by Gerry Duggan: The Complete Collection
    Collects Infinity Countdown Prime #1, Infinity Countdown #1-5, Infinity Countdown: Adam Warlock #1, Free Comic Book Day Amazing Spider-Man/Guardians of the Galaxy 2018 (Guardians of the Galaxy Saga), Infinity Wars Prime #1, Infinity Wars #1-6, Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian #1, Infinity Wars: Infinity #1, Thanos Legacy #1 (B story).

Star-Lord and Old Man Quill

Gerry Duggan left the Guardians of the Galaxy in the hands of Donny Cates (artists Geoff Shaw and Cory Smith) following the conclusion of Infinity Wars.

During that time, Peter got the “Old Man” treatment. It’s not the same character, it’s Peter Quill from Earth-21923.

Once Donny Cates left the book, Al Ewing and Juan Cabal took over.

Last Annihilation marked the end of that run, Peter and the Guardians didn’t came back immediatly in a new volume of the series. In fact, after appearing in Fantastic Four (2018) #42 & #43 as part of the Reckoning War crossover, they just disappeared for a good year before a new relaunched by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Kev Walker.

That’s all for now.

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