Synopsis:
Some time ago, somewhere beyond the realm of the flesh, Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler, sits brooding upon a clifftop. An unknown woman greets him, remarking that it gets more beautiful the further inland you go. Kurt replies that he likes it where he is. He tells the woman that, although this place is everything he imagined it would be, he feels as though his old life has one more chapter to be written (you live in a world of comics Kurt, they'll always be one more chapter).All of a sudden, Nightcrawler senses something unpleasant. He immediately teleports away, the noise of which surprises the woman. It's not quite as surprising however as the demon pirates that are coming right at her. Fortunately, Nightcrawler reappears and proceeds to kick all forms of demon ass, even stealing three of their swords. He's soon greeted by the leader of this motley crew, it's none other than his own father, Azazel, complete with a group of red Bamfs. The two spar for a while Azazel makes no secret of his disgust that his son "lounges in Heaven". Nightcrawler proclaims that whatever his father is up to, he'll stop him, but Azazel responds that he's forgetting that he's already dead before disappearing. As Nightcrawler stares down into the smoky abyss, his narration talks about how he didn't fall from Heaven. He jumped.
In the present day, Angelica Jones, aka Firestar, arrives at the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning to join the staff as the new physics teacher. While navigating through the somewhat chaotic halls of the building, she meets Hank McCoy, aka Beast, who is furiously pursuing the Bamfs as they have stolen his coffee maker, which he calls "Eleanor". What the two find instead is something that causes Beast to summon the rest of the team and place the school on lockdown
X-Men Assemble!
Beast studies the device the Bamfs have built, deducing that it's a gateway of some kind. Rachel Grey notes that their minds (which were previously closed to her) are now open, and that they're all afraid they're too late. While this is going on, Firestar reacquaints herself with Iceman, feeling very attracted too him, though she's met with a harsh reception from Warbird, who informs her "the man of ice already has a mating partner" (wow, presumptuous much?).
The Bamfs' have powered the gateway by splicing into the central battery. Beast severs the circuits, but the Bamfs have also rerouted the power somehow, leaving the gateway open. Rachel continues to read the Bamfs' minds, saying that where they come from, the sky is on fire, there's someone red that they fear and that someone else sent them after the X-Men (I wonder who the latter two could be?). As the portal becomes fully active, the Bamfs teleport away, though the X-Men are soon joined by new ones via the portal. Unfortunately, these ones are Azazel's red Bamfs, which attack the X-Men, pulling several of them through the gateway.
Wolverine & Northstar are deposited in "Heaven". Logan gets his bearings while Northstar takes off to investigate, noting the lack of scents and sun. Northstar soon gets the attention of something, that something being a huge, floating pirate ship looming over the landscape. "ALL HAIL THE NEW LORDS OF HEAVEN!" a voice announces from it, warning the two to surrender their souls "OR STAND WITH YOUR PRECIOUS BLUE ELF AND BE LOST FOREVER!" The words "blue elf" in particular surprise Wolverine...
Thoughts:
In my review of Mighty Avengers #1 over at Spider-Man Reviews (which you can check out by clicking here) I noted that since there were several other Avengers titles on the stands, Mighty Avengers had to make even more of an effort to prove itself a worthy addition to the franchise. The same is true for Amazing X-Men, even more so given that there are ten X-Men comics currently being published. But with Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness writing and pencilling this series respectively, as well as the opening storyline revolving around the return of popular X-Man Nightcrawler, it's hard to see how this series could fail to stand out from the crowd. This opening issue gets things off to an exciting start with plenty of humour abound.To start with, it's surprising that we see Nightcrawler in what looks to be Heaven, something Marvel doesn't usually explore. I'm interested to see whether this really is a plane of Heaven, or if Aaron has something else up his sleeve and it turns out to be something else entirely. Either way, it's cool that "Heaven" is portrayed as another dimension you can travel to. It's also a nice subversion to see Nightcrawler from the beginning of the issue rather than just a splash page at the end. It helps build excitement for when he's reunited with his teammates. And what do you know, the cover of this issue is not misleading! We actually do get to see Nightcrawler in his classic costume fighting people with swords. The appearance of Azazel is also quite interesting and it makes Kurt's return storyline more personal for him.
As for the X-Men, Aaron has demonstrated in this series' sister title, Wolverine & the X-Men, that he has no problem embracing the more ridiculous and quirky aspects of the franchise. The arrival of Firestar allows for a neat jumping on point, introducing us to the staff of the Jean Grey School and the dynamics between them all. There are plenty of laugh out moments during these interactions. Warbird's courtship of Iceman was particularly funny since Iceman is the last person I'd expect the aggressive and confident Warbird to have a romantic interest in. Opposites attract I guess? The relationship between Wolverine & Storm, as well as Beast's pursuit of the Bamfs (the mystery of whom looks to be quite intriguing) also add to the comedic highlights of this issue.
Ed McGuiness' artwork in this issue is just "sublime" (anyone whose read Grant Morrison's run on X-Men will know what I'm talking about). The same can be said for Marte Gracia's vivid colours, which work in concert with McGuiness' pencil's to provide an animated and excellent look to this comic. In short, this is an "Amazing" start to Amazing X-Men...
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