One amazing journey ends for a fan-favorite hero, a legendary writer and artist who captured the spirit of the greatest X-Men era.
Nightcrawler #12 by Chris Claremont and Todd Nauck arrives this week. This is the final issue after an uncanny year and adventure.
Kurt Wagner represents the heart and soul of the X-Men and what it means to be a mutant. This solo series followed Kurt’s comeback in Jason Aaron’s Amazing X-Men.
Nightcrawler came home to the X-Men to find his fellow Children of the Atom dramatically changed:
Wolverine without a healing factor.
The Jean Grey School rebuilt in the ashes of the Xavier Institute.
Professor X killed by Cyclops.
Cyclops leading a revolution team and school.
The mutant race reborn.
The original Jean Grey and X-Men in the present.
Beast brought the original Xavier students into the present to convince Cyclops from going down the destructive path of mutant revolution.
I could help but think that Scott may never gone revolutionary if Kurt never died.
The legendary Claremont returned to writing a Nightcrawler we loved and remembered. Todd Nauck was the perfect artistic match to tell new stories but still had the spirit of the classic Claremont and Dave Cockrum era and the Excalibur run of Claremont and Alan Davis. This was the swashbuckling Nightcrawler.
“Chris Claremont was the first writer I read on a regular basis,” Nauck told Marvel.com before the first issue arrived. “It’s a thrill and an honor to be working with who I feel is the godfather of X-Men comics. It was his stories that made me care about these characters and made me a lifelong fan of the X-Men.”
This was more than a Nightcrawler solo book. Claremont brought back classic supporting characters like Amanda Sefton and Margali Szardos and one of Claremont’s ultimate creations – the Shadow King.
Nightcrawler would fight to save his loved ones, cope with the death of Wolverine and mentor a new generation of odd mutants like himself who couldn’t hide among “normal” humans.
Nightcrawler #12 arrives this week. You can order the first volume of the series here.
Todd Nauck will be at Emerald City Comicon this weekend. I will be there with Nightcrawler issues to have signed!
By Editor