Nightcrawler #1

Nightcrawler (1985)

by Dave Cockrum

Marvel’s strangest mutant takes to the skies in his own mini-series! Kurt Wagner is more than the X-Man Nightcrawler- once a circus performer, Kurt still harbors dreams of swashbuckling adventure and derring-do. And those dreams may well become reality! While attempting to rescue Kitty Pryde’s dragon Lockheed, Nightcrawler is transported to an alien dimension of high-flying pirates, sorcery, and plenty of plunder!

Genres: Comics, X Men, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Superheroes

24 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

David Emmett Cockrum was an American comic book artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus. Cockrum was also a prolific and inventive costume designer, who updated the uniforms of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and did the same for the new X-Men and many of their antagonists, in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not 100% sure why this was on my to-read list.
Kurt winds up in another universe and joins a space pirate crew...until they do some regular pirate stuff (i.e. stealing) which Kurt does NOT want to be a part of.

Everyone in the new world freaks out when they first see Kurt, calling him ‘Boggie’.
Plus Lockheed (who started the travelling adventure) was called a ‘Bandersnatch’.

Not sure if I actually want to continue...it is only 4 issues…

Really, this story only left me with one question; what is a Boggie??

Side Note: This is set back before the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine mini-series.

[Devero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sono sempre stato un fan di Dave Cockrum.
Vero, c'erano disegnatori migliori, pensiamo solo a John Byrne che lo sostituì su X-Men. C'erano scrittori migliori, come Chris Claremont. Ma i disegni di Cockrum e la sua capacità di creare personaggi di grande appeal la trovo superiore. Nightcrawler ne è un esempio: inizialmente pensato come membro di un supergruppo DC che sarebbe dovuto apparire nella serie dedicata alla Legione dei Super-eroi, i ragazzi amici di Superboy nel futuro 30° secolo, fu rielaborato da Cockrum per la nuova formazione di X-Men. Ed all'epoca era, insieme a Wolverine, il mio X-men preferito.
Quando la Marvel iniziò a lanciare miniserie dedicate ai suoi personaggi secondari, anche Nightcrawler ebbe la sua. Una mini decisamente fantasy, ironica e divertente.
In questo primo numero, durante un allenamento nella stanza del pericolo supervisionato da Kitty Pride e Illyana Rasputin, qualcosa andrà storto ed il nostro eroe, assieme al draghetto Lockheed finiranno nel pozzo del tempo, a spasso per altre dimensioni. Tra riferimenti gustosi alla "Snark's Hunt" di Carroll, i due finiranno tra pirati aerei che abbordano la nave mongolfiera di una principessa di una città volante. C'è anche il mago malvagio che rapirà la principessa.
Una storia che ho trovato onestamente ben invecchiata, divertente e ironica al punto giusto, ed ovviamente ben disegnata.
5 stelle

[Wetdryvac · Rating 4 out of 5]

For an intro to Nightcrawler in comics, because a friend loves 'em to bits: This was a lovely intro - new disconnected story, with good writing, elements I'd seen from other stuff, and... did I mention good writing?

Love the art too.

[Zach Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewing the entire 4 issue mini-series here: it’s camp as hell. The art style is fun and is especially interesting in issue #2 with the sky cities. I laughed out loud at some of the wild shit that is said in these issues. Don’t take it too seriously.

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 issue mini-series. Fun, Swashbuckling adventure with Nightcrawler and the Bamfs.

[Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disappointing follow up to Kitty Prydes fairy tale (Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 153). Characters from the X-Men, Avengers and Fantastic Four had some good limited series in the 80s. This one is just okay.

[Dylan Tarris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great comic book!

Love this edition, as I love nightcrawler and pirates. Great quality and zoom in frames. Really smooth running kindle book.

[Andre · Rating 1 out of 5]

This might be an example of those silly and weird 1980s stories. Even at the start I wonder what was weirder, that this alleged German thinks exactly two words in German and the rest in English or that those intelligent missiles have not caught on to him yet.
Not to mention that when a giant tentacle grabs you "Ach" is not the word you would be thinking. "Scheiße" or "Verdammt" is more likely. The German "Ach" is rather like the English "Aha" or "Gotch ya"." This makes me really wonder where they learned that since they didn't manage to fix that even 40 years later.
And apart from the story being pretty un-engaging I think it's clear that whoever was responsible for the German words had no idea about grammar, sentence structure or even what word to use in which context. E.g. Kurt just thought "Ach, no" if this is supposed to mean "Ach nein" then I have to tell them that this phrase is used only in a sarcastic manner.
Also, at this point in canon it was already established that Kurt was raised by "gypsies", so why is he acting as if he doesn't know how people will react who do not like his appearance?
And the big evil boss here is some humanoid elf-shark wizard... That is kind of cool but also kind of stupid. And then the comic was over. Yeah… this seemed pretty damn short.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Nightcrawler, X-Men spin off series from 1985. It's very kiddie lite, but rather fun. Kitty and Illyana Rasputin accidentally transport Nightcrawler into a fantasy realm during a training session. In the first two volumes we get some swashbuckling with sky pirates, an evil shark sorcerer and a princess in distress. In the last two volumes he gets transported into Kitty's fairytale world, the land of the Bamfs which is really funny and we get the AU counterpart X-Men, Wolverine's alter ego Mean is great.

Fun stand alone, AU arc, a must for Nightcrawler fans. it is very much an adventure story and doesn't touch on the darker or religious side of Nighcrawler's character as in the later spin offs but there's much here to enjoy.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only complaint about this series is Nightcrawler's speech. It didn't seem to fit with his character. But the art is great and the story is fun and swashbukley- perfect for Nightcrawler!

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

The silliest and most childish of the X-men miniseries of the 80s.