NIGHTCRAWLER #1
This is a very special All-New Marvel Now release — not only for the return of Nightcrawler, but also for the return of the great Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men, of course). In recent years, least to this comic scribe’s opinion, Chris has been basking in all his X-Men glory. Since wrapping up his 17-year run in 1991, Claremont has yet to reach the same plateau that inspired all of those wonderful X-films you see out there today. Nightcrawler #1, at least, gives the creator that chance to capture his own essence, working best with a more intimate character development.
This comic takes place right after the end of Jason Aaron’s run on Amazing X-Men, and like what happens anytime I have died and been brought back, pun intended, a certain amount of adjustment takes place. Who won the WWE Championship? What happened in Breaking Bad? Where’s my soul? All this and more (not really) are answered, or at least Nighty reconnects with some of the past Claremont scripted characters. He finds time to rekindle a little of that love.
The combination of CC’s writing and art by Todd Nauck (Teen Titans, Amazing Spider-Man) has the potential for this to be one of Chris’s best post 91’ projects, despite a few faults. The story is a bit forced, especially when we see Kurt reuniting with Amanda once again. But hell, this is the comics; “normal” reactions get tossed out the window when you fight crime in spandex. Another tick I have on Clairmont’s writing too, is that he constantly finds the time to explain his characters’ special powers but lacks to actually acknowledge the elephant in the room.
Why is Kurt not worried about his current soulless existence?
ALL-NEW DOOP #1
Allow the Apostle to begin with this: I was forced to read Doop #1 by the Mad Monsignor himself. And, wow. What a waste of 20-minutes it was! (It took you 20-minute to read this comic? – Moody) Doop is brought to you by Peter Milligan (X-Statix) and art by David LaFuente (New Mutants). Unfortunately, Marvel has green lit this project for more than just a mini series. Besides the fact this comic about a lesser known slimeball that deserves his own run about as much as Brood deserves a mini-series, Marvel saw fit to suck more cash out of those pesky Wolverine & X-Men fans. The pacing is slow and jumps around a ton and by the end you care very little that the one thing Doop had going for him had been replaced with an understandable language. 1/5.