Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother Entropy

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: MOTHER ENTROPY, the upcoming five-issue limited series not only re-teams writer Jim Starlin and artist Alan Davis, but offers up a new villainous entity along with some old favorites from the Starlin cosmic catalog. We spoke with the writer in advance of the project’s debut this May.

Marvel.com: Jim, what do you love most about the current Guardians of the Galaxy line-up?

Jim Starlin: What do I like best about the new Guardians? That’s easy: Groot. To tell the truth, I wasn’t a big fan of the original Guardians. Didn’t dislike them, just didn’t care one way or the other about them. I was out of comics during the time [Marvel] rebooted the title and, so, only became aware of the revised group once the movie was announced. Then I went back to catch up on the changes and was more than pleasantly surprised by what I discovered.

Marvel.com: What’s the origin of this story of yours?

Jim Starlin: The MOTHER ENTROPY series came about in a strange sort of way. I’d finished writing the last of the Thanos graphic novel trilogy and wasn’t sure I was going to do any more Thanos stories. But an unexpected hole appeared in my schedule and [editor] Tom Brevoort suggested writing a different kind of Guardians story.

Apparently the regular on-going Guardians series was coming to an end and Tom decided to do a bit of experimenting. My instructions were to come up with a Guardians story that could be read by fans of the movie Guardians or the Marvel Comics Guardians. So I jettisoned Gamora’s armor—always envisioned her more ninja than storm trooper—and changed a few other little things here and there. Alan did the same in the drawing—when did Star-Lord grow a van dyke?—and MOTHER ENTROPY came to be.

Marvel.com: We hear that Pip the Troll returns in this! What’s it like to be working with him again?

Jim Starlin: Always fun revisiting Pip, like hanging out with an ol’ degenerate friend you know you should be avoiding but don’t. My original idea for the story involved a switch around, which required an even number of characters, so Pip was enlisted to round the cast off to a half-dozen. Kind of surprised Pip didn’t have more contact with the Guardians over the years. They seem like such a natural fit for each other.

Writing a comedic tale is so much harder than writing straight-up drama. Not only do you have to carefully craft the storytelling aspects but then you need to go back and fine tune the funny side of the tale: readjusting lines and rethinking visuals. Worked twice as long on scripting MOTHER ENTROPY than I did any of the individual Thanos graphic novels.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother Entropy by Alan Davis

Marvel.com: What can you say about Mother Entropy herself? What are her motivations? Why does she test people?

Jim Starlin: From Mother Entropy’s perspective, she’d say her chief motivation is love. All she wants is for everyone to get together and be one big harmonious family. Of course most would disagree with what Ma Entropy sees as a harmonious family. The Guardians certainly do. Why does she test folks? She wants the best to lead her family within our reality, of course. But, again, her definition of “best” is open to debate.

Marvel.com: We hear that Thanos is going to be sticking his head in here…

Jim Starlin: Thanos’ role in this tale is very peripheral, determined more by his relationship with Drax and Gamora than by any personal motivation.

Marvel.com: Okay, so, will MOTHER ENTROPY connect with any of your past and future Marvel stories?

Jim Starlin: No, this is pretty much a stand-alone story. The Guardians and Pip encounter a lot of Marvel Universe characters along the way, but a new reader should be able to come in cold and easily get what’s going on, even if they don’t know who Gladiator or Galactus is.

Marvel.com: What’s it like working with Alan on this? How much input will you have art-wise, especially on a new character like Mother Entropy?

Jim Starlin: Working with Alan is a real pleasure. I put down a few words and a few weeks later these beautifully drawn pages arrive in an e-mail gorgeously illustrating the tale. My input on the visuals is minimal and hardly needed. Mr. Davis is one of the best around and doesn’t require any micromanaging.

As for Mother Entropy, I asked for mossy, gross and a bit pregnant and Alan delivered big time.

Explore the cosmos with Jim Starlin and Alan Davis this May in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: MOTHER ENTROPY!