Nightcrawler #8-10, by Chris Claremont (writer), Todd Nauck (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Little disappointed they didn't go with a 'Welcome back to the X-Men, Nightcrawler - Hope you survive the experience!' cover blurb. Sure, Kurt's been back for awhile, but this is the first time where it's really fit.The Crimson Pirates went looking for a powerful energy signature in the Gobi desert, and unleashed the Shadow King. Because of course they did. Bess, having some psychic ability, was the only one who avoided being controlled, and while on the run from her former allies, called out to Kurt of all people. So off he went (with an assist from the Bamfs), the X-Men in hot pursuit. Which turned out to be a bad idea. While Kurt is somehow immune to the Shadow King now as a result of his metaphysical journeys, the rest of the team is quickly controlled, which leaves Kurt locked in battle against the lot of them. He does manage to separate Psylocke from the rest, and leave her to Bess, but that doesn't seem like a good strategy, since even as Kurt's turning the X-Men's powers against each other, Shadow King is possessing the Bamfs, who are naturally not going to fall prey to Kurt's teleporting tricks.
About that time, Rico, Ziggy, and the remaining Bamfs arrive in the old school Blackbird, and Shadow King gets distracted tormenting them, enabling Psylocke to reveal Bess helped break her free of his control. The two of them use their powers to send Kurt into the astral plane, he beats the Shadow King, and he and Bess stuff S.K. back into Omega Black (whoever that is). But in the meantime, the Crimson Pirates got up, they've gotten Ziggy (who was their original target, after all), and a bunch of them stab Kurt before departing. So he's dead, again. Oh well, no wonder the book is ending, wait, what's this Kurt isn't staying dead? He chats with Amanda a bit, and then he's able to go back, and he's mysteriously healed. And now he and Bess plan to rescue Ziggy and Rico from her former partners.
Well, at least the Shadow King's appearance was relatively brief. I didn't really buy that Bess would, when in trouble, call out to Kurt telepathically, as the only person she knew would come help. Admittedly, she doesn't know hardly anyone else on Earth, but it was a little odd, as was their almost immediate makeout session. I can sort of buy it from Bess, since I don't know enough about her to know if it's unusual. She's a pirate, takes what she wants, lives for the moment, Kurt has a long history of being remarkably irresistible to the opposite sex. Seems a little odd for Kurt, given it's a lady he barely knows and was fighting against the last time he saw her. I'd suspect she was pulling some shenanigans with her psychic powers, except Kurt's apparently immune to that now, so who knows.
As for Kurt not staying dead, it could be interesting. I want to think it over a little more, so we'll come back to this, maybe this weekend.
Nauck did a good job with issue 9. Always good when the artist can draw a nice fight scene. The giant ice monsters the possessed Iceman made were fairly cool looking. I continue to enjoy the Bamfs, how they're always around and up to something. Maybe they're grabbing the Blackbird, or they've retrieved Kurt's escrima sticks, or they're just hanging out. There was one panel where I think one of the pirates was supposed to have a big grin on his face, but his mouth was opening and he was shouting something about Kurt being doomed, slight miscommunication between Claremont and Nauck there. Otherwise, the two seem to be on the same page. Even so, this is probably the end for me with this book. I might pick up the final two issues down the line, depending on if I get really curious about where Claremont leaves Kurt.
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