Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men annual #4
Cover Date: 1980
Title: "Nightcrawler's inferno"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
John Romita Jr. - Penciler
Bob McLeod - Inker

Review/plot:
This one's kind of bizarre. Nightcrawler's had a girlfriend, Amanda Sefton, since Uncanny X-Men #98. This issue we find out that the girl is a) secretly his step-sister and b) actually the sorcerous daughter of a demonic witch queen. Whaaaaat?

Nightcrawler's backstory is one of the better examples of the hysteria that mutants have faced. He looked like a demon and was feared and mistrusted because of it. Throwing actual demons into his backstory complicates matters and gives the ignorant villagers a legitimate reason for their actions. And it's actually worse than that. Instead of Nightcrawler just being chased by villagers because of his looks, it turns out that Nightcrawler wound up killing his step-brother Stefan, who turned evil...

...and the villagers saw Nightcrawler carrying his body, and therefore the real reason they wound up chasing him is because they thought he was a murderer.

Dr. Strange joins the X-Men in this story...

...and helps them navigate through a phony version of Dante's Inferno to help Amanda, Nightcrawler, and their mother work through a past misunderstanding.

This isn't exactly a top quality issue. It's not horrible, but it's a bit throwaway despite JRJR's nice art...

...and it's a bit damaging to Nightcrawler's character and the X-Men's focus on the mutant theme, in my opinion.

Well, it's not entirely throwaway. Claremont uses this issue to officially welcome Kitty Pryde as a member of the team.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - reveals that Amanda Sefton is a sorceress.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Wolverine is still wearing his yellow and blue costume, placing this before Uncanny X-Men #139.

References:

• The X-Men wonder how Scott, who left the team in Uncanny X-Men #138, is doing.
  
• Dr. Strange recognizes the phoniness of the hell dimension because he's been to the real hell in Doctor Strange #16.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Huh, shouldn't this take place before X-Men 139?

Can you say why you think so?

I'm traveling right now and can't check but i thought this was a standalone issue with no dependencies.

I think he means that Wolverine is wearing his yellow costume in this issue but he starts wearing his brown costume in Uncanny X-Men 139, so this has to take place before issue 139.

Thanks Chaim and Michael. I've moved this back a bit to account for Wolverine's costume.

I also see that i'm out of sync with the MCP on Dr. Strange's appearance, but i think his guest appearances here, Cap #250, and ASM annual #14 should be able to fit in any gap in his book and the Defenders.

I never got the double fake-out: Margali built the fake Hell, but Amanda sent them all there, posing as Margali, in order to show Margali that Nightcrawler wasn't a bad guy. It seemed like an incredibly roundabout and risky approach.

I love how, in the Marvel Universe, Dante Alighieri ACTUALLY went to Hell. I feel like that should be an issue of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The real disappointment is, if you told me today that JRJr was going to do a giant-size story comic of the X-Men in Hell, I would expect something really awesome. This was really tame and basically looked nothing like him except for the faces on Minos and Margali. I can understand why Claremont was never enamoured of JRJr on the title. How much better a job would he have done if it was after his run on Daredevil, what with the Dire-Wraith-looking Mephisto!

I was also disappointed how this story thoroughly undermined the mutant panic thing in his original appearance. Originally, he's just misunderstood, and everyone hates him because he's different! Now they were after him because he snapped his brother's neck.

A lot of Claremont's little reveals in this Annual were rather contrived too, such as when Nightcrawler falls unconscious, Storm is like, "hey, when I was a kid, I learned how to disable burglar alarms! That means I can totally figure out this bleeding-edge medical scanning technology (that probably has alien components) without a sweat!"

Given revelations over recent years (that Mein Gott they used in First Class), my favourite part of this story though is when Doctor Strange determines that Nightcrawler is not even part-demon. If the Eye of Agamotto has spoken, that's that. And Claremont was writing Dr. Strange at the time, so it's totally legit!

The greatest thing in this comic though is the letters column and all the Dark Phoenix overflow.

The "Dante actually went to Hell" idea is potentially in conflict with the other fake Inferno introduced in Ka-Zar the Savage, since in that series Dante is actually a part of Belasco's origin. Did he see the fake one first and then go to Hell, or vice versa, or what? Maybe we do need Hickman to sort it all out in SHIELD.

I think Hickman missed a major opportunity when he introduced Isaac Newton and Morga's child, Leonid, by not revealing Newton as Phaeder given he and Morga were the parents of the Cosmic Assassin, Maelstrom.

Klaus Janson was the originally announced inker for this.

We never did discover a back story for Margali Szardos but I think I've finally determined Claremont's real intent (which thankfully wipes out my previous theory of Magda becoming Mystique which I was never comfortable with:). Her names are telling to what Claremont may have intended though.

Claremont undoubtedly took the name Margali from Marion Zimmer Bradley's books The Shattered Chain & Thendara House, where one of the main characters is named Margali, just like he had taken the name "Sharra".

I'll get back to the significance of this further down, but first...

As for Szardos, the only etymological connection to this name comes from the 1974 science fantasy film, Zardoz, named after the eponymous god head that is revealed to mean "Wizard of Oz" due to it being a skillful manipulator rather than an actual deity.

I'd therefore suggest Claremont used this as a surname for Margali to imply she was masking her true identity.

Now back to the significance of the name Margali.

In the abovementioned The Shattered Chain, Margali is a derivative of Magdalen, with the book's character Magda Lorne also being referred to as Margali n'ha Ysabet (the Darkovan name from her mother).

So does this suggest Margali was the name Magda, Magneto's wife, took to ensure he never found her?

Did she go back to Germany... but the main thing is to have her somewhere where Magnus would not find her. He searched very intently for a few years at least, before eventually giving up and assuming she was dead. Did she keep a low profile by joining a travelling circus, since she wouldn't stay in one place for long?

I read this as a back issue a couple of years after it came out. To the 12 year old me it was very heavy and "literary" and important. Made comics seem "legitimate" to me...if that makes sense.

It even convinced the 14 year old me to try and read Dante...

Nathan, can't we just ask Claremont what he intended? He used Margali even in his Ff so clearly he likes her. The Magda idea is both intriguing and weird. Magneto would be Kurt's uncle kinda? ☺

@PeterA: I've tried. His wife Beth advises that he can't speak directly to previous abandoned plots due to being under exclusive contract with Marvel:(

Interesting about Margali being Magda. However, I'm of the mind that Magda, while she did change her name to hide from Magneto, changed it to Natalya, the Scarlet Witch's retconned mother, first seen recently in SCARLET WITCH #4. I think Magda is the daughter of Django and Marya Maximoff, an unseen daughter never revealed by Django. I mean, look how similar the names Marya and Magda are. And this would explain why Magda looks exactly like Wanda, who looks exactly like Natalya, who looks exactly like Magda. This would preserve Wanda's origina, at least in regards to her mother. So far, her real father remains unrevealed. Natalya mentioned him, but didn't call him by name.

...I just read Uncanny X-men 100-150 (circa), and have zero recollection of this Amanda Sefton.

I will have to go back using your character tracking and make sure she is actually there. I can't remember her at all.

You're not going to find more than offhand mentions and cameo appearances; her most substantial appearance to this point was in Marvel Team-Up #89, and near as I can tell from fnord's recaps her most substantial mention in the Uncanny series to this point was actually in #109, where she didn't actually appear (though #123-4, where she's kidnapped as part of Arcade's plot, might also count). I think this is the earliest in fnord's project that he actually has a scan that mentions her last name.

You are exactly right.

I never got comfortable with Nightcrawler sleeping with his step sister.
Glad they had the common sense of moving on and forgetting this whole thing.

Not to bring up weird subjects, but don't you think then neophyte artist JRjr was an interesting choice of artist? @Nathan, I believe he may have been a victim of sexual abuse. I say this only because of the recent revelations regarding Hollywood and the likes of Harvey Weinstein and his ilk.

There's an interesting Brian Cronin article that suggests this is the first time we get a hint that Wolverine is substantially older than he looks. Wolverine's thought bubbles reference the winter in Monte Cassino, Italy. This was a battle between Allied forces (including Canadian soldiers) and the Italians near Monte Cassino in the winter of 1944/1945, which as of the time this was published would have made Logan at least in his mid-50s.