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Amazing X-Men #1:
The Sublime Return of Nightcrawler
With hard hitting titles like "Scalped" and "Punisher: MAX" on his resume, you may not think that Jason Aaron is the best choice to pen the return of the lovable swash buckling hero Kurt Wagner, AKA Nightcrawler, AKA The Fuzzy Elf. You would be wrong.
"Amazing X-Men #1" is a beautiful comic, and not just because penciller Ed McGuinness is doing what he does best. Aaron pens a sublime tale of heaven and Earth, and the very first taps of the reunion between Kurt and the X-Men he loves and left behind.
The visuals are sweeping and stunning, and the colors by Marte Gracia are beautiful. McGuinness is never going to excel at classic panel work, and we should not expect him to. His vision of Wagner's "resting place" is more than a green pasture, but also just perfectly a green pasture. His renderings of the Jean Grey School bring the grandeur of the futuristic school to life. And, as always, his characters are big and strong and beautiful and ready for action.
Aaron balances the wonder of Wagner's afterlife with the absurdity of the Jean Grey School through both Kurt's eyes and the arrival of Angelica Jones as a new instructor. While there are some serious questions regarding Nightcrawler's time in "heaven," there is also the fun and adventure of him facing a foe for the first time in ... forever? And Aaron always excels at humor, and uses Jones as the perfect vehicle to introduce new readers into the fold.
And we finally get a little back story of the "Bamfs" that have infested the school since Aaron's "Wolverine & The X-Men #1." If you have been following that title, you need to pick this up. I got the same feeling reading this book as I did the early stories of W&TXM. For so many reasons, "Amazing X-Men #1" is Earth-2 Northridge's pick of the week and one of the better titles to come out of the X-Verse in some time.
Kris Koller works at Earth-2 Comics Northridge, 8967 Reseda Blvd. in Northridge, California, always happy to help you find the book you're looking for. You can also venture into Earth-2 Comics at 15017 Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks.
As always, look to your local comics shop for the books discussed here on Fanboy Planet -- Earth-2 in Sherman Oaks and Northridge, The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, Illusive Comics & Games in Santa Clara, Hijinx Comics in Willow Glen would all be great places, and many do mail-order business.
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