All-New X-Men #38

By Brian Michael Bendis, Andrea Sorrentino and Marcel Maiolo

In this week’s All-New X-Men we get the fourth chapter of the Black Vortex saga. There was a bit of confusion and controversy surrounding this issue because it came out before issue #37; there was a family emergency that Sara Pichelli had to deal with and the issue had to be done by another artist. Marvel, not wanting the crossover to be behind, released the issues out of order, end of story.

Brian Michael Bendis is kind of the king of this crossover since he has his foot in many of these characters’ camps. There are some good things that come out of this issue. Bendis continues to write a killer Magik. She has been one of the best characters on his Uncanny X-Men run and is awesome in this issue too. The fight scene between Ronan and the enlightened characters is pretty epic too. Bendis knows how to make a character kick ass, and Ronan does just that. While there is a lot of good, there were a few questionable dialogue moments that didn’t seem to fit, but they shouldn’t ruin the issue for you. Overall this was a pretty fun issue and Bendis continues his streak of awesomeness.

The art duties are handled by Andrea Sorrentino with colors by Marcel Maiolo. Bendis wrote a good issue, but the art this issue is amazing. Sorrentino uses a cool and unique panel set up that forces your eyes to wander around the page. Everything about the fight with Ronan was great. Gamora blocking his hammer with a sword that sends shockwaves through the planet was great to see. Sorrentino was really impressive this issue and he really made this a must-read book. The colors by Marcel Maiolo are pretty awesome too. His style goes along with Sorrentino’s exceptionally well, it’s almost as if they were made for each other. There may not be a better combination in comics than Sorrentino and Maiolo.

Black Vortex has been a surprising cross over. Brian Michael Bendis injects his style and humor into this issue and moves the plot along nicely. The pencils and colors are (lame pun) out of this world and enhance the book exponentially. This is honestly one of the better events from Marvel in quite some time.