The last book of ‘Amazing X-Men delved deeper into the war between Nightcrawler and Azazel with the tide starting to change as the X-Men having finally regrouped! While Nightcrawler has been wanting to fill his twilight with one last adventure, it should be quite clear that he didn’t expect it to be one of such epic proportions! Aboard the ship now named Xavier they are ready to do battle and that is just what we see happening.
This is a pivotal issue of the future of Nightcrawler and not only does McGuinness illustrate it beautifully but Jason Aaron sets the tones, voice, and future of these characters brilliantly. This is the perfect conclusion to this story line and I really couldn’t ask for more. Well, maybe for it to be longer as you never know what the next story will bring!
While most of the mutants don’t get much of the spotlight as the X-Men take on Azazel’s forces (aside from a member being stabbed) it is the perfect focus on Nightcrawler himself here. His voice. His actions. His method of fighting. His philosophy. His humor. It all meshes perfectly to give one of the best drawn fight scenes that I’ve seen in an X-Men book in quite some time. It probably helped just seeing so many ‘bamfs’ on page at once. I’m talking about Nightcrawler bouncing around not the little blue and red guys even though their fighting is pretty epic as well!
As the fight was dwindling Nightcrawler had to use his powers to take care of Azazel once and for all. While that sounds great to do, he has to make a sacrifice that will be with him for an eternity. A voice in his head tells him no and the man that his ship is named after stands along the shores telling him to come home and that the archangels are coming and will solve this mess. Telling him that it is time to rest.
Kurt is not one to just let go of what he feels is his responsibility and does what he has to do to solve the problem at hand.
It shouldn’t be much of a spoiler to tell you that Nightcrawler ends up back among the living here with Azazel and his forces having been defeated by the X-Men. The arc was named ‘The Quest For Nightcrawler’ and it has been billed as his return from day 1. What would be a spoiler is to tell you what it truly cost our dear friend to return to the living. I’ll let you find that one out on your own if you haven’t had a chance to read the issue yet. It is hard to say what will become of him in the long run but for now our favorite swashbuckler is back and an X-Men once more! My singular complaint about the issue is that we all knew what the outcome would be and it would have been more enjoyable as a complete surprise. Even so, I’m so happy to have the blue elf back that I’ll suck it up and just say good job Jason. Good job indeed!
AMAZING X-MEN #5
Jason Aaron
Artist: Ed McGuinness
