Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Omega #1

The Good

Is Sam Humphries trying to swoon us all with this book? In short, yes. Marvel's events have this tendency to completely fizzle out about halfway through. However, Black Vortex is the first time in a long time that really captures the reader's attention from start to finish. Sure, it's 13 chapters spread across numerous books, and that's a tad annoying, but the story delivers. So how does Black Vortex stay so awesome?

Two people make this finale the best thing in comics: Kitty Pryde and Peter Quill. Kitty's narration drives the story and by the end of this book, this event really feels like her story, which is kind of a pretty cool twist that happens in this story. So what's the big deal? Why am I swooning over these two characters? Spoilers ahead: They're getting married. It's the feel-good moment of the year in comics.

So, my biggest complaint about events is that, for the most part, everything goes back to normal as soon as everything is wrapped up. That is not the case here. Everyone has the opportunity to renounce their Black Vortex powers and a few people actually keep them. I'm not spoiling anything when it comes to this, but it makes sense who keeps their cosmic powers and I'm really glad to see this move forward into the future... as long as SECRET WARS doesn't undo anything. However, considering some of the books already announced, it looks like this event is here to stay.

Kitty Pryde really kicks a lot of butt here without throwing a single punch. I know I keep going on and on about her, but I love how Sam Humphries wrote her and the part she plays here. When she submits to the Black Vortex, which happened in Chapter 12, she gets some super sweet powers which allow her to do some amazing things. Her scenes just dominate this issue.

While everything is wrapped up, Ronan is still hungry to accuse some folks because that's what he does best. I'm very excited to see where that all goes.

The Bad

The moment where everyone cheers for Kitty saying yes to Peter felt so "sitcom-y." I know that's not a word, but it's really cheesy.

The Verdict

It's the first time in a while, where the cross-over event doesn't disappoint. Black Vortex ends and it's pretty satisfying, but at the same time, we get a lot of other stuff to love in this issue, including a few things we're not spoiling here. The book looks good and reads great, so I highly recommend checking out one of Marvel's better cosmic events.

Indeed, this event could have been more tightly scripted but at least it's been worth the money. Which hasn't always been the case in recent years with Marvel

ANGEL!

huh so this finally got good?

~MiB

The bad... It made you smile. Why is that cheesy? Should it have been handled differently? Stand up and cheer, ya grumpus!!

Maybe you should block the bad in spoiler tag. :)

I hope Hank McCoy finally realizes how arrogant he's been, and how much stuff he's gotten wrong. I would love to see him off his high horse regarding Cyclops.

I didn't read the whole event but enjoyed this issue. My favorite take away line was Rochet grumbling about the next crossover "can't wait to see you for next team up when Thanos gets the Phoenix Force"!

I hope it doesn't last

I thought it was a pretty cute ending. Black Vortex as a whole was kind of disguised as a relationship crossover. At least the best parts of Black Vortex were about Kitty and Peter. I feel like they're going to be a good couple and there are a lot of cool stories to tell about them. I did feel the proposal was a bit sudden but both seem to be head over heels for each other so I think there's a good chance of it working out.

Oh my poor sweet Groot, what have they done to you?

Quill and Kitty should not be happening and I hope SW undoes all of this. These events are terrible and we definitely don't need another cosmic force or whatever floating around out there

I honestly thought this was a pretty awful cross-over, that... well, I was going to say it ended with a whimper, but the whole thing was a whimper really. Most of the characters felt like they had zero depth (though I do like Peter and Kitty, there, I said it) and most of the event felt like a kid smashing together his cool new action figures he's just bought ("new cosmic-armoured Buzz-Lightyear-Cyclops with kung-fu grip, available now!").

Urgh. I hate being negative on the internet.

The new Nova has grown on me though, and it's always good to see Capt. Marvel anywhere and anytime. Plus I liked the proposal scene.

Good review. My only real complaint is this was not necessary as a cross-over. This could have been in Star-Lord's ongoing, and not involved the other books. No one but him and Kitty had any real importance to the plot. It was an obvious cash grab, but at least it was entertaining for Star-Lord and Kitty fans, and it stayed true to a cosmic book, even though the Earth based characters were involved.

With that being said, someone at Marvel please call Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and offer them full time his of writing cosmic events for Marvel again. Humphrey has been good, really good, but DnA is just a whole other playing field.

How is Annihilation not one of the Secret Wars books too?

I liked page five a lot because the imagery was pretty much Crisis of Infinite Kitty Pryde's

After reading Kaptara I've decided Chip Zdarsky should be writing Guardians of the Galaxy.

@jonny_anonymous: Zdarsky's Howard had a good start as well, he seems to be fairly diverse writer. I hope he can keep up with the start.

And Humhrey & Bendis better not underperform with their next titles.