Layout:
1122
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5566
7788
Panel 1 - Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. A bishop stands in front of the altar in his best ceremonial robes, his hands outstretched over the prostrate novitiate on the marble steps before him. We can tell by the two-toed feet and blue prehensile pointed tail sticking out of the novitiate's plain white robe towards us that this new priest is NIGHTCRAWLER.
CAPTION (top of panel): I believe in God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth...
CAPTION (bottom of panel): And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord...
Panel 2 - P.O.V. looking up from inside a well, we see MYSTIQUE dropping the woven basket that holds a crying baby Kurt Wagner as it tumbles down toward us end over end.
CAPTION (top of panel): Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit...
CAPTION (bottom of panel): Born of the Virgin Mary...
Panel 3 - Young NIGHTCRAWLER running from the Bavarian villagers (a la his first appearance in Giant Size X-Men #1)
CAPTION (top of panel): Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, died and was buried...
CAPTION (bottom of panel): He descended into Hell...
Panel 4 - Close-up on a photo on a fireplace mantel: Professor X in his wheelchair, with NIGHTCRAWLER poised on the wheelchair arm. Both men are laughing in the picture, like they are sharing a hilarious private joke.
CAPTION (top of panel): On the third day he rose again...
CAPTION (bottom of panel): To be seated at the right hand of the Father...
Panel 5 - Action shot, NIGHTCRAWLER "bamf"-ing in, leading ANGEL (on the left) and PHOENIX (on the right) through explosions.
CAPTION (top of panel): He shall come to judge the quick and the dead...
CAPTION (bottom of panel): I believe in the Holy Spirit...
Panel 6 - Kurt's birthday (as shown by the cake towards the foreground. NIGHTCRAWLER (wearing a jeri-curled afro) and WOLVERINE (mask off) have their arms around each other's shoulders, laughing hysterically. Kurt is holding an unwrapped box with the ribbons hanging off. Inside the box is a leather wallet that resembles the one belonging to Jules in "Pulp Fiction" (available at http://www.amazon.com/Pulp-Fiction-BMF-Embroidered-Leather/dp/B0037BQVJI ); the leather stamping reads "B.A.M.F."
CAPTION (top of panel): The holy Catholic church...
CAPTION (bottom of panel): The communion of saints...
Panel 7 - NIGHTCRAWLER stands behind MYSTIQUE, who is on her knees, weeping over the side of a ship as she scatters Destiny's ashes at sea. His hand is on her shoulder. The sky is the pink orange of sunset.
CAPTION (top of panel): The forgiveness of sins...
CAPTION (bottom of panel): The resurrection of the body...
Panel 8 - Looking down at the kneeling NIGHTCRAWLER, now ordained into the priesthood, in the cathedral, his arms and open hands outstretched, his face upturned, his blue-impish face smiling beatifically heavenward.
CAPTION (top of panel): And life everlasting...
NIGHTCRAWLER: Amen.
A little bit of a packed page panel wise, but this was a nice overview of Nightcrawler as a character though the prism of his religion. Neat.
ReplyDeleteDan said what I was thinking: Packed, yes, but a great montage of Kurt's life via his religion.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images to go with perfectly picked captions to add new layers to them. A very god page sir.
ReplyDeleteYour panels and captions are so closely linked it hurts. Really good use of pre-existing text taking on new meaning through the juxtapositioning with interesting imagery. It really grabs you and doesn't let go.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Bonus points for working in the BAMF wallet joke. I really wanted to do the same but couldn't figure out how to manage it.
P.P.S. Nitpicking a bit here, but how would we know it's Destiny's ashes? Is there a visual cue that I'm not thinking of beyond the sadness on Mystique and Nightcrawler's parts?