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by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

Nightcrawler’s father and his legions of demons are going to rule the earth soon. Unless the X-Men have a say about this.

This month, Uncanny X-Men writer Chuck Austen and artist Philip Tan present the long-awaited origin of everyone’s favorite blue-furred elf, Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler in a storyline entitled ‘The Draco’. Think of it as Origin, but for Nightcrawler instead of Logan, er, James, er…nevermind.

But first, to put things in perspective of sorts, Newsarama checked in with ‘Crawler creator and legendary X-Men artist Dave Cockrum on his original vision for the character, and what became of him over the years.

“I hate it. Kurt was made into the light-hearted swashbuckler because Marvel already had far too many bitter, introspective monsters. And I objected to the religious business from the very start; Kurt represented me in the X-Men, and I am very definitely not religious. Furthermore, I hated the tattoos in the movie,” Cockrum said when asked about the events that had happened in the life of Nightcrawler since he left his creation in the hands of Marvel’s powers-that-be.

The creator recalled his original version and intention for Nightcrawler – something which tied him to Hell a little more closely than a burp on the double helix. “Originally Nightcrawler was a demon himself, a sidekick to a Punisher-type character I called the Intruder. He'd screwed up on a mission from Hell, and rather than go back and face punishment, he hung around on the mortal plane and aided, abetted and annoyed the Intruder. Later on I offered him to DC for the Legion of Superheroes where he was a demon-like alien from another dimension. Editor Murray Boltinoff nixed him because 'he was too funny-looking'.”

“I wanted [his father] to be Nightmare, of the Dream Dimension. Roy Thomas shot that down because 'then he wouldn't be a mutant'. Twenty-odd years later, Roy said 'hey, that was a neat idea. Why didn't you do it?'”

That being out of the way, perhaps surprisingly so, given his reservations with how Nighcrawler has been treated over the years, Cockrum admitted that he is a fan of Austen’s Uncanny X-Men, and is pleased with what the current writer is doing with his prized creation. “I like Austen's writing. I'm delighted that he rid Kurt of the priesthood--something I thought was stupid and illogical in the first place--though I thought he did it in an awfully fast-and-furious manner.”

With that blessing, the baton is now passed on to the creative team to tell the origin story of Nightcrawler once and for all.

Spoiler Warning

The telling began in Uncanny #428, the prologue to “The Draco” storyline which showed Mystique (living under the alias of Raven Wagner in Germany 20 years ago) as the baroness of a large estate and wife to Baron Wagner, a man who could not give her a child. Raven met and fell in love with the stranger called Azazel, who wooed her with words about Raven being the future of life on earth, referring to her mutant genetic code. One thing led to another, birds slept with bees, and Raven became pregnant with his child. Azazel, as it turned out, was a demon – tail, pointy ears, and everything.

Baron Wagner suspected that the child his wife carried was not his, and promised Raven that if this was indeed the case, he would cast her out. Not waiting for the results of a blood test, Raven spilled the Baron’s blood, murdering him in his own bed. Shortly thereafter, baby Kurt was born, and Raven was chased out of town. Seeing the baby as the source of her loss of status, wealth, and comfort, Raven threw the baby off a cliff, only to see it disappear with a ‘bamf!’ halfway to the ground.

Heck of a prologue, and heck of a set up for Austen, a card-carrying Nightcrawler fan from way back.

“Kurt's the glass is half full, kind of guy,” Austen said of the character. “I love Nightcrawler. He's motivated by a genuine love of humanity and a desire to do good. He's kind and funny. Someone I think I would like to hang around with because of his positive attitude in life. At least that's how I think Dave Cockrum envisioned him, and how I think he works best.”

“All I can say is that there will be lots of new faces and definitely more action and adventure. Saying more will be spilling too much, but I’m sure everyone's going to love this story,” Tan said.

Where the artist is tightlipped about the story, the writer provided more information about the story that he’s writing as well as details about Kurt’s father. “Without spoiling it, I will say this -Kurt's father feels he has a right to rule the world, because, you see, at one point in our history, he actually did. Now he's just trying to get it back. That’s all I can say.”

When pressed for more details, especially in regards to the possibility of seeing Kurt’s siblings, Austen revealed: “Oh, yeah. And there will be some surprises, in that area.” As for other characters, “there's Azazel. The leader. Ydrazil, his right hand man, who is a winged demon with a very large weapon. Gillian, someone who may be Kurt's sister, and a few others who will surprise people, I hope. One who has the ability to judge truth or falsehood, whose eyes are sewn shut. She's my favorite.”

With a family like that, what about Kurt’s mother Mystique and Victor Creed, the mutant known as Sabretooth, both of whom have have been reputed to have links to Kurt’s past? “Well, would it be a family reunion without her, now that we've established that she really is Kurt's mom, now would it? This is an earlier incarnation of Mystique [compared to the one who’s appearing in the monthly, ongoing series that is part of Marvel’s Tsunami banner] – she’s a complex woman who can be both bad and good, depending on how much power and control it gives her. I find her fascinating to write. An interesting, deep and intense character.”

As for Sabretooth showing up in “The Draco,” conspiracy theorists will have to continue to wonder. “Not in this one,” Austen said. “We’ve got too many people running around in Uncanny now, as it is. Victor Creed has nothing to do with Kurt, as I'm writing him. You've seen the family resemblance to Azazel the character from # 428 - but of course, that doesn't mean it won't change, if someone gets a good story out of it, down the line. You know how ‘iron clad’ continuity is.”

Austen also gave details on which X-Men characters who are appearing in this arc and their role in this dark tale of world domination. “Havok, Husk, Archangel, Iceman, Polaris, Juggernaut, Wolverine, Jubilee, and Kurt, of course. They're trying to stop it, and will be shocked to finally meet Kurt's father. Whoever he turns out to be.”

Working with artist Philip Tan has been “awesome. Philip is a tremendously nice guy, who does the most detailed pages I've seen in many, many ears. He also draws the most evil Lorna expressions. Just spot-on. Love that. I send a script and he draws it. If he's confused by something, he sends me e-mail. But mostly we seem to understand one another pretty well.”

As for Tan, the feeling is quite mutual. “If reading great stories isn’t enough, Chuck and [editor] Mike Marts really guided me a lot and they are the best in giving encouragements!”

On the way he envisions Nightcrawler, the artist got his inspiration from a former X-Men artist. “Probably Leinil Yu, he's a good friend and we still joke about how I try to get influences on his version of Nightcrawler but I’m really trying to get my ‘own’ ‘Crawler out for everyone to see.”

Though this arc is focused on Nightcrawler, Tan revealed that his favorite character is Alex Summers aka Havok because “I designed Havok’s new costume. Anything else you might have seen are [former artist] Kia [Asamiya]’s designs that they gave me for reference. I honestly made [Alex] into one of those leather jacket design that it kinda got turned down in favor of a more ‘superhero’ look but I didn’t really like him in just spandex. I know lots of people do but I [want to] try to give him something new. The headgear thing... Marvel wants it so... but I thought Joe Quesada made it really nice, he [kind of] designed it in a way that it’s nearly fit for the head.”

Apart from the Nightcrawler story, Austen believes that his stories make the reading experience worthwhile for longtime and new readers as well. “If all longtime readers are getting out of this book right now is Nightcrawler's origin story, I'm failing on some level,” Austen said. “I would have thought they were hanging in there because the stories entertained them. I know we're getting a lot of new readers. Are longtime readers dropping off? Are you reading the internet too much (laughs)? Because that's about 1% of fandom, really, and not indicative of overall response or sales. It's fun. Because it's unexpected and it sets everything on it's head. I try not to give in to too many expectations, and it makes hard-core fans angry, and delights new readers with surprises and entertainment.”

What’s in store for the X-Men next and will there be more issues drawn by Tan now that former X-Treme X-Men artist Salvador Larroca is on board? “Oh, so much. The long-awaited trial of the Juggernaut. The appearance of more angels like Warren. The return of some major villains. Philip will still be on the book, as far as I know. He just won't have to carry it on his own, anymore. I think the pace was a little harsh for him. Now he can do Uncanny at a normal, human pace while Salva becomes the main guy, and then also do other projects for Marvel.”

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From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged | 

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Boy, has LegionPics (among other things ) knocked me out of the loop, or what. A Nightcrawler discussion without my two cents. For shame.

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Originally posted by Lightning Lad:
What I want to know is who was Nightcrawler offered to first if DC and the Legion was the second choice?

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From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged |