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.

GeNext #2 – Review

Christ Claremont, Patrick Scherberger (Writers), Norman Lee (Inker), and Chris Sotomayer (Colorist)

Where to begin with this one…

For the most part, I enjoyed the debut issue of GeNext. I thought the concept was pretty solid and the characters definitely had some potential. I had hoped that issue #2 would actually give the new characters something to do. Unfortunately, I found the neat pencil art of the usual X-Men characters placed throughout the book to be far more interesting than the story of this new class of students. To keep it short, GeNext #2 feels like a very average teen television drama and nothing more.

The majority of the book deals with the relationship between Pavel Rasputin and No-Name. We get some awkward, but well written, courtship, the requisite friend moments regarding “does she or doesn’t she” like Pavel, and then some shadowy figure from the past that throws a wrench into the relationship. This is some seriously generic stuff and, to be honest, I expected a bit more anything really. At least we are introduced to something of a threat that I have to assume ties into some X-Men history, though we get very little explanation regarding that. The book hints at some sort of direction, but seeing as how this is a limited series, I can see the next issue being something of a make or break point.

The writing does elevate the generic story in a way, but too often the characters really come across as overly emotional drama queens. There is something entertaining and even cute about the interaction between Pavel and No-Name, but that aspect of the storyline takes up far too much of the book. I enjoy good dialogue and all, but too much of it feels useless and doesn’t allow for any sort of subtlety. Disappointing all around.

Fortunately, the art fairs much better than the story or writing. The colors pop, the faces are expressive, and everything is just visually pleasing. The sketches throughout the book that fill in some history and explain family ties are extremely well done and almost threaten to overtake the GeNext kids. If I have any complaints, it is that the action scenes feel a bit disjointed and characters fail to real stand out. This is a nice looking book all around.

There isn’t a whole lot more I can add to this review. This book disappointed me in a big way and I am actually confused as to who the target audience for this really is. I can’t imagine that many X-fans are looking for a teen drama when anyone could turn on the TV to find one. (Grade D+)

-Kyle Posluszny