All-New X-Men #39

   You get the sense that Marvel is struggling mightily to keep the ongoing story of "The Black Vortex" on schedule.

   So far they're been successful - but only just barely.

   For example, All-New X-Men #38 (also a Black Vortex tie-in) came out before #37 (which was not) in order to keep on track with the scheduled releases of this series that hops around from title to title.

   Also, Guardians Team-Up has been a weekly book, in order to get issue #3 out in time.

   But, it's to their credit that they've been keeping up so far.

   As for the stories - well, they're a mixed bag. They're actually following the classic structure of the original Justice League stories, where a menace arises, and the large group of heroes (in this case the X-Men, Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy) split up to deal with the problem.

   The series feels padded though, with side-trips that are just there to provide action sequences - they don't really move the story along.

   The art is this issue is impressive - Andrea Sorrrentino has a painted, Jae Lee-inspired look the her art. It's quite a departure from the other issues in this series, but it's very good.

   So far this series is still fun, but it's starting to get that familiar "four issue story stretched into a dozen issues" feeling. We'll see.

Grade: B

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