Inherently and individually, Claremont & John Bolton’s “Classic X-Men” vignettes often contemplate the art of storytelling. In “The Gift” from CXM #9, Nightcrawler, a fantastic being & performer with a deep love for popular stories, is an ideal conduit for this theme. 1/13 #XMen
The story opens in a New York hospital, where the X-Men await news of Jean Grey, hovering between life & death after saving the team. The team’s naturalistic poses, rendered impeccably by Bolton, emphasize their close, complex bonds. But Kurt chooses to stand apart. 2/13
Kurt is also forced to stand apart; sharing the vigil means using an “image inducer” to hide his true appearance. Yet Kurt doesn’t adopt a generic face; instead, he resembles Errol Flynn. Hence, he’s not simply hiding; he’s performing a specific glamorous identity. 3/13
Yet Kurt’s melancholy reflection affirms his inescapable difference; he sees through his own glamour. But his difference also informs his empathy. This manifests in Kurt teleporting to the street to help a lonely, despondent boy no one else seems to see. 4/13
A cop’s intrusion highlights the risk Nightcrawler takes trying to help the boy. Kurt faces the constant threat of being outed; his true appearance has often inspired violence. He is also a man with a foreign accent in an alley at night with someone else's child. 5/11
The cop leaves, and Kurt does all the responsible, logical things in an effort to help Daniel. He asks about his parents, buys him food, and listens. But Kurt’s generic words & glamorous face fail to earn Daniel’s trust; he reveals he’s been sick, but refuses to say more. 6/11
Kurt finally connects with Daniel by revealing glimpses of his real self, in the form of gifts extending from his mutant body. He makes Daniel smile by walking effortlessly on his hands then teleports to stop him running into Central Park, initiating a game of tag. 7/11
Then, Kurt teaches Daniel to juggle. It’s a lengthy sequence, which can feel jarring between the weighty emotions & life-and-death stakes that bracket it. But the sequence is lengthy for a reason—because it’s where Claremont signposts this as a story about storytelling. 8/11
Juggling is deeply symbolic. Idiomatically, it’s often linked to managing responsibilities. It’s also sleight of hand; the illusion of weightlessness & perpetual motion makes mundane objects magical. Kurt is teaching Daniel the art of performance—and creation. 9/11
“Magic isn’t a matter of power,” says Kurt. “It’s the creation of a state of mind that becomes a state of being. So convincing... a game of ‘let’s pretend’ that the audience willingly, eagerly believes your illusions are real.” Thus, performers are artists & vice versa 10/11
Kurt’s decision to show Daniel his true form reminds us truth matters; chosen illusions are different from forced ones. But Daniel’s eager acceptance also suggests the ways fantasy can foster truth; empathy requires imagination and being open to new ways of seeing. 11/13
The twist—that Daniel may be a ghost—could undercut the character building, reframing it as a dream. Yet it also reinforces Kurt’s outsider empathy; this liminal monster-hero who routinely teleports through another dimension can perceive things others can’t. 12/13
Moreover, revealing Daniel’s liminal status can bolster the thematic bond between Kurt & Daniel, further emphasizing the transformative power of art & performance. Daniel, like Kurt, both is & isn’t what he seems. And Kurt, like Daniel, becomes real through our love. 13/13
Today's thread written by Dr. Anna Peppard (@peppard_anna) who is currently doing a Kurt-themed 100% charity project with a limited run of "BAMF" shirts:
As a collaborative medium, comics are sometimes denigrated for their committee approach to character-building, but a closer look at the 'committee' behind Wolverine shows how a character like Logan offers a multifaceted connection to creative genius. #xmen #wolverine 1/10
As noted by Marvel historian Sean Howe, Wolverine was first “named and conceived by Roy Thomas, who detected a need to exploit the Canadian market” before being “developed further by Len Wein and John Romita” ahead of Logan’s debut in “The Incredible Hulk.” 2/10
Throw in Claremont, and the pedigree is quite impressive already. Thomas is perhaps best known as the greatest writer of Conan comics, a character that later artists would draw from quite directly in their interpretations of Wolverine. 3/10
In UXM #220, Claremont takes a moment away from a chaotic era to touch back upon the longstanding, well-evolved relationship between Storm and Wolverine, giving readers another character-revealing scene between this iconic X-Men duo. #xmen #wolverine #storm 1/9
The scene initiates a journey of self-discovery for Ororo, one of many throughout the series but this one will specifically create the rising action for the “Fall of the Mutants’’ event. She has to go alone, but someone has to lead the X-Men in her absence. She recruits Logan 2/9
The power dynamic is foreshadowed in the simple fact that Wolverine (an archetypal hunter) has literally scaled the highest mountain to be alone, but it doesn’t matter. Even without her powers, Ororo has tracked him down. 3/9
In an introductory essay penned in 1980, John Byrne recounts his personal perspective on Jean Grey and her transformation to Phoenix. His candid account paints a less grandiose view on the cultivation of the character within the series than we normally hear. #xmen #JeanGrey 1/7
“I’ve never liked Phoenix. There, I said it...It’s not that I don’t like Jean Grey. I have an abiding fondness for readheads, and have been in love with Jean since we first ‘met,’ about a millions years ago when I was 13.” 2/7
“Granted that her power were not nearly as spectacular as Cyclops’, or Angel’s, or even Iceman’s, but she looked real good in a tight uniform and could – and did – serve to get the X-Men out of tight places.” 3/7
Placing Kitty Pryde into the position of viewpoint character has to represent one of the most groundbreaking decisions within the entirety of the Claremont run – a move that ultimately impacted the series, comics as a whole, and even Western media in powerful ways. #xmen 1/10
The Claremont run begins with Cyclops as the main viewpoint character. Kitty joins the team right at his departure and soon enough takes over as a main viewpoint character for the rest of her tenure, as reflected in our data (noting that Kitty’s only on for 70ish issues). 2/10
At the time of her arrival, Claremont had already executed a turn toward more adult-oriented stories (something that becomes even more pronounced after the death of an X-Man in DPS). It’s therefore perhaps odd to bring on a teen protagonist. 3/10
Sharon Kelly is introduced to the readers in UXM #246 and is all-but killed in that same issue. She’s a character whose entire life and especially death exist in service to the plot, but, in spite of that, Claremont gives her story complexity, contradiction, and pathos. #xmen 1/9
We are first introduced to Sharon as she arrives at the Hellfire Club during a meeting between her husband (Senator Robert Kelly) and Sebastian Shaw. It’s revealed that Sharon was a Hellfire Club servant before marrying the senator. 2/9
Her brief interaction with her former colleagues showcases the kind of class exploration that one would see in a Bronte novel or, more recently, Downton Abbey. Hers is a story of rare class mobility and the perspective that comes with seeing both sides of the class divide. 3/9
In UXM #251, Wolverine is crucified by the Reavers and falls into a pair of fever dreams as a result. Claremont being Claremont, the dream sequences that unfold are not random, instead illuminating Logan’s character. Today we’ll talk about the first dream. #xmen #wolverine 1/14
Silvestri’s now iconic cover sets the tone with an homage to Buscema’s work from the 1970s Savage Sword of Conan, presumably, in illustration of a very famous scene from the Conan mythology, first published in 1934 in “A Witch Shall Be Born.” 2/14
Like Conan in that scene, Wolverine is left exposed to the desert climate as a form of torture. In the midst of his suffering from dehydration and exposure, Logan falls into hallucinatory dreaming. 3/14