Chapter 3 in the Sins of Sinister crossover, Nightcrawlers #1 launches into comic shops featuring a bevy of Nightcrawler amalgams. Set ten years after Sins of Sinister, Si Spurrier and Paco Medina reveal how bad things have gotten while revealing how Mr. Sinister may be stopped for good. It’s a story of combinations as superpowers, mutants, and magic meld together into an intriguing brand-new take.
Nightcrawlers #1 opens with Vox Ignis in the Sanctum Sanctorum, attacked by a motley crew of Sinister superhero combos. Vox is Banshee meets Ghost Rider, while the others are mixes of Sinister and Spider-Man, Mystique, Wolverine, Pyro, Toad, and Sabretooth. We learn that these characters are a hit squad for Sinister, and why wouldn’t they be with teleportation powers?
As the story progresses, it turns out Vox is the right hand and trusted ally of Mother Righteous, who is attempting to disrupt and eventually stop Mr. Sinister. Much of this issue has the reader learn what has become of specific characters and the world after ten years of Sinister’s experiment where a Moira turned everything topsy-turvy.
A lot of the scenes in this book are driven by dialogue, with characters entering a scene with explanations of things you’re just beginning to wrap your head around. It’s tough to care too much since we’re so in the dark, but the general gist of it all makes sense. Spurrier makes it clear who our heroes are, who we shouldn’t trust too much, and what their goal is by the end of the issue. Since Nightcrawlers #2 will presumably jump ahead in time, we’ll likely remain in the dark, but that also means a lot of story needs to be delivered quickly.
This miniseries seems to postulate: What if everyone was Nightcrawler?!
Credit: Marvel
It’s unclear while reading Nightcrawlers what it is you should focus on between the original Nightcrawler and what he has become or Vox Ignis’s role in all of this. However, it’s clear that there’s a rebellion afoot, and it’s easy enough to root for the Wolverine, Spider-Man, and other Sinisters turned good. The issue never zooms out enough to gather what is going on in the bigger world, and it’s tricky to follow, but fans should get a kick out of all the weird twists.
Data pages are a must-read (aren’t they always?), with key info that helps add context. The pages about Worldfarm and Dominion are compelling concepts adding to the big sci-fi ideas of modern X-Men comics.
Art by Medina is clean with a cel-shaded look and bright colors by Jay David Ramos. The character design has a cartoony nature that makes these characters a bit fun and makes the over-the-top nature believable enough. Backgrounds are minimal, which seems to help the reader zero in on the characters, but it can feel disorienting.
Nightcrawlers #1 is an interesting start to a book that’s about magic and a rebellion of Sinister figures. It’s hard to get your bearings given that it’s set ten years into the future, and the story doesn’t do too much to catch us up, but from what we can gather, things are bad, the world is misshapen, and needs a reset. There’s ample character work and ideas at work here to get you rooting for the Nightcrawlers.
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