The Good

Marvel is cranking out some great new comics as part of All-New Marvel NOW!Nightcrawler had a heroic death and while it's always a shame when a dead character returns and diminishes the death, you can't deny how great it is to have the fuzzy elf back.

Nightcrawler's return isn't the only one to celebrate. Chris Claremont back in the X-Universe was a pleasant surprise. A lot has changed in the X-Men comics since we last saw Claremont with the characters. Some good and some bad. With Nightcrawler having been absent himself for a period, it's a nice welcome home for both.

For long time readers, the tiny references to past continuity will bring a smile to your face. Having Kurt and Rachel Grey briefly talk about their time in Excalibur was perfect. There is another familiar face from Kurt's past that also was the perfect character to appear here.

Todd Nauck on the title is like a dream come true for me. Every time he'd post a sketch of an X-Men character on his Tumblr, it made me long to see him on an actual X-Title. That day has come. It may say NIGHTCRAWLER on the cover but of course there will be other X-Characters that appear. Rachelle Rosenberg's colors gives the feel of the story extra life as well and really captures the vibe of the book.

The Bad

It's a pretty strong first issue but it does have a set up feel. That isn't necessarily a bad thing but we need to see Kurt get settled now that he's back. We may have seen his return happen in the first arc of AMAZING X-MEN but it's unknown what his direction will be. It appears he'll be occupying his time in one area but a confrontation later in the story could take him elsewhere. This issue is setting things up but it's not 100% clear what the direction of the series will be, other than big fun adventure with Nightcrawler. And that's not a bad thing either. The question is, will it be at the Jean Grey School, on the road, or a mix of the two?

The Verdict

There is so much to be happy about in this new Nightcrawler series. Nightcrawler is back and alive, as he should be. Chris Claremont is back writing in the X-Universe. Todd Nauck is drawing an X-Title. There's a great feel as Kurt returns to the world he left behind and adjusts to the changes. There is plenty of reminiscing, action, and story plots to move things forward. While we see Kurt in different areas, it's not clear exactly where this book will go. But with Claremont and Nauck on board, this title has secured a firm spot on my pull list.

...oh... s****t... Claremont... =_=

Yes... he as done great job with the X-Men... but also, I can't forgive him for the total mess he made with Exile, totally destroing one of the best marvel team and story... =_=

So... Nightcrawler is one of my favourite characters... so... T_T

Loved this issue. Ok i may sound stupid for this but what the heck was with those little blue things following kurt around?

@spideyfan3160: Long story short: Bugs from hell, who fed on Kurt's daddy's blood.

@waezi2: thanks

@spideyfan3160: Your welcome. I take it that you haven't read Amazing X-Men?

I bought this issue reluctantly and am waiting to read it. I love nightcrawler, but i'm just not a fan of Todd Nauck's art. I know it's good, I just don't care for it...

@waezi2: no I decided to pick this up to read Chris Claremont.

Picked it up, flicked through, saw that he mentions being back alive, put it straight back down.

I love Nightcrawler, and it is fantastic to have Claremont back. You could feel his natural rhythms for the characters' interactions. Good to see Storm and Wolvie and Kurt together. And I liked that Excalibur scene too. The art was OK. The end scenes were a little generic in a way, but with Claremont I am happy to go along for a ride and trust it will be worth it.

Croi: yes I guess he wasn't supposed to notice he was previously dead...

I'm going to be honest, I was a little apprehensive at first when I heard about this series. I've always liked Nightcrawler, but I wasn't sure if he'd be able to carry a solo series worth adding to already over-swollen list of current ongoings. But then I learned that Claremont would be writing and I looked up Nauck's fantastic art (I was previously unfamiliar with his work) and realized that this has the potential to be a very fun book. I'm in.

Can anyone help me out and tell me how Nightcrawler was resurrected?

@transformers1024: It's explained in (the currently ongoing?) opening arc of Amazing X-Men.

Somehow I hadn't seen that this was going to be written by Claremont. I know I'm in the minority with this opinion, but I just think he's a terrible comic writer. Just awful. Whenever Claremont's characters character's tale he has them spell out the entire plot, or explain every little motive they have for whatever they're doing. The guy never trusts the artist to help convey the story, so why work in comics.

tl;dr Glad you liked it, but I shall be giving it a miss

Basically the Amazing X-Men team was transported to Heaven and Hell, met up with Nightcrawler, they fought his father some, then a bunch of BAMFs in the JGS morphed together forming a new body (I think thats what happened) and then the AXM team ported back to earth and Kurts soul went into the new body.

Nightcrawler should have gotten a new look when he came back. Especially since this is Marvel Now. Never liked his costume. At least they kept the BAMFs.

I agree with you here...Claremont is stuck in a writing style that doesn't get used anymore...like he still writes like he did in the 80's...nowadays the artists and the writers work together to tell the story and all of the expository dialogue isn't needed

I overall liked the comic it was good Nightcrawler is definatly in my top 3 X-Men characters. But i wanted him to stay dead. Like the intro says i'm sick of comics deminishing death it's become reptitive and causes lack of fear and caring for a characters life when they die. I thought atleast the New 52 would change that being a reboot but their breaking death to. The second one of them have the balls to unbreak death make death permanant (atleast for 20 to 30 years. Please?) they will sky rocket in popularity because alot of comic fans are sick of the broken death system they could reinvent comics the way DC did by brining Superman back although they reinvenvted it for the worse.

Also gotta agree with the art. It's not bad art but it's extremely generic art one of my main gripes with DC. They give you such generic artstyle so many comics have the same on it gets boring. Marvel gives such a wide variety in art i guess generic still goes in the variety but still try to ignore the generic artstyle.

Yes, yes. The writers of comic these days write about 20 words of dialogues between 6 panels on one page.....meaning you spend 4 dollars for something it takes 2 minutes to read....it's a waste when compared to stuff from the 80s. If you only noticed recaps and explanations in Claremonts writing I guess you didn't read much stuff from him.

I agree with you there. Nightcrawler is one of my favorite X-Men characters, and to see the dialogue spelled out obnoxiously like that? It's so frustrating; it feels like we're reading a story where Claremont is narrator, not Nightcrawler. And an author who doesn't trust his audience enough to understand the things happening on the page in front of you isn't very good at writing. He hasn't written much since the early 2000's, and it shows, considering the amount of work that's gone into the medium to stop writing like this

I liked the comic well enough, if it wasn't about Nightcrawler I wouldn't keep reading it. Claremont is a very old fashioned writer, which isn't always bad, but I feel like AXM had a better old-style feel while still reading like a modern comic book. As I read Nightcrawler I kept expecting the art to be drawn by Rob Liefeld and the paper to be old, yellowing newsprint.

Still, I'll keep reading it. Nightcrawler is the best X-Man so I'll take him wherever I can get him. I hope they focus more on him dealing with all the changes that have happened since he's been gone and not just a crazy romp around magic-land with Amanda.

I just loved the little Excalibur poster on the wall; little touches like that mean a lot to folks who have been reading since the 80s

Nightcrawler is awesome. I hope this book lasts a long time