Let’s be real here: we’re all buying this book because Nightcrawler’s on the cover, right? That’s what we’re all here for. It’s been some time since his death, Jason Aaron’s been teasing a return for long enough and now this rocks up with our fuzzy, blue elf on the cover. How are we going to not buy it? With that said, is there more to this issue than just Nightcrawler’s return?
Written by Jason Aaron
Illustrated by Ed McGuinness
An AMAZING new era for the X-Men starts here! Ever since his Nightcrawler’s death in X-MEN MESSIAH COMPLEX, the X-Men have been without their heart and soul. After learning that their friend may not be gone after all, it’s up to WOLVERINE, STORM, BEAST, ICEMAN, NORTHSTAR and FIRESTAR to find and bring back the fan favorite fuzzy blue elf! Super star artist ED MCGUINNESS (HULK) joins master X-Writer JASON AARON (WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN, X-MEN: SCHISM) to bring you the most exciting comic on the stands!
With no less than nine other X-Men focused or related ongoings currently on the shelf, I don’t exactly blame Marvel for what could be seen as tipping their hand a little too early in revealing Nightcrawler’s return here. Clearly, it drove up the hype for the book instead of being met with a resounding wave of “Really? Another X-Book?” However, to be pretty frank up front, “Amazing X-Men”‘s problem is that Nightcrawler’s return is all it really has going for it. That’s not to say this is a bad issue, it wouldn’t be Pick Of The Week if it was, but just that perhaps it was a victim of circumstance. Let me back up and explain.
Jason Aaron has been making a name for himself as a really solid X-Men writer. This isn’t a surprise since he makes a name for himself as a really solid writer for anything he works on, but he’s been one of the major architects for the X-Verse since at least 2011 if not before then. Here he gets to back to basics after working on “Wolverine And The X-Men” for so long to, in a way, re-establish the Jean Grey School for those coming to it for the first time. This is the meat of this first issue and where Aaron is at his strongest as he reminds us all just why we loved “Wolverine And The X-Men” in the first place. He mixes the ridiculousness inherent with the X-Men with the normality of the school setting to frequently hilarious effect thanks to his witty and sharp dialogue. Even when wrestling with almost a dozen characters at once, the page never feels overwhelmed thanks to Aaron’s use of Firestar as an audience avatar to introduce the reader to the wonderful world of the X-Men. Again, this is where “Amazing X-Men” is strongest as a first issue.
When I saw that Nightcrawler’s return is all that “Amazing X-Men” has going for it, it’s that the latter half of the issue and the cliffhanger ending is focused on the X-Men (or, well, mostly Wolverine) finding out the Nightcrawler is, in fact, in heaven. Which we, as a reader, already knew not only going into the book because of the marketing and because the first half of the issue was dedicated to establishing that. This feels more like the book is a victim of circumstance because the cliffhanger ending would be much more effective if we hadn’t known about Nightcrawler’s return going into the book. As it is, the ending doesn’t provide a hook for the second issue so much as it reiterates the whole ‘Nightcrawler’s coming back, you guys’ thing in case you had missed it the first time. Which would be a bad thing if the simple fact that Nightcrawler is coming back didn’t make me foam at the mouth.
While the writing may be a victim of circumstance, the art of “Amazing X-Men” sure doesn’t. Ed McGuinness apparently petitioned to be the artist that brought Nightcrawler back and it sure shows. While his work may be most well known for his hyper-masculine, muscles-on-muscles work on books like “Hulk”, McGuinness shows a lot of range here. From the gorgeous vistas of heaven to the swashbuckling of Nightcrawler to the hyperactivity of the Jean Grey School, McGuinness just owns this book. There’s a passion in his pencils that elevates his work to some of the best he’s ever done which in turn elevates this issue past any troubles it has. Having McGuinness’ ever-present partner in crime Dexter Vines inking the book gives the pencils such definition that is knocked out of the park by Marte Garcia’s colours.
To conclude, this is still a stellar opening despite it’s one persistent problem. It does bring down the ending of the issue that the cliffhanger doesn’t exactly grip you for the next issue, but the sheer talent put on display more than makes up for it. Aaron and McGuinness are two creators with such love for the character of Nightcrawler that it can’t help but seep through the page and make even the most cold-hearted bastard excited for the elf’s return. Where this series will go once Nightcrawler has returned, though, is hard to say, but for a first issue this was more than serviceable.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Still a strong buy, despite being a victim of circumstance.
