Guardians of the Galaxy #24 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

The challenge with this issue is remembering that the characters don't know what we know.  We've seen the Viscardi civilization devour itself because of the Black Vortex.  The Guardians and the X-Men haven't seen that.  As such, their fight over the Vortex makes sense, with one camp -- led by Peter -- arguing that they need the power to successfully fight off his father and his minions -- and another camp -- led by Kitty -- arguing that anything this powerful is bad news.  (Kitty actually doesn't make that argument, but it's implied.)

In other words, the problem in not dismissing Peter as an idiot is that you have to remember that Peter doesn't know about the fate of the Viscardi.  He sees a way to level the odds with his father and wants to take it.  It's easy to dismiss this argument as naive, but Bendis does a good job of defending this position, with Peter reminding Kitty that the rules in space are different than the ones on Earth.

But, at the end of the day, you have to wonder if Peter didn't read comic books as a kid, because the lessons here just seems too obvious.  As Uncle Ben said, you don't get great power without something really terrible happening.  The part that I didn't get was Kitty acting as if Peter suggested that they not only get more power but use it to conquer the galaxy.  She's terribly disappointed in him wanting to use the Vortex, but Bendis doesn't make it clear what moral failing this impulse allegedly reveals to St. Kitty.  As a result, it feels like dramatic tension for dramatic tension's sake.  We'll see where we go from here.

** (two of five stars)