It's becoming clear that the Giant-Sized line is here to letHickman do what he loves doing: telling slow-burn storylines that dredgedeep into Marvel lore. If the stories continue to keep the bar as highas he's reached here and with the Jean/Emma issue, I'm more than happyto continue seeing where he's going to take us. Read Full Review

Want a taste of the original Excalibur with a side order of jump-scares and a truckload of absolutely amazing art? Yes? Then grab this issue. Read Full Review

Final Verdict: 8.5 – Despite maybe setting Nightcrawler fans to a fall, the latest “Giant-Sized X-Men” is yet another great addition to the ‘Dawn of X' era of the mutant publishing line, and one well worth the attention of any X-Men fan. Read Full Review

Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 has the look and feel of an old school X-Men story. This is a plus and a minus. It's cool to see such an old school approach, but there have been lots of X-Men stories that follow this exact formula in the past, so it robs it of a lot of its impact for long time fans. Alan Davis's art is amazing, as always. This is a fun, one-off story. It isn't perfect, but it doesn't have to be. Read Full Review

Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 boasts a compelling story and strong art, but does not focus on its titular character as much as it should. I feel like this book could have used a few more tweaks to center on Kurt as a character, but the deep cuts from X-Men lore and the mystery at play were definitely a plus. Read Full Review

GIANT-SIZE X-MEN NIGHTCRAWLER takes the reader on Hickman's version of a mutant ghost story. The art is strong, but the story is bland. This book is best for hardcore X-Men fans that don't mind the "Giant-Size" price tag. Read Full Review

This Giant-Sized issue is solely for Alan Davis fans who adore the yesteryear X-MEN. Read Full Review

This one-shot is fun and action-packed with dizzying panels. It is abstract and weird, just like the X-Men are supposed to be. While the emotional stakes are very low, I enjoy this little team-up as it puts focus on some lesser called upon X-Men. Read Full Review

The fact that Giant-Size X-Men was first intended to be annuals for the line becomes clearer with this Nightcrawler-titled one-shot. Read Full Review

It’s hard not to recommend Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 simply because of its necessity to Hickman’s overarching story. There are key developments here that I would hate to miss out on. Those developments are engaging for readers, but Nightcrawler fans may want to reassess before jumping in. The art is an excellent fit for the issue, enhancing each moment’s tone and impact in subtle yet remarkable ways. Read Full Review

Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 is not going to blow you away by any stretch, but it allows Hickman to tell a story to put some interesting new elements into play. It’s impossible to know how these elements will play into upcoming X-stories, but Hickman tends to do everything for a reason. Alan Davis remains one of the best to ever do it, and it’s great to see him reunited with Nightcrawler and Lockheed here. If you’re looking for a breezy, entertaining read, Giant Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 has you covered. Read Full Review

Alan Davis some great art in this issue. The art is a highlight, but it can't save what felt like a waste of character, setting and story. Read Full Review

As a one shot,Giant Size Nightcrawler is easy for any reader to pick up and follow. No knowledge of Hickman's current story lines are necessary for the story to succeed. It reintroduces a classic character and inches some larger plot threads forward. In the context of Hickman's larger narrative, Giant Size Nightcrawleris a missed opportunity. Read Full Review

Despite the top tier talent on this book, despite the dialogue miscues or the artistic sameness, there is one other thing that is fundamentally wrong with this book. It's not actually about Nightcrawler! Sure, he is in there but he plays just as much a part, is just about as helpful as the Krakoan gateway! The book is about Magik and Doug. I don't have a problem if that's the story that Hickman and Davis want to tell; but have the strength of your convictions and call it Giant Size X-Men Magik and Cypher! Don't trade fans love of a classic character as a reason to buy a book in which said character is not the focus! Read Full Review

Whether or not you've been keeping up with Jonathan Hickman's X-Men run since House of X and Powers of X ended, Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler is pretty skippable. Read Full Review

I liked how this was set up like an X-Men horror movie. Fun issue all around; though I feel like calling it 'Nightcrawler' is a bit of a misnomer. Could've easily been called 'Giant-Size X-Men: Cypher'. That might've fit better. Also: I always enjoy Alan Davis' art (that was a nice plus)!

Good Cypher one-shot

Good book, Hickman continues to seed mysteries and provide more developments to ones he has hinted at. Thunderbird/Sinister plot, Krakoa/Warlock plot, now a new Rachel Summers mystery. All great, and also providing some fun dialogue. The negatives I have for this issue is it is a bit stale, nothing exciting really happens, which is odd considering these Giant-Size books don't seem to have an interconnected story, at least this one from the Jean Grey/Emma Frost one. The other negative I'd have is this book should have been called Cypher, like others have said, Nightcrawler is only there as a vessel for the story to move along, while the main mystery and interesting stuff revolved around Cypher/Warlock. I'll always love Alan Davis'art, but nothing too spectacular like the visuals from the last issue. more

Prelude:
I loved the first Giant-Size X-Men one-shot (that's a lot of hyphens) so let's hope this issue with Nightcrawler is just as good.

The Good:
I like the Cypher progress with his plot.

Davis' art was good.

The Bad:
I wished it focused more on Nightcrawler then it did.

Conclusion:
While the progress on the Cypher front was nice, and the art was good, I wish it focused more on Nightcrawler.

This was good. These Giant-Size books are weird, but I'm confident they're essential.

it's a good book it was a fun read has some fantastic artwork my main complaint would be it really didn't focus on nightcrawler and i was really looking forward to a nightcrawler focused story. that being said it was still a good book and certainly worth picking up

Nightcrawler leads a team to investigate the abandoned Westchester mansion, where they find old friends, old enemies, and an uneasy peace. (They strike a deal with a Sidri nest to let them stay in the mansion in exchange for rescuing Lady Mastermind.) This one-shot does some strong world-building, but it's more of an ensemble than a Nightcrawler story. The Alan Davis visuals are Alan Davis-y as all get-out.

Had a throwback vibe to it. Feels too deliberate to be a one off story. Much like the previous Giant-Size.

A good read but it really should have been called Giant Size X-Men: Cypher, since Doug really takes Center stage in this story. Nightcrawler feels like more of an afterthought in this story and I was kind of hoping it was more Nightcrawler centric. Still, a solid read overall.

I remember sitting down and reading the House of X - Powers of X mini-series and thinking these were some of the best comics that I've ever read in my lifetime. I added every one of the Dawn of X books to my pull list just to avoid possibly missing something important.

What I've seen month after month is diminishing returns and quality in the X-Titles. On top of the very mediocre quality of some of the books the line exploded and now includes over a dozen comics. There is an event on the horizon and at this point, I can't help but feel that the wrong lessons were learned from the success of Hickman's initial mini-series. If this keeps up I will begin dropping titles. It's just a lot of money being spent on books that barely spark any interest in ongoing storylines.


I'm not a fan of the 80's or 90's Excaliber. It always felt like a series shoehorned into the X-Line of titles because Marvel didn't know what to do with it. I also never got into Alan Davis's art style. It's a perfectly fine style that is just not that exciting in my opinion. The reality is that Excaliber ran over 100 issues and has a large fanbase nostalgic for the team and characters. For me, however, Giant-Sized Nightcrawler felt like a throwback to comics I didn't really connect with growing up.

Kurt and a team of X-Men arrive at the old X-Mansion to investigate disturbances at the Krakoan gate there. Since Mutants are the only beings able to interact with the gate it raises a red flag. Things get even weirder when dead mutants and older incarnations of X-Men begin appearing at the site, spooky...

I don't want to shit on the comic so at the outset of my rant, I want to say that the book is perfectly fine from an art/storytelling perspective. If you're a fan of Hickman, Davis, Excaliber, or even just like to see Nightcrawler on his own your enjoyment may fall in the decent to great range.

Still here? Let's get to some redundant criticism.

My primary concern is that Giant-Sized Nightcrawler doesn't justify it's existence or bump in cover price. There are additional pages but a solid editor could have condensed this into a single issue or a two-part arc in the main title. I got the impression that any of the X-Men could have been inserted into the book as the lead and not much of the story would have changed.

I didn't feel any passion for the project or that it needed to be told. This may change as Hickman is a solid dungeon master. This is a cynical assembly-line approach to a comic line. The book ultimately exists because Marvel wanted another book on the shelves. It's creation didn't have anything to do with demand.


Rating 7/10

Note: it didn't seem fair to rate the comic less than a 7 regardless of how bleak my review was. If you have an extra 4.99. you may like the comic. If you have read the issue let me know what you think. more

" I'm trapped... Sleepwalking... Dreaming of traveling... Migrating to other worlds... Always moving... Hunting... Capturing... Now lost... Left behind.... Alone... Help me... Help us... Help. Help ! "
- SIDIRI

This issue should have been "Giant-Size X-Men: Cypher" considering Cypher did a bulk of the work for the mission.

Overall pretty good issue, Hickman is clearly laying down the groundwork for future issues.

This one was solid, but kinda whatever. Again, it doesn't really tie into the Dawn of X stuff really, but it was a fun read with some great art and some great pre-Dawn of X ties. Nightcrawler and a group of mutants investigate when they received the " scent " of a mutant at Prof. X's old Academy for Mutants. Again, art was great, fun story, but doesn't really mean much for people only reading Dawn of X material. Skip-able.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this issue, it just seemed like a total waste of a Giant-Size issue. There wasn’t enough Kurt and I hated how he had to share the spotlight so much even in his own issue, but I can’t wait to find out what Hickman is planning with this Doug and Warlock stuff. Judging by PoX/HoX, it’s looking like big things are coming for Warlock and the Phalanx

"I have no idea what that is..."

That pretty much sums it up.

I didn’t much care for this. What was the point?

Mostly filler
too little nightcrawler