Volume 2 was a 4-issue mini-series, part of Marvel's "Icons" subheading. Never read it, don't know if it's any good. Nightcrawler Volume 3 was an actual ongoing series, albeit lasting only 12 issues, where Aguirre-Sacasa and Darick Robertson went a more mystical route for Nightcrawler.
Not entirely out of nowhere; even if the X-Men only occasionally get involved with magic, Kurt Wagner's foster mother is a sorceress, and his foster sister and sometimes girlfriend (but not in this series) Amanda Sefton was apparently ruler of Limbo at this point in time. Plus, there's Kurt's religious beliefs and spiritual nature, and most of the stories in this volume deal with demons or restless souls.
A group of wealthy dicks who, in exchange for the sacrifice of 14 children, get 14 demons in their service. (Which seems like a bad deal on the demons' parts, but I assume they had some loophole planned.) This is after or during Morrison's run, when the X-Men are public and openly doing hero stuff, so the authorities will actually ask for their help with stuff. In this case, the one surviving child appears to be a mutant.
Later on, things loop back to Kurt having killed his foster brother in the past, after said brother appeared to lose his mind and massacre a town. Did he lose his mind though, or was he under outside control? And Aguirre-Sacasa also brings up the fact Illyana's Soulsword was hidden inside Nightcrawler (and I think had been since Ellis' Excalibur run, if not earlier), which is a big part of why this is all happening. Leading to probably the best known moment of this series, Mephisto trying to make a deal with Nightcrawler, and getting punched in the jaw. Proving Kurt Wagner is, at least, smarter than Peter Parker.
Darick Robertson pencils the entire run, which is a nice change from how Marvel typically does things in the 21st Century. His Nightcrawler is fit and attractive, but not to the extent you get when Alan Davis draws the character. Robertson draws Nightcrawler always looking a bit disheveled. Clothes are wrinkled, hair's messy, shoulders a little slumped. Like he's tired or just too out of it to worry about looking nice. Which, since the Soulsword is an invisible weight on him he doesn't even recall being there, would make sense. Aguirre-Sacasa adds Night Nurse as sort of a regular person viewpoint character, though this is before Dr. Strange: The Oath, so she looks nothing like she does there. Robertson definitely leans into "redheaded sexy nurse" for that design.
He's good at drawing monsters - lots of sharp teeth and beady eyes set deep in the sockets - but his work is maybe too clean. A little bit of oppressive shadows that, say, Tom Mandrake would use, wouldn't hurt. Hint at things that can't be fully perceived. Unless the argument would be that Kurt's spiritually in tune with himself enough he can perceive (or he's got greater perception due to the Soulsword's presence inside him.) The art works better when the threats are supernatural, but a little closer to earth. A visit to a circus in Florida where Kurt apparently spent some unpleasant days before joining the X-Men finds the locals possessed by some sort of fly demon. It's running around in whoever is handy, so it's more a matter of making those people look greasy or diseased than otherworldly. Matt Milla's colors help a lot there, too, because he casts everything in a sickly green-brown that you can almost smell just looking at it.
But the book ended at 12 issues and whatever mystical war that was hinted at never came to pass. So it goes when you're writing second or third-tier books.
No comments:
Post a Comment