Nightcrawler #4 Review and Summary

Probably better entitled: 'Heaven...There Goes the Neighborhood'

Summary:

The issue starts with the X-Men fighting the Trimegas, including some familiar faces like Chamber, Husk and Psylocke. Kurt and Logan leave the fray to find and deal with Margali and Amanda. They discover the remains of Hank and Storm, who have been dismantled into just memories in the form of pictures. Amanda shows up out of hiding and puts the blame on Margali. Logan (of all people) has the common sense to point out that Amanda isn't the most trustworthy person but Kurt makes the call to trust her, assuring Logan and the readers that she is "his heart" and worthy of trust. Amanda reverses the spell but realizes Margali has stolen their memories of the afterlife and Kurt being alive and makes the connection that Margali wants the power of the outer realms. The details are a little vague on how she will be accomplishing this or how the conclusion was drawn.

Kurt and Logan go after Margali, and Amanda is fighting to help the school. Kurt finally catches up with his cackling sociopathic mother (two for two -- guy has mother issues) where she's already opened the portal and they go toe to toe. Amanda shows back up and she and Kurt determine that the only way to close the gate is from the other side. The problem is, once they cross over, they're effectively dead and there's no returning. They go to make the jump but Kurt is thrown back from the gate. He willingly gave up Heaven, so there's no going back for him. However, Amanda is already across.

There is what was probably meant to be a very touching goodbye scene between them, where she says she'll wait for him in heaven and entrusts him to become enough of a hero to earn his place there again. He falls back in tears to watch her disappear.

All the trimegas suddenly disappear as the gateway closes and Nightcrawler says he's left with no heart.


Review:

The good: Claremont managed to wrap up a full story arc in four issues and we even got a beginning, middle and an end to it, so I liked that. It can be a rarity these days. I very much enjoy Claremont pacing. There are never any "dry" moments in his stories. They manage to hit the right mix of development, story and action. His stories also have real consequences, and this one is no exception. Kurt is facing the fallout for the decision he made and it would appear that, yes, Claremont seems to be taking him in a new direction going forward. This story set the stage unequivocally for that.

I also really like that he makes good use of other X-Men. It's great to read his Betsy again, for example, and I loved seeing Chamber and Husk show up actually acting like X-Men.

I personally enjoy the artwork and think it works for the title.


The bad: The flies in the soup were the Szardos women. Much like has happened with Mystique, Margali was reduced to a cackling, predictable nutjob with vague, ill-defined aspirations of having ultimate power. It came across as "ok we need a bad guy, who do we use? I know, Margali again!"

Because significant back continuity with Amanda was utterly ignored for this -- you know, little things like the last time she was written opposite Nightcrawler she behaved like a stalker and he wanted nothing to do with her because of her past lies, manipulations and that unpleasant Soulsword business -- it was really difficult not only to view her as a sympathetic character but to understand why Kurt kept going around talking about her being his "heart". Sorry, without resolution to at least some of the back plot points, it just doesn't wash. It would be like viewing Cyclops and Madelyne as a good present day couple -- they have too much bad history together. The goodbye scene that was likely meant to be very moving just felt contrived -- a means to an end which is a darker Kurt.



Appearing in the issue: Iceman, Psylocke, Chamber, Cecelia, Husk, Wolverine, Kurt, Amanda, Margali. As cameos: paper husks of Storm and Beast, various students, Warbird and Angel.

I do recommend the issue as the final installment of the opening arc for the solo. It includes a significant death and probably character motivation for Nightcrawler going forward. If the continuity faux pas doesn't bug you, it's a good read.