Nightcrawler 2 review

Nightcrawler’s first issue was good, but it was hard to gage the quality of the series with that issue alone. Half of the good parts were reminiscing on Nightcrawler’s past with the X-Men and re-uniting with old friends. Chris Claremont’s Nightcrawler 2 is again decent, but it’s not without problems.

The scenes between Nightcrawler and Amanda Sefton work very well. Their past in the circus is explored, along with Nightcrawler’s very first teleportation. They clearly care about each other a lot, and their talks of how she wishes she could have helped him are touching. There isn’t much to say about Todd Nauck’s art. It’s simple, feels classic, and it works for Claremont’s style of writing.

Once they return to visit their other circus friends, the comic falters. There’s a fun yet fairly pointless fight scene Nightcrawler and Amanda have with the other circus freaks, complete with an abrupt ending. Another potential flaw is that the writing mentions Nightcrawler’s death a few too many times, and there’s only so often you can hear it mentioned before it grows tiresome. It’s not overbearing here, but it should probably stop soon. The cliffhanger isn’t all that exciting either, since Nightcrawler and Amanda managed to defeat Trimega before, and now they have backup. Still, it’s great to learn more about Nightcrawler’s pre X-Men past and how the circus helped him feel normal.

It’s still hard to gage this title’s quality after two issues. There’s some great character-focused moments and solid writing so far, but in some ways it feels the story is just an excuse to get Nightcrawler back in touch with his past. I’d only recommend this to Nightcrawler fans or those who enjoy Claremont’s writing. This isn’t as good as his legendary Uncanny X-Men run, and while it may improve from here, I doubt it will ever be that good. Personally I’ll give it at least a few more issues to win me over.