Thoughts

One thing I’ve spotted with this re-read is that I’m surprised how little Nightcrawler there is. He’s one of my favourite X-men but he’s really only a background player. Other members of the team have developed their own stories, and had their own cool moments. Wolverine as the break-out star has already had his Japanese angle, as well as some pretty striking panels. Storm has had her (admittedly convoluted) backstory explored. Colossus had his angst at not assisting the team, resolved with some striking heroic moments. Even Banshee had his storyline, even if it did end with him leaving the team.

But apart from being there, looking cool (because Nightcrawler most definitely looks cool, and I’ll brook no argument on this score) and bizarrely dropping random German words into his English sentences – he’s not really done much or been important to anything that happens.

So at last, finally, we get a story about him. And its an Annual too. And its.. Durchschnitt.

The story sees the X-men teamed up with Doctor Strange journeying into Dante’s Hell because someone has stolen Nightcrawlers soul. As a journey it fits the format of a Marvel Annual with its slightly pretentious chapter headings. But beyond the slight mystery that this might not be what it seems to be there’s very little peril.

When the issue finally focuses on Nightcrawler (I mean, its his story and he didn’t even get an appearance on the cover!) its pretty much all exposition and backstory. We learn of Nightcrawler’s past, which again does not seem to take place in any recognisable sixties or seventies Germany but in deepest, darkest nineteenths century Ruritania.

Nightcrawler persuades his tormentor that he’s actually a good guy and everything goes back to normal Except that we learn that Nightcrawler’s girlfriend is actually his adopted sister. And he’s overjoyed. It’s all very weird.

It’s still a very readable issue. The art is solid, although it does seem mostly to be quite a pedestrian vision of Hell. It’s nice to see Nightcrawler get some focus, but as a huge fan of us he deserves better.

Fun Panel

A nicely little chilling moment when Nightcrawler’s soul is taken.

That Don’t Make A Lick of Sense

Nightcrawler’s habit of uttering random German words in the middle of English paragraphs really is a curio. I guess its to regularly remind readers he is German. Which is, at least, preferable than Marvel’s usual ragbag of stereotypes in this era. We’re spared big moustache Nightcrawler in lederhosen at least.

But it really doesn’t make sense. Speakers of foreign languages don’t do this, although its a stereotype much loved in Hollywood. Kurt Wagner speaks fluent English. Why drop in random German words?

This does raise the question – how does Nightcrawler speak English? Of course by the sixties and seventies, the younger generation of West Germans were gaining a great proficiency in English. But Nightcrawler seems to come from rural Germany circa 1800 where English speaking would have been rare.

So perhaps an explanation can be the fact that Xavier taught him to speak English telepathically. This is hinted at when he assembles the international team. And maybe, he’s just not quite perfected the process. So occasionally, like a faulty Google translate page, the odd incongruity slips through.

Lets go with that!

Any Googling

There’s an interesting aside in this issue that got me googling. Wolverine’s words suggest that Claremont had already, in his mind, had Logan as a WWII veteran.

Now we’re at the beginning of the early eighties here. So the battle being referred to is around forty years earlier. The numbers aren’t completely unworkable for Wolverine to be a veteran without a supernatural/superheroic explanation – in theory Wolverine could be very healthy man in his late fifties. But I think this works best as Claremont’s first hint that Wolverine is much, much older than he looks.

None More Claremont