Rating: 4/5 – Nostalgic X-Fun with Amazing art!
Jason Aaron, Ed McGuiness and Dexter Vines creating a new X-Men book starring Nightcrawler…how could it possibly not work? Well, the good news is that it does work. And in fact, it all works “Amazingly” well. Much like Jason Aaron’s Wolverine and the X-Men book, this first issue of Amazing X-Men takes a tad lighter approach to story and art which makes this a fun and exciting adventure that brings back fan favorite (and one of my favorites) Nightcrawler back to the X-books.
Ed McGuiness’ art on this book is of course excellent. He’s always been known to draw his heroes with big proportions, whether it be the Hulk with muscles on top of muscles, Superman with an extra wide chest, or the stocky and bulky Wolverine. So to see him draw a character that’s primarily lithe and slender in Nightcrawler, and to see him draw him so well is exciting. The reveal page of Nighcrawler, holding two swords brings you back to his swashbuckler days. McGuiness’ clean line is a perfect fit. Inker Dexter Vines is always the perfect match for Ed’s art. He always makes sure to keep the art clean, adding just enough lines and blacks to still keep the colors bright and energetic. You can see that energy in all the “BAMFS” throughout the book. McGuiness and Vines come up with creative ways to show all the teleportations and they look great and colorist Marte Gracia makes it all pop.
The story is mostly a setup in this first issue. The story opens with Nightcrawler sitting at peace in a place similar to heaven. The peace doesn’t last long as longtime, but sometimes confusing villain Azazel shows up to disturb that peace. Meanwhile, back at the Jean Grey school, the many Bamfs that have been all over the school are acting weird, which brings this X-team together to investigate. It’s great to see Firestar and Iceman back on the same team which again, adds that fun and colorful feel of the book.
I can’t wait to see what happens next and how Nightcrawler comes back to the X-Universe. This is a fun and nostalgic book, with art that fits that feel and you can see how it all starts with the cover. Another surprisingly well done first X-Men issue…Marvel’s X-Universe is on a roll!
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas – shawn@comicspectrum.com
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