Issue(s): Nightcrawler #1, Nightcrawler #2, Nightcrawler #3, Nightcrawler #4
Cover Date: Nov 85 - Feb 86
Title: "How much is that Boggie in the window?" / "A Boggie Day in L'Un Dun-T'Wn" / "To Bamf or not to Bamf!" / "The Wizard of Oops!"
Credits:
Dave Cockrum - Writer
Dave Cockrum - Penciler
Dave Cockrum / Josef Rubinstein - Inker
Ann Nocenti - Editor

Review/plot:
Dave Cockrum returns to one of his favorite characters with a mini-series that he not only draws and mostly inks, but also writes, which was very rare for Cockrum (according to the UHOMCC, the only other things he wrote for Marvel were an out-of-continuity Graphic Novel and a Dr. Doom story for Marvel Comics Presents). His wife Paty was the colorist for this series.

It's a whimsical, silly, fun story that has Nightcrawler and Lockheed romping across some alternate dimensions, meeting two alien races based on him. The Boggies...

..and the Bamfs.

And then there's Dark Bamf.

And Lady Bamfs (probably a candidate for the Bureau Chief's "This is a fetish for someone").

The Bamfs (regular variety) appeared previously, in the Kitty's Fairy Tale issue of the X-Men. Nightcrawler meets other characters from that Fairy Tale as well.

He also encounters some pirates that sure look to me like they're Raza Longknife's people.

Also, also, a reject from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

The Shark-wizard's god is called "Cthuma-Gorath", a cool blending of the real and Marvel versions of the Lovecraftian character. His statue looks like a Shogun Warrior, though.

Finally, the series' break-out character, Cretacious Sam (sic).

The impetus for this story is a Danger Room session gone wrong. Kitty Pryde tries to generate the Well at the Center of Time from an earlier Nightcrawler solo story from Bizarre Adventures (also drawn by Cockrum), but instead of a replica it turns out to be the real deal, and it sucks Nightcrawler and Lockheed into the alternate worlds.

Kitty and Illyana Rasputin spend the series trying to bring Nightcrawler back.

The adventure lasts over a week for Nightcrawler and Lockheed but "a few days" for Kitty and Illyana.

Inconsequential but cute. Cockrum's art is good for the weird stuff, but like with his second run on X-Men, his close-up faces of real people are a little scary.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this after Uncanny X-Men #194. All we need is for Kitty, Magik, and Nightcrawler to be available.

References:

• Nightcrawler first encountered the "Well at the Center of Time" in Bizarre Adventures #27. And that story was a follow-up to when the Vanisher got stuck in a half-teleported state by Darkstar in Champions #17.
  
• Kitty's Fairy Tale was told in Uncanny X-Men #153.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

"Also, also, a reject from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon."

Hey, is he related to Armaggon? Bwahahahaha... Don't look at me like that, it's funny to somebody.

This series was first announced around October 1982.

Could the "shogun warrior" god be the same one Cockrum drew D'Ken pointing to in Uncanny X-Men #104 that I previously highlighted?

Could this be suggesting that D'Ken worshipped Cthuma-Gorath;)

I think you mean in UX #107.

They are different designs, and this one has four arms, so they aren't meant to be the same thing. I guess Cockrum just liked the pseudo-samurai imagery. Although if anyone wants to tie in the Shogun Warriors, the Shi'ar, and some Elder Gods, i'm all ears.

I wonder if the Boggles were based on Nightcrawler as he was originally conceived (somewhat sinister and with a dark sense of humor), with the Bamfs representing the watered down, light hearted version that had developed in X-MEN.

Page 5 of issue 3 says that it's been "a few days" since Nightcrawler vanished, so it isn't instantanious. It could still fit pretty much anywhere, but since Kitty is worried that Xavier is going to blame her for this and he never turns up, that hints that he may be absent. Illyana is the only New Mutant to appear, so perhaps this could take place while Xavier is still in Scotland recovering between New Mutants #31 and X-Men #196?

Not very important, but I thought I'd mention it. I also promise to stop trying to get you to move things to take place around X-men #196! It's just that I'm reading through 1985 comics at the moment (and your wonderful site is really useful!)

Thanks Benway. It seemed like it was instantaneous since Kitty and Illyana are wearing the same clothes in all the scenes they appear in. I hope they do some laundry now that this is all over.

I think we can come up with any number of reasons why Xavier might not have been around, so i'll stick with following the MCP on placement. I generally try to not move things unless they really can't fit where they are. Which isn't to say not to continue suggesting other ideas.

So there are now TWO different races of Bamfs?

I feel like the "few days" might be a error.
Issue 1 pg 11 says "Time flows at different rates from one dimension to another. To Kitty and Illyana, Kurt has only been gone a few moments. Kurt, however has been aboard the Tai Javinee for a week"

It seems to make more sense that Kitty and Illyana then were working get him back for MUCH less than a few days. Which would be in line with them staying in the same clothes.

Though maybe time moves differently for different dimensions and it just the first one where is the "weeks : moments" ratio.

Overall, reading this series for the first time just now, I didn't like it all. Not sure who the audience was for this book. Maybe it was marketed to younger audiences as the rest of the X-titles audiences were maturing.

Have to agree with Brian that the intended audience is a bit of a mystery. First off, giving it to Cockrum to write when as fnord notes he had almost no writing credits. Then add in that not only are the normal X-Men trappings mostly absent but so is any of the stuff unique to Nightcrawler (Margali and Amanda, Mystique, etc.) In contrast, Wolverine's series may have gotten him away from the X-Men, but it was completely centered around his relationship with Mariko, an existing character who Wolverine became engaged to by the end of the series. By placing this adventure "off-world" with no apparent effort being made to lay the groundwork for a series, it seems like it was just a case of Marvel figuring that a four-issue miniseries starring another popular X-Man that was drawn by Cockrum would be good for a certain level of sales. And to get Cockrum onboard, they allowed him to write the series as well.

A waste of a miniseries. Sure, let's not have Claremont delve into Kurt's backstory and his connection to Mystique as he hinted a lot back then.

It WAS planned to delve into Kurt's backstory starting in Uncanny 204- unfortunately that got scrapped for reasons that have never been fully explained.