| Author |
|
Michael Penn
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 April 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 12719
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 4:44am | IP Logged | 1
|
|
|
Hard to see how his name fits this improbable congeries of mutant powers too. Perhaps "blending in shadows" would best suit Nightcrawler (unless he can worm through the ground), but that power was an afterthought.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133338
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 5:11am | IP Logged | 2
|
|
|
By the time I came to the book, it had become something of a joke
around the Office that every issue would have Kurt demonstrating some
new power he hadn't had before. The capper came with the whole
"invisible in shadow" thing. When I read that, I asked Chris if this meant
Kurt was invisible at night, since night is, after all, when half the Earth is
literally in shadow. Chris hemmed and hawed and had no real answer.
I didn't care much for that power, as you can probably tell from the fact
that I had him use it, I think, once during my time on UNCANNY, and that
was in the battle with the Imperial Guard on the Moon. That scene had
its own little speedbump for me, as so many did. I created the character
Manta, and had in my mind that light was to her much like water is to her
namesake. So when Kurt ducked into shadows to sneak up on her, I
provided copious notes to Chris to the effect that she detected his
approach because she could "feel" movements in light the same way a
manta ray feels movement in the water. To this end I very pointedly drew
her with her back to Kurt. Chris scripted it that she had infrared vision.
In the back of her head apparently.*
*This would be one of those instances where a reader unfamiliar with the
"Marvel Method" of art before script would have no choice but to assume I
had drawn it wrong, of course!
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Paulo Pereira
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 24 April 2006
Posts: 15539
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 5:27am | IP Logged | 3
|
|
|
I think Kurt may have used his "shadow-blend" in Murderworld too.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Paulo Pereira
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 24 April 2006
Posts: 15539
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 5:48am | IP Logged | 4
|
|
|
Andrew wrote:
Not to mention the physical mutations on top of that--prehensile tail,
oversized feet and hands adapted for acrobatics, fangs, blue coloring...and
he could stick to walls, too! |
|
|
Good point. I wonder how Nightcrawler sticks to walls? I.e., is the power "Beast-like" or "Spidey-like."
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Thanos Kollias
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 June 2004
Location: Greece
Posts: 5009
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 6:27am | IP Logged | 5
|
|
|
I think Kurt may have used his "shadow-blend" in Murderworld too.
++++++++++
Yup, and it was brilliantly rendered, as well.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
e-mail
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133338
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 6:32am | IP Logged | 6
|
|
|
I wonder how Nightcrawler sticks to walls? I.e., is the power "Beast-like" or
"Spidey-like."
••
Dave used to say it was just a question of grip. You know how you can place
your hand flat against a pane of glass and sort of "contract" it and feel a bit
of grip happening? Imagine Kurt as being really good at that!
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133338
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 6:33am | IP Logged | 7
|
|
|
I think Kurt may have used his "shadow-blend" in Murderworld too.
••
Yeah, tho kind of "accidentally". Like I said, I didn't care for the power. Just
seemed illogical. So I used it as little as possible.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Paulo Pereira
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 24 April 2006
Posts: 15539
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 6:37am | IP Logged | 8
|
|
|
JB wrote:
| Like I said, I didn't care for the power. Just seemed illogical.
So I used it as little as possible.
|
|
|
I can't say I disagree. I thought it was a neat power, but it didn't seem that necessary in retrospect, especially in the panel Thanos posted (I forget if there were surveillance cameras inside the shaft, in which case perhaps it was necessary or at least useful).
Edited by Paulo Pereira on 18 August 2009 at 6:38am
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Ron Chevrier
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 1641
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 1:21pm | IP Logged | 9
|
|
|
I suppose Nightcrawler's shadow power is similar in scope to Superman's originally being able to re-sculpt his facial features to resemble other people. I suppose Man of Steel didn't jibe so well with Face of Putty!
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133338
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 1:29pm | IP Logged | 10
|
|
|
I suppose Nightcrawler's shadow power is similar in scope to Superman's
originally being able to re-sculpt his facial features to resemble other
people. I suppose Man of Steel didn't jibe so well with Face of Putty!
••
Superman swiped that power from a Pulp character called The Avenger -- a
man whose facial muscles were paralyzed, so he could mold them into any
shape. Crazy as that sounds, there's a kind of logic to it. You can ALMOST
see it working.
But, as I noted, when I saw Kurt being invisible in shadow, my first thought
was "Is he invisible at night?" It's basically a dumb power, anyway. Think
about it as you walk thru your day. He'd be constantly flickering in and out
of visibility, fading and reappearing as shadows shifted by.
And since his FACE is ALWAYS in shadow, why the ^#%^# isn't it invisible??
This all comes back to my biggest problem with Nightcrawler, and why I
never really connected with him in my time on the book. Stan defined
mutants as people with AN "extra" power. That's what the X stands for (not
"Xavier".) But Kurt has blue skin (later fur), glowing eyes, fangs, oddly
shaped hands and feet, a prehensile tail --- AND he teleports, AND he's
invisible in shadow. . . . .
When he was one of Dave's candidates for the Legion of Substitute Heroes,
that was all okay, but most of it should have been scooped out before he
became one of the X-Men.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Martin Arlt
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 879
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 2:08pm | IP Logged | 11
|
|
|
And he had the image inducer, giving him shape-shifting abilities...
Martin Arlt.....................
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
e-mail
|
| |
Andrew W. Farago
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 July 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 4079
|
| Posted: 18 August 2009 at 2:15pm | IP Logged | 12
|
|
|
They tried to get around some of that by making Nightcrawler a second-generation mutant. Mystique's his mother and...am I misremembering that Sabretooth was hinted at as his father? Anyway, the blue skin, at least, was "just" something that he inherited directly from his mother, and I think that Alan Davis tried to downplay the "invisible in shadow" thing by claiming that it was a byproduct of his teleportation powers.
That's still a lot for one character, though. If he'd only had the physical mutations, or only had the teleportation, that's still a full complement of X-genes. Then again, if he'd been "just" a teleporter, or "just" a blue guy, he might not have caught on the way that he did.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
e-mail
|
| |
Topic Closed)
