Amazing X-Men #2 Review!

Hello everybody, Donlinedude here, and welcome to my really late review of Amazing X-Men #2.

Synopsis:

Pulled into the Bamfs' machine, Storm, Iceman & Firestar are transported in a place that looks very much like Hell and are almost immediately faced with a horde of demons and a ship belonging to the a group of Azazel's pirates, who are literally about to engage in a bloody battle. They fend off both sides despite Storm's powers not functioning, due to there being no weather here (though she's a dab hand with a mace), and Iceman struggling not to melt.

Elsewhere in the afterlife, Wolverine and Northstar are defending the locals from another of Azazel's ships. After being transported up to the ship in a net by a red Bamf, Logan rips free and clashes with Captain Jack (no, it's not Sparrow or Harkness), from whom they learn that Azazel is the one in charge. Jack also mentions Nightcrawler, telling Wolverine that he's dead and gone before backing him onto the plank. As Logan faces off with the captain, a voice begins speaking to him telepathically, telling him where he is and that Kurt is indeed here, but he's gone after his father. The voice turns out to belong to Professor X himself, which winds up distracting Logan, allowing Captain Jack to knock him off the plank and into the abyss, with Northstar tailing after him.

Back in Hell, along the banks of the rive Styx, Storm is holding her own against the demons when she's suddenly captured by the red Bamfs. She breaks free from the net, but is swiftly subdued by the captain, who appears to be a multi-armed Billy the Kid (from what he says anyway). He orders the crew members to lift anchor and leave so they can take their treasures back to Azazel. Iceman and Firestar meanwhile start to get overwhelmed by the demon hordes, which forces Iceman to pile on the cold and literally freeze Hell over. He collapses from exhaustion, leaving Firestar with the demons and the now-melting ice. As the ship leaves with Storm, Nightcrawler is shown to be observing it, cutlass in hand, accompanied by a cadre of blue Bamfs, telling them that the fun part comes now...

Thoughts:

Things progress nicely in this second instalment of The Quest For Nightcrawler. Jason Aaron uses this issue to ramp up the danger for the X-Men, especially for those trapped in what appears to be Hell, whilst keeping things at a breakneck pace and embracing the madness of the situation, as well as giving several X-Men notable badass moments. Storm in particular gets to show off her combat skills to great effect.

Plot-wise, this issue is a little lighter than the first, with the majority of the focus being on the X-Men's reaction to seemingly being in Heaven and Hell as well as the new enemies. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not this is the real deal, but this issue throws a curveball with the Professor X cameo, which was admittedly a little swift. Personally, I think Logan's reaction to seeing Xavier alive was too underplayed, but the scene certainly gives this heavenly plane some legitimacy.

Ed McGuinness' work is once again superbly detailed with great inks and colours from Dexter Vines and Marte Gracia respectively. Like I said before there are many badass moments from the X-Men here and McGuinness captures them brilliantly here, such as Iceman literally freezing hell over or Wolverine slicing his way out of a net. Overall this issue is slower in actual plot, but still energetic in it's pacing and a very enjoyable read...

Score: 4.0/5.0