Having read [b:Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex|23546906|Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men The Black Vortex|Sam Humphries|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573613892l/23546906._SY75_.jpg|43146368] (but rather than the reading the collected issues via graphic novel, the individual issues, as is my preference!) nearly a decade ago, and having enjoyed that galactic-adventure very much, I was intrigued when Star Lord and Rocket are commissioned to find the titular cosmic artifact, wondering if there would be any connection of the Black Vortex's appearance in this alternate future to the one from the main Earth-616 based comic series. There really wasn't, but the story was enjoyable all the same, especially from the perspective of establishing part of the status quo of the former United States. But rather than dwell on what this wasn't, I'll spend a few words describing what it was.

This fully dramatized audio adventure had some excellent voice casting, although I agree with other reviewers that Peter Quill and Rocket sounded too similar at first, making it hard to figure out who was who in the beginning chapter, until I established enough context clues (Rocket loves the f word--flark, of course, what f word were you thinking?) to separate them. The appearance of a major X-Men villain turned hero in this alternate future was a very welcome inclusion for this X-Men-ophile.

It was a solid story and some of the early story elements had their payoff at the end, setting up no doubt the next installment in the series but also delivering satisfying, if not emotional and poignantly sad and redeeming, final scenes.