Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Ed McGuinness
Colorist: Marte Gracia
THE QUEST FOR NIGHTCRAWLER: PART 4 OF 5
The Time has come for the X-men to get themselves back together! They were separate when they enter the afterlife in search of a lost friend. Azazel has his sight on creating chaos in Hell and eliminating the X-men. Hope was lost even Wolverine was at a low point. Hope arrives in blue, furry and cheerful: Night crawler reunites with the X-men!
The Ups: This issue is emotionally packed. Aaron changes the tone of the book from action pack to emotional confrontations. It was not something I was expecting from Aaron. I am familiar with his Thor: God of Thunder series which is full of action but reading this issue just shows you how much range he has. This issue touch me to the point where I almost shed a tear. The X-men have been looking for Kurt aka Night Crawler since they arrive in the afterlife. Storm and Beast have reunited with Night Crawler and are in search of the rest of the group. Fire Star really steps up in this issue. She is no longer that girl from Spidey and his amazing friends. She is powerful and has something to prove: she deserves to be an X-men. There are some unanswered questions that get answered for instance the Bamfs origin gets explained for the most part. I did not have much exposure to Kurt before but he quickly won my heart with his cheerfulness and whole heartiness. Wolverine shows a more human side of himself this issue. There is a powerful scene in which Wolverine recalls his moments with Kurt and realize that he doesn’t want to die alone. McGuinness brings Aaron’s script to life. The Wolverine scene was sold with the one page spread and that is where I awe. Great panels all around from the art team.
The Downs: I was not aware I might need a tissue while reading this. Completely caught me off guard.
Overall: Very little action but it was full of story. Answers to questions we all had is what lifts this issue up from it’s lack of action. Aaron shows he has many sides to his writing style and it was a delightful change of pace. McGuinness’ and Garcia’ art in the series is fantastic.The art just jumps off the pages and needs to been seen if you haven’t yet. There are a few X-books out but this month Amazing X-men #4 is truly the amazing one.
Grade 5 of 5
ComicsRefueled 