Giant Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 // Review
Nightcrawler and a team of X-Men investigate the abandoned Xavier Institute in Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1, by writers Jonathan Hickman and Alan David, artist Alan Davis, colorist Carlos Lopez, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This one has an old school X-men feel to it, and it’s pretty great.
Attempted breaches of the Krakoan gate at the abandoned Xavier Institute bring Nightcrawler, Magik, Doug Ramsay, Eyeboy, and Lockheed to investigate. Eyeboy can detect that something has been in the mansion lately, but not what. Lockheed goes crazy, beginning to burn things before Nightcrawler stops him… and sees his deceased teammate, Thunderbird. The team keeps investigating and sees Rachel Summers, but as she used to be. They chase her underground into a strange tunnel. Doug is sucked into the wall and into an alien-looking room. The rest of the team gets to “Rachel,” and she’s revealed to be Sidri, an alien race the X-Men have encountered before. The Sidri attack Nightcrawler, Magik, and Eyeboy. Doug negotiates with the Sidri. Nightcrawler sends Magik to find him, and she discovers Doug’s secret. The Sidri stop attacking and reveal Lady Mastermind, who had tried getting through the gate before they took over the mansion. In exchange for her and to stop attacking, they keep the mansion, and the team goes back to Krakoa.
Whenever Ala Davis is involved with the X-Men, he always brings a certain feel to the book. He and Chris Claremont were experts at mixing the mutants with sci-fi on Excalibur, and this issue feels a lot like an old issue of Excalibur. He and Hickman work very well together. The Sidri are definitely an X-Men deep cut. It’s funny that in this comic and the main X-Men book, Hickman is bringing back two of the alien races that X-Men used to tangle with. Adding Eyeboy to the mix is very cool. He’s a cool character that has always seemed kind of useless. Still, he’s perfect for what this issue uses him for- using his many different types of sight to investigate disturbances, and he even gets a good joke in about his powers.
Hickman introduces a new wrinkle to everything by revealing a secret about Doug in this issue. It’s not something that any reader will expect and how it plays into what comes next is anyone’s guess, but it’s very interesting. If this issue has any failure, it’s that it tries to be spooky but kind of fails at it. As was brought up before, this issue has a very old school, Claremont feel to it, and Claremont was famous for doing issues that started out like ghost stories but became sci-fi stories before the end. Now, this isn’t a bad thing, but none of the chapter feels spooky, so it undercuts the tonal shift later on.
Alan Davis will always be one of the best artists around. His detail and figure work are impeccable as always, and he does a beautiful job with the Sidri. There’s something about the way he draws; his figures dominate the panel, drawing the eye. However, give those panels a second look, and one will find they are lushly detailed. Davis is a consummate pro, and it’s terrific to see him doing some interior work again.
Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 has the look and feel of an old school X-Men story. This is a plus and a minus. It’s cool to see such an old school approach, but there have been lots of X-Men stories that follow this exact formula in the past, so it robs it of a lot of its impact for long time fans. Alan Davis’s art is amazing, as always. This is a fun, one-off story. It isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t have to be.
Grade: B
