Nightcrawler #1 – Review

By: Chris Claremont (writer), Todd Nauck (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist)

The Story: The original BAMF returns.

The Review: If the name Chris Claremont doesn’t set off bells in your head one way or the other, you probably aren’t familiar with comics history. While he’s not as well known as Stan Lee, Claremont effectively created the X-Men as we know them today. He wasn’t the first to write Jean Grey, Storm, or Wolverine, but to many his is the last word on these characters. I mean the man wrote Uncanny X-Men for sixteen years, while expanding their world into two acclaimed Marvel Graphic Novels and a pair of long-running spinoffs!

Late last year it became apparent that Claremont was still under an exclusive contract with Marvel, making his absence from their line a very strange omission. Regardless, after many months of waiting, fans can walk into their comic shop today and pick up an in-continuity X-Men title from Chris Claremont once again. But with all the legendary hype, how does this one stack up?

A large portion of this issue feels like Claremont getting his feet in a new world. Especially for a writer famous for working within his own universe, Claremont does an admirable job of plunging into the current status quo. Apparently if he can’t write the whole of X-Men anymore, he’s going to be sure that he makes it his own in this little corner. It’s a somewhat effective pairing of writer and story as Nightcrawler continues to adjust to the rather drastic changes that have occurred in his absence. You can just feel Claremont latching onto ideas that he wants to play with, like Wolverine’s new vulnerabilities.

Nightcrawler #1 – Flashback Review

By: Dave Cockrum (writer/artist), Paty (colors) & Jim Novak (letters)

The Story: Everyone’s favorite blue-furball mutant gets transported through the Well at the Center of Time to a parallel dimension full of swashbuckling pirates in airships!

What’s Good: I never see this 1985 four-issue miniseries from Marvel get any respect, but it is really a pretty hot little number if you don’t want to take your comics too seriously.

Written, penciled and inks by the late/great Dave Cockrum (who was a co-creator of Nightcrawler), this miniseries finds Nightcrawler (and Lockheed the dragon) entangled in a Danger Room mishap that zaps him into a parallel dimension that is somewhat reminiscent of the fantasy world that Kitty Pryde told of as a fairy tale in Uncanny X-Men #153.  This is a world full of swashbuckling pirates and maidens-in-distress.  Perfect for the noble, but impish, Nightcrawler as he finds himself enjoying being cast among a group of pirates (and teaching them to play poker) before being captured by the shark-like Shagreen the Sorcerer who becomes the villain for the miniseries (why has he never been used again???).

Throughout the story, all the characters who see Nightcrawler refer to him as “Boggie” and Lockheed as “his frumious bandersnitch”.  Just what are Boggies and bandersnitches?  Well, you have to read the rest of the series to find out.

In some ways, this miniseries is also a team-up/buddy-caper for Nightcrawler and Lockheed.  Remember, Lockheed was still a somewhat new character and at this point and was still being written as spunky and overly-self-important tiny dragon who was always breathing fire all over things twice his size.  It’s just a different team up than seeing Nightcrawler with Wolverine and it is/was fun partially because Lockheed is only partially committed to the team-up.