Nightcrawler Appreciation

[Sundowhn]

I think you should be patient on this one. I think this may be a different perspective than you believe.


I agree that hate is everywhere and your comment about Nightcrawler is absolutely spot on....but it's also nowhere, if you don't let it in and feed it. Yeah, that's as clear as mud, I know.

Anyway, as I understand this opening story line so far, hate should be Hate, as in a name. I think in this arc, Hate is an external entity and, from that point of view, no, Hate cannot reach the child where they are in Atlantis. (I also think that phrase will come to have multiple and complex meanings, as the story progresses.)

I'm guessing that Hate is taking control of people and making them do things they wouldn't ordinarily do, and that Jean, as a telepath, has picked up on it, and has the team following its trail. She's taken the girl to their base to get her out of its sphere of influence temporarily, until it can be ferreted out and dealt with. That's what I think, anyway.

I'm expecting that one of the things that may come from this is the little girl learning that Hate, the villain, may be far less scary than hate in the world, because the bad guy can be defeated much easier, but who knows.

The opening scenes are reminiscent of God Loves, Man Kills, though, so that is giving me hope that Taylor is taking the X-Men back to their genesis in some way, rather than the last decades of public faces and PR.

[sungila]

I think you should be patient on this one. I think this may be a different perspective than you believe.


I agree that hate is everywhere and your comment about Nightcrawler is absolutely spot on....but it's also nowhere, if you don't let it in and feed it. Yeah, that's as clear as mud, I know.

Anyway, as I understand this opening story line so far, hate should be Hate, as in a name. I think in this arc, Hate is an external entity and, from that point of view, no, Hate cannot reach the child where they are in Atlantis. (I also think that phrase will come to have multiple and complex meanings, as the story progresses.)

I'm guessing that Hate is taking control of people and making them do things they wouldn't ordinarily do, and that Jean, as a telepath, has picked up on it, and has the team following its trail. She's taken the girl to their base to get her out of its sphere of influence temporarily, until it can be ferreted out and dealt with. That's what I think, anyway.

I'm expecting that one of the things that may come from this is the little girl learning that Hate, the villain, may be far less scary than hate in the world, because the bad guy can be defeated much easier, but who knows.

The opening scenes are reminiscent of God Loves, Man Kills, though, so that is giving me hope that Taylor is taking the X-Men back to their genesis in some way, rather than the last decades of public faces and PR.

What's this!? I can't image ME of all people being overly sensitive, melodramatic, impractical and entirely too easily triggered by certain...things...not me...I'm a calm collected patient person who never ever...agh, THANK YOU SUNDOWHN...

You're the best.

Sure, I'm a little maybe...well, of course, this IS almost exactly Kurt's origin story up to Xavier rescuing him from that mob! It's all compressed...and so yea, you know I'm already a little invested...on many levels...

Thank you Sundowhn...I'm no good at mad anyway...well not mad at anybody or anything...like that.

So it's an 'intriguing' preview now

[darewithpeace]

[Sundowhn]

Nice stuff!!!

[sungila]

Marvelously mellifluous!

[Slicknickshady]

I’m on Vacation and that’s why I have not been active lately. When I get back Saturday and catch up on tomorrow’s issues I’ll respond with my views on Red #1 and Nightcrawler.

[sungila]

I'm curious about how Nightcrawler fans feel about Kurt's progression from being a hunched over, truly demonic looking 'freakish' mutant to becoming the identifiable sexy swashbuckler and/or super cute nice guy he's portrayed as now.

This is something I've been avoiding addressing with myself and with the X-books in general. It's not exactly a comfortable topic to speak about.

It's just that, well, I've certainly been guilty of objectifying the image of Kurt and the other X-Men without acknowledging how idealized they all are. The bad guys are allowed to be ugly. The easily dropped plot device characters are also allowed to look less than perfect. So what happened to Nightcrawler over the years? Why?

And is it good or bad?

Is his physical beauty different than the original sketches by Cockrum because his interior personality is so different than the one that was intended?
This is my first rationalized thought and a comfort. But I'm not sure it's entirely true.
I like to think it so I have to question it. I relate to Kurt as an outsider. But maybe such a romanticized version of the outsider is potentially false and impossible and consequently...

Well, like I said...this is a tough one to speak about.

Any thoughts?

nightcrawler_by_toddnauck-d7cjs80.jpg

I still really like Todd Nauck's Kurt. There are decades of homage in every detail but there's a newness as well and a promise that seems to have been difficult to manifest as of yet which is okay...and more-or-less, in keeping with Kurt's exterior character anyway

[Ricochet Rita]

Excellent and courageous topic, if I'm allowed to tell. I myself have wondered sometimes about it.

Let me think about it a little bit...

[Sundowhn]

Yeah, this is a good question that I need to think about, too.

By the way, XMR #1 was awesome. Kurt is back.

[Sundowhn]

Okay, we'll see if these upload right.

I'd say these two are the closest to my own head canon of what Kurt looks like, or would look like. While the Dell Otto one is pretty, it's a bestial beauty, like a panther, or something. I love the slightly bemused expression on the other one and the fact that he isn't drop dead gorgeous, nor is he hideous. He looks pretty average and just happens to have blue fur. (He's missing the hump in his nose, though.)

I guess I seem him as a blue furred but average looking guy with a big nose, a bit on the skinny side(wiry). He probably has a noticeable body odor, between the fur and the brimstone(that's been referred to quite a few times). I've wondered if his fangs might give his speech an unusual quality, too. Seems like they would. It seems like, with his feet and tail, he might walk funny, if he tries to walk like everyone else.

Nightcrawler's looks have changed so much since I've been reading, it's hard to keep up. Don't get me wrong, I loved Alan Davis' work, and, as far as comics go, I think his is probably the most definitive, with the exception of the too short tail. He captured the inhuman vibe -- if you compare Kurt's face, for example, with any of the other males Davis drew, Kurt's features are much more goblin-esque -- but I think Davis was also the first artist to regularly have Kurt stand upright, rather than his normal crouch, too, which took away one of the things that was different or monstrous about him, and he assuredly make him more handsome.

I mean, I know when they made the change, and I'm pretty sure I can guess why -- to give him sex appeal. Was it necessary? I don't know. I guess at the time, it went with the story of the triangle with Meggan and Brian. It definitely took him in a leading man direction, verses straight up supporting.

I really liked Nauck's version, because it reminded me so much of Dave Cockrum's design.

I remember I particularly enjoyed some fanfic I read by Marg that touched on some of his more unusual attributes and how he might feel about them. It talked about whether he had the urge to try to blend in, when he was with others and move like they do, rather than how he was most comfortable.


In my head I see him as less human looking that the other X-Men. I thought Hollywood dropped the ball by using an actor in make-up to portray him, rather than using straight up CGI. I don't think a guy in make-up will ever be able to capture the way I envision the character to move and look.

Hmmm...it makes me want to write a piece on how someone else sees him.

I guess to answer the question, I'd prefer if they gave him back some of his more "monstrous" traits. Having him look like a sexy blue guy doesn't necessarily mesh with the normal reaction to him, which is fear or horror.

[Sundowhn]

Another one I like

[sungila]

Much too say, too much to say...

But for now and wow,

X-Men Red #1!!! BE BAMF MY BEATING HEART

(...but I'm so like that)

yet, regardless of me being like that, X-Men Red #1 is the best single issue team KURT book since...oh there's this one full page of Jean 'stepping out' into the air and she essentially gives the Kurt manifesto that's never been spoken...she could have been telepathically amplifying Nightcrawler's most inner fire...that very brimstone of faith and hope and action and visceral humanity! So great!!!

(..but I'm so like this...)

[lurkerforyears]

Do you think Nightcrawler has an original body that is still buried from his death to Bastion?

[Sundowhn]

Do you think Nightcrawler has an original body that is still buried from his death to Bastion?

That's occurred to me, but I believe he was cremated, if memory serves. (Thought it would've gone against the tenets of his faith)

[sungila]

That's occurred to me, but I believe he was cremated, if memory serves. (Thought it would've gone against the tenets of his faith)

Yup, he was, supposedly, cremated. There was smoke. Not brimstone. But like every certain ending, especially those involving death, we don't know what really happened. Aaron ingeniously uses maggots to give new form to Kurt's resurrected body. (these maggots become the BAMFs but also his early flesh)

Bastion's arm seems like a good 'piece' for a plot device. He didn't just teleport Hope...he teleported the hand reaching for it!!!

That hand was reaching through him toward her, to crush her, and he held it back even as he said "I believe in you" But did he hold it back or HOLD IT. Like the soulsword, like the dream...like the place between his jaunts? Hmmm....so there's always smoke around Kurt...always...

Then there was that hasty service, Bobby eulogizing impromptu talking about Ezekiel and THE vision in the valley of dry bones - which is all about resurrection, reclamation and strangeness. It's such an awkward choice of prayers. IMO 'the Valley of Dry Bones' is a vision of conquest and God's rite that doesn't fit any version of Nightcrawler's faith.

Anyway, eventually, after some in-fighting and 'words' of farewell...there's smoke. But there's smoke everywhere! Yet this particular smoke is very much intended to say...burning the body of Nightcrawler, then : end act one Second Coming etc.