Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

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sungila
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Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by sungila »

There’s been a lot of character development (some defamation) – shit, none of us makes it through our 30’s without every one of our defining characteristics spun, twisted and reverted – killed off and resurrected…so we die a death (hopefully in a way consistent with our birthright honor) and we come back (maybe even start reading comic books again…reviving our allegiances to our old heroes – restoring our faith and vigor) and BAM(F) we’re back….bold as ever in our birthday suit and original swagger – Swashbucklin’!

When Amazing X-Men #1’s cover art was first revealed – damn if it didn’t happen for me right on time. One look at that cover…and, what can I say, all of a sudden a real me I hadn’t been for a long time simply burst through the 35 year old skins and armors that had layered heavy and hard over my light.

Then (BAMF)…a burst of smoke and light…gleaming eyes, shimmering fangs…glint of steel…and here I am…on a Nightcrawler forum!

You know, any way we constellate him, Nightcrawler shimmers, sword-drawn and constant as Orion!
It really just occurred to me. All the way through…from the Bavarian beginnings, from the winding backroads of an orphan’s longing, from the attempts to find meaning, purpose, amends and belonging to the explosive escapes into reckless abandon – from Cockrum to Austen to Aaron…Nightcrawler is who he is…the 21st Century Swashbuclker…more real than Jack Sparrow, more penetrating than Spider-man – a real Byronic hero…for me, more personally true than Joyce’s Stephen Daedalus, Lawrence’s Paul Morel or any Künstlerroman.

Kurt’s story – his contradictions – his riddles – his deaths and resurrections; and his triumph of continuance – his Swashbuckler-soul…his artist’s-heart…his goodness and light…how it resonates and guides…it is for me…like Orion….a constellation I know, one I can find most any night…one I can speak to without question or condition…or even matriculated word…Nightcrawler is a hero for me in the best sense.

He is the hero in me.


ps: there is so much here that is amazing! this forum is full of talented thoughtful and good-hearted people. i did some exploring and have been reading blogs...this one by Sundown is incredible!!! if you haven't read it, please do, just for the sheer amount of synthesis and attention and acuity of perception...it's a MUST read!!! http://nightcrawlerprogression.blogspot.ie/
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by Ult_Sm86 »

I like this guy.


Yes Nightcrawler is back and better! So excited!
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by sungila »

Ah thanks Ult-Sm86...that's a reassuring welcome.

And yes, True, so true - Nightcrawler is 'back and better!' than ever.

it really isn't bias...it's just perfect...if there ever was a man fit for resurrection it's Kurt Wanger! A man accustomed to Limbo...a telepporter...a trapeze artist...a man of real faith...a man, if ever there was one, who exists in the suspension between sureties - ah, it's just perfect!
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by Ult_Sm86 »

What could this return mean for X-books though? I think we can expect the spirit of Kurt from Amazing X-men to return in Claremont's title but can we expect Kurt's integral place in the X-Team to be brought back up? Is he going to re-unite Scott's X-Men with Logan's X-Men? How will he react when he finds out Wanda and Rogue are dead? This is going to be a wildly interesting series....
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by sungila »

These are interesting questions mein freund and well worth discussing. The old path, the old credo that Kurt loosely fostered from Spider-Man: “With great power comes great responsibility” would suggest that Nightcrawler’s resurrection would require that he ‘redeem’ his first life’s sacrifices and serve to ‘repay’ those who mourned his loss, sought to restore him and honor him by staying true to the ideals that embodied who he was…in his name…en memoriam onward.

But these first life allegiances, these vestments of servitude, this bygone mission to embody the ideals of Xavier, Christ and Errol Flynn – the old driving force of the orphaned Son of Atom…to be accepted, to be a part of the fold (any fold), to be of worth beyond condition…the desire to be loved as deeply and resolutely as he himself loved – the desire to be saved....this was who Kurt was. And that Kurt died…and these were the very nails that sealed his coffin…would not returning to this life…in this way…be nothing more than a ghost's life and a lie?

Having died upon the cross…why would Kurt rise up to only be re-riven to the same mantle?

Part of me believes that Kurt could be the one who’s return could usher in a new beginning and a reunification of the “X” tribe with all the expansive contrary forces coming together – or at least coming into harmony – with Kurt being the gravitational soulforce at the center.

It’s who he is, dead or alive, he is the teleporter…the lone man…the blue elf…the orphan…the unifier…the spirit and soul…and he does not belong anywhere…for long…only for moments…with purpose and with glimmering force…he is faith…period and he could be the faith that restores a semblance of unity to the X-tribe.

I hope he doesn’t join any one group. Let him move freely from Scott’s team to Wolverine’s – from good guy to bad guy – let him finally remain independent and free of the consuming dogmas of Logan, Xavier, Cyclops, Father Whitney, Margoli, Amanda and even Errol Flynn!!! Let him be like Hermes was in the old Greek pantheon…freelance…independent…a messenger – with an inner-allegiance that resolutely delivers only hope…only opportunity and continuance…let Kurt be reborn not simply to be who he once was…but who he always is.

Don’t you think we’re all a little tired of retelling over and over again the same story…I mean it’s all the same…it’s X-Men #94 through about issue 250 of the original Uncanny X-Men…great stories abound…Second Coming was just as amazing as the Dark Pheonix Saga…and it could have really served to be the completion of that whole thing…but alas...it wasn't...or was it?

I don’t know, what do you think?

Maybe deep down…we all just want this story to keep going…nobody dies, nobody changes, nothing resolves…little circles…little patterns…little comforts…but shit, if nothing changes…nothing is really there…and if that’s true than the whole comic book thing is surely and truly a disappearing act…an escape…and if that’s true – well, if I was Kurt…I’d turn right around and head back to the ‘fourth’ dimension of limbo…unwritten and undrawn.
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by Ult_Sm86 »

...

Mr. Claremont, is that you?
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by Bamfing_Bob »

My question is... where the hell has this guy been?
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by Ult_Sm86 »

I don't know but if he's not actually Claremont/Nauck/Aaron or Axel Alonso...

he might be the coolest 'Crawler fan ever
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by sungila »

Ult_Sm86 wrote:I don't know but if he's not actually Claremont/Nauck/Aaron or Axel Alonso...

he might be the coolest 'Crawler fan ever
Ult_Sm86 wrote:...

Mr. Claremont, is that you?
Bamfing_Bob wrote:My question is... where the hell has this guy been?
Ha! No, i'm no Claremont, Nauck, Aaron or Alonso...just a 36 year old natural born Nightscrawler who spent way too many years and heartache out in the wilderness: vision questing - chasing the saint's bait - writing poetry and feeling something lost - something false - something vitally disconnected and incomplete...until only very recently...BAMF...it all aligned - and here i am...outta Limbo...without ever even knowing i was there...but i'm glad as anything to be outta there: back and better than before!

Honestly, i owe a great debt to this community and to you both for helping me find that 'way' to this "here and now and better than before"...right on time, as is appears...right on time.

shucks, those guys you speak of...they're my heroes - i'm just writing from the heart, pouring out exuberance like a man tumbling blindly out of exile into a bold new current - singing like a torrent outta thaw!

sincerely, thank you, danke
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by Slarti »

It's definitely great to see some new blood who is certainly very passionate and articulate about Kurt, after all these years. I may have said it on another thread, but welcome again!

I'm one of those mid-thirties fans as well, and I've fallen off the X-wagon in many ways over the last few years due to life and family and other responsibilities. I'm looking forward to catching up and picking up this new book to see if maybe - just maybe - the magic is back.
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by sungila »

Slarti wrote:It's definitely great to see some new blood who is certainly very passionate and articulate about Kurt, after all these years. I may have said it on another thread, but welcome again!

I'm one of those mid-thirties fans as well, and I've fallen off the X-wagon in many ways over the last few years due to life and family and other responsibilities. I'm looking forward to catching up and picking up this new book to see if maybe - just maybe - the magic is back.
Thank you Slarti. That 'x wagon' seems to have become more like a giant x-land theme park... nobody should have to feel like a comic could require too much energy, time and money to enjoy...if anything, comic books should provide fuel for the richness of our lives... so yea, let's hope Kurt's return does bring back some that real magic...

Micky Mouse and his gang can crew the carousel...let the X-Men sew the fields and girder the grit of our hopeful hands in harvest - with a lightning flash, a brimstone cloud - bringing the rain, the rainbow and the blue renewal of open skies
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by Ult_Sm86 »

I am very glad to have you joining us good sir. Nice to have someone besides the fortunate few to chat comics with around here, I was starting to wonder if I was talking to myself.
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But seriously -- the new movement Marvel is going towards is a great one. We have a return of the Cosmic theme books (and the X-men venturing off into the cosmic unknown). All the while Marvel U's X-Men are coming back together and being heroes again--rather than a torn band of rebels, I am looking forward to the year ahead of us. Hopefully Nighcrawler can go galavant off into space in some book... I would really love to see he & Rachel Summers doing some Sh'iar stuff...
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by sungila »

Kurt is soooo Kirk when he gets in outterspace!

Always hitting on hot space alien damsels and waxing philosophically on the cosmos!

Great idea, but damn, we gotta give him a little earth time before hurtling him off into another cross-time caper, inter-dimensional, wyrd-winding inferno, space jaunt...right?

Adventure comic...that's what it has got to be! An adult adventure comic! So of course, sooner or later, he's gotta be back in space...saving some alien rogue piratess from the clutches of an overlord...

of course ;)

What ever became of Rachel Summers anyway? Why was Hope even brought into the picture, you know, why didn't they use Rachel...or get this, maybe Hope is Rachel who is Jean Grey who is the Phoenix host...an eternal force bound in being to a mortal coil...

But seriously, what has Rachel been up to in the current comic universe?
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by Angelique »

Rachel's been teaching at the Jean Grey School and otherwise not being utilized to anything resembling her full potential. (The whole plot of Avengers vs. X-Men pretty much depended on nobody acknowledging Rachel's existence, for example, as people looked for someone who could train Hope on dealing with the Phoenix force.)
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by the_lone_bamf »

I've dusted off the old account in hopes of finding people who wanted to talk about AXM and Nightcrawler's reappearance in general. I'm glad I won't be disappointed!

That being said, thank you so much for that blog post. I read over it last night, although I did a quick read without expanding all of the scans (most of which I was familiar with- they definitely chose some great key moments) but I'm definitely going to go back and review it. I agree with them on nearly all of their points, the only one that comes to mind where we don't see eye to eye is the whole Draco story-arc, but my rage at that topic has subsided over the years and I'm open to debate it these days. Hehheh.

I'm really looking forward to the conclusion of this arc in UXM and the upcoming solo series. I think, if things go as well as they have been, we'll be able to look at the death of our fuzzy elf as a great turning point that actually rejuvinated the character.

Wahhh, don't go away guys! We finally have things to discuss! ;)
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by Ult_Sm86 »

Hey Lone Bamf, welcome back! And yeah, this is a super exciting time to be a Wagner fan!
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Re: Swashbuckler Soul - in the light of Orion

Post by sungila »

Claremont says "as a person of faith he has been through a series of experiences that one could argue totally validates that faith...how does that affect him?" and he adds that Kurt will have some personal post-resurrection trauma to work through, "I've already died once am I going to have to keep trying it again until I get it right?"

Love answers a lot of questions. Faith is a matter of the heart. Kurt's a romantic. Reborn, being even more mortal than before, discovering in that miracle of deep mortality the truth that the immortal is but a rekindling grace of life and life alone. He's got to fall in love...and defend that vitue...to validate LIFE...with his faith is set...now it's time to validate LIFE.

Claremont is a spiritual hero of mine. A metaphysical poet akin to Blake - a philosopher akin to Joesph Campbell... Kurt's always been a go to guy for him to expound and explore on what it means to be human, to experience life and to live it with passion. While many argue that desire and fire in the blood are THE major obstacles to living a life with compassion for all - there is also the swashbuckling path of the warrior of the heart...the Bodhisattva (the one who denies eternal freedom from personal suffering so that he/she may return and help others until there is no suffering left anywhere). That's my man Kurt. He's a Bodhisattva now.

Look at that beautiful blue Bohisattva go! Love those panel shots! Darkness surrounds & illuminations abound!
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