I like both. I don't have the complete series of GotG, but I enjoy what I do have of it. And I like the Giffen and then Abnett & Lanning version of the team. I can enjoy them both despite the big differences in style and team mates. But I like space operas/adventures a lot. I have zero interest in Bendis' take.

As far as the movie, I really enjoyed the first one but I think it's an unintentional gem and it can't be repeated. And/or I fear they're going to try too hard and GotG, at least the movies, is going to be Team Deadpool in space. Deadpool as a character has long been ruined even in the comics. And I fear this route for future GotG movies.

2nd movie is om. Not as good as first. IMHO

This is pretty close to how I feel about it. The movie was its own thing and I enjoyed it for the reasons codystarbuck describes, but it isn't the Guardians to me. But that's true of all the Marvel movies  and shows, even the best of them.

One additional factor I liked about that first movie was that the humour was less mean-spirited than I find it is in some Hollywood comedies of the last several years. Most of the jokes weren't based on ridiculing other people, or if they were it was in a fairly gentle manner, not the sneering kind of put-downs that can turn me against a movie. Throwaway moments like Gamora trying out a little dance by herself successfully stayed on the right side of the fine line between cute or touching and cloyingly sentimental.

I haven't seen the new movie yet but will probably get to it next week sometime. The previews and trailers sent out some warning signals to me that it might not be as much to my taste as the first one was but I'm keeping an open mind until I see it.

I vastly prefer "classic Yondu" to the modern one. He was a deeply spirtual alien being that could control arrows with a single whistle, heck! He almost didn't even really need a bow. And Vance, oh my goodness gracious, Vance....There's a reason why he was my first "Adult Action Figure" purchase....

It's one thing that he's a total Captain America fanboy, but to use Captain America as a symbol/mantra for intergalactic rebellion, that's kind of beautiful

Really though, there aren't enough good things that I can possibly say about the original Guardians, it was "of the times" but also simultaneously "timeless" and wholly embodies everything that made classic "Cosmic Marvel" such an utter joy to read

Vance Astro was my favorite character, followed closely by Charlie 27 and Starhawk.  Vance is the fanboy who makes good, an astronaut hero (when astronauts were heroes), and a tragic figure, as he was trapped inside his suit.  However, he did his darndest to live up to the ideals of his hero, Captain America.  I always loved that their ship was called the Captain America, and the Quest for the Shield in the Valentino series was a darn good McGuffin.

Charlie 27 was the loveable guy of the team, a soldier who sounded like a typical grunt.  Starhawk was intriguing though it was the Marvel Presents series that really got into it, with the duality of Stakar and Aleta.  Now that was something you didn't see in comics (though you did in the Japanese cartoon series Gatchaman, aka Battle of the Planets)!  Yondu was a cool visual, though the Native American-esque spirituality made him different.  Martinex was the one that still seemed a bit of a cypher.  I always felt he got lost in the shuffle.  Nikki had an auspicious debut, then is kind of in the background a bit, through the Korvac and Marvel 2-in-1 stuff, though Valentino picked up on her a bit.

I ad assimilated the Defenders and related appearances and the Marvel Presents stuff and subsequent appearances, while I was in the military, while also finally finding the Marvel Super-Heroes debut (at a really low price).  After the Gerber and subsequent material, the original seemed so different, even though the Badoon are there and the main 4.  It felt more like a space opera there, rather than superheroes in space.

Well, thanks for that; but, I never felt it was anything special.  I sometimes bristle at the way servicemebers are automatically referred to as "heroes.  For myself and everyone I knew, we looked upon ourselves as professionals, doing a job, not heroes.  "Hero" was a term reserved for those who did the extraordinary.  What we did felt ordinary.  Still, it is nice to see that people have some understanding of the sacrifices of military life.  My only wish is that people demand more accountability from our leaders who use military force, before peaceful diplomacy has really had a chance and that they put pressure on their representatives to remember their responsibilities to veterans and properly fund the VA system and make it do its job.  That would be thanks enough for me.