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Nightcrawler 8 cover by Nauck and Rosenberg

"Its strange. Even after the death of a dear friend, how quickly things get back to normal."

Nightcrawler's opening narrative thoughts summarizes exactly where we are heading next.

Another X-Man has fallen, but life at the Jean Grey School has to resume for those left behind. Nightcrawler #8 picks up after the previous issue, which focused on remembering Wolverine, but with some time now past, the story picks back up for Nightcrawler.

It's great to see that Chris Claremont's story is going places. He is leading into a nice adventure story in the next issue. There is a lot of action taking placing, although some aspects of this issue push against the believability of the plot.

Claremont is bringing a sense of cohesion to a the narrative by bringing together the Crimson Pirates from earlier issues and an old nemesis, the Shadow King. With the elevation of villain, the stakes feel a little higher for the X-Men, and it is nice to feel a little suspense in this fun story.

Nightcrawler's world returns to some sense of normality...

It seems to me from the collaboration of artists on Nightcrawler that this is aimed at a younger audience. The plot is straightforward, which supports such a target market, but I'm not sure about romantically linking Bloody Bess with Nightcrawler, especially after the more recent leading ladies we have seen in either his series or Amazing X-Men; it seems tenuous to have another female compatriot in this manner so soon. Much like Amazing X-Men, we may not be dealing with a series too concerned with continuity but rather focused instead on the fun adventure to be had, which makes complete sense for a comic aimed at readers who don't need to be bogged down with decades of lore to understand.

Todd Nauck picks up the pace of the art to match the adventure of the story. The art feels invigorated this issue. We certainly still get the distinct style Nauck has delivered since the beginning of this series, but it feels more mature at this point.

A clear standout feature of Nauck's artistic ability is the change from overtly conventional panel arrangements to some that are less so. For example, the use of panel boarders, which are made up of psychic energy from the Shadow King, is a good way to break up the flow of the panel on shift focus. Panels angling upward on a diagonal not only disorientated the art, which matches the story element of Nightcrawler traveling to a desert, but also grabs the attention of the reader, refocusing us on the page.

Nauck and Rosenberg use 'psychic' panels boarders.

While we continuously feel the essence of fun in Nauck's art throughout this issue and the series as a whole, we have an equal sense of playfulness from the colors of Rachelle Rosenberg. The combination of these talents provides Nightcrawler #8 with an inviting cover. The titular character is front and center, sword drawn in a daring and swashbuckling manner. Flanked by characters who have been central to the stories in the series so far, the cover seems to state "This is where we are now and what we have been through, now let's have some fun."

Rosenberg's colors are consistently bright and chirpy. They suit the style, tone, and intended audience of the series. I suspect also, though without confirmation, that Rosenberg's influence on some of the other artistic results of the final comic, such as the distinct psychic panels layout described above, works in tandem with Nauck.

Nightcrawler #8 is a good return to action for this series. It has a dynamic pace and straightforward plot, which makes for some fun, light entertainment. We are provided a setup that will lead into showdown with a well-known villain, and when the odds seem insurmountable, it suits Nightcrawler's style the most. While I had fun reading this, we want to hear what you think. Make sure you leave a comment below, or head over to our Facebook page and message me there.