Nightcrawler #3
Claremont, Nauck, Rosenberg
SPOILER ALERT!
I will most certainly be SPOILING!
Last issue ended with Trimega showing his hand and attacking Nightcrawler while he reminisced with his former circus troupe. That fight, much like his first attack back in Amanda’s apartment, is completely one sided. Kurt once more uses his teleportation to hit Trimega from every angle, but a single punch from a strange source puts him on the ground stunned. The Tri in Trimega makes itself apparent as the robot steps into three separate forms of himself. Each Mega controls a different element and easily outclasses everyone under the big top. Everyone, that is, but Margali. With a massive spell, she banishes Trimega from the tent and ends the fight.
Kurt, Amanda, and their one time mother all aim to go to the Jean Gray school and leave the circus troop to live their lives happily outside the violence of the X-Men. A swift teleport later, and Nightcrawler finds himself facing down an angry Storm. Apparently, she is against the idea of allowing Margali into the school. This leads to a relatively intense argument between the two groups with a large portion of it hinging on the fact that Nightcrawler has missed so much.
Kurt finds himself contemplating, yet again, what it is that brought him here from heaven, and what it means. If not for Wolverine, he may have sat there forever. But the elf’s best friend shows up sporting some brews and same simple, sage-like advice.
“Fact is, you’re here. Question is, what’re you gonna do about it?”
While this is happening, Amanda is submitting to a telepathic scan of her mind to prove she isn’t some kind of threat. She ambushes the two X-Men dealing with her and dashes into the halls of the school. Apparently, she is trying to stop something.
That something could be the inevitable betrayal by Margali. She also ambushes the two X-Men keeping an eye on her, but they are much higher caliber than the two Amanda dealt with. Both Beast and Storm are attacked by and then turned into paper. Margali then plucks the information she wants off of them, not unlike tearing a page out of a book.
Or perhaps the something that Amanda is rushing to stop is the cause of the alarm that has set the school abuzz. All of the children question if it is a drill, but all of the X-Men assemble to deal with the larger threat that is intruding upon the grounds. Dozens of the Trimega robots are attacking the school, demanding their surrender. Whatever this is, Amanda seems to think this is the climax, despite the reader having no idea what exactly she is talking about. The X-Men turn towards the fight, preparing to fight a truly formidable army.
This issue was pretty interesting, but it had a kind of piece meal feel to it. First of all, the circus folk stepping out seemed a little hands off for friends of the elf. The Trimega makes sense, until the very end. Are they mass-produced like sentinels? Are the mutants just in the way, or are they a different set of targets? Finally, the dual double crosses were interesting, but in the midst of the Trimega attack, what purpose did they serve? I’m going to keep reading to find the answers to these questions, but I hope the story raises the bar at least a little.
My rating: 3.5 / 5
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