Returning To The Mansion: ‘Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1’ Reviewed
by Josh Davison
Mild Spoilers Ahead
Nightcrawler, Cypher, Magik, Eye-Boy, and Lockheed have been tasked with investigating strange readings coming from the Krakoa gateway at the old Westchester Mansion. Something has been making failed attempts at using the Westchester Krakoa gate and they have done so with a mutant in the vicinity. Nightcrawler and his team need to learn what’s going on and things get weird immediately when Kurt sees Thunderbird and Rachel Grey skulking in the shadows. Kurt goes after them, but Cypher is taken during the chase. These X-Men encounter an old enemy living beneath the mansion.
Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 delivers a tale at the old X-Mansion starring Kurt and a small team of mutant helpers. It’s a fun tale and it brings back an old X-Men enemy that hasn’t been seen in a while.
It does read like an odd outlier and I can see why it didn’t find a home in another one of the X-titles. Despite the return of said X-foe and the hints at Thunderbird’s return, nothing of grand significance is discovered in this one like in the previous Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost. Even the mutant they find isn’t exactly one I imagine many people have been clamoring for.
That aside, it is still an enjoyable story. Nightcrawler is a favorite X-Man of mine and I’m happy to see him getting a spotlight now seeing as he’s not a mainstay on any of the books yet.
Alan Davis is the artist on this one and his work is as classic and gorgeous as ever. The team looks great, the environment is fully fleshed-out and vibrant, and the color work of Carlos Lopez is vibrant and popping. This is a damn good-looking book from beginning to end.
Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 is a solid one-off story starring everyone’s favorite German, furry, and teleporting X-Man. While it feels like little of significance takes place in this book, it is still enjoyable and looks fantastic. As such, I can recommend this one. Feel free to check it out.
Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 comes to us from writer Jonathan Hickman, artist Alan Davis, color artist Carlos Lopez, letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles, cover artist Alan Davis with Edgar Delgado, and variant cover artist Ben Caldwell.
Final Score: 7.5/10
