CHRISTINE PALMER

Real Name: Christine Palmer, R.N.

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Nurse

Group Membership: Formerly the nurses of Metropolitan General Hospital

Affiliations: Linda Carter, Feur, Barney Franks, Betsy Greeley, Georgia Jenkins, Magik (Amanda Sefton/Jimaine Szardos), Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Edna Porter, Storm (Ororo Munroe), Dr. Jack Tryon, Seth Walker, Harold;
    formerly Derek Porter V, Dr. William Sutton;
    antagonistic relationship with Miss Brundage

Enemies: Dr. Louis Childs, Hive (Halphas), Pazuzu, Derek Porter

Known Relatives: Mr. Palmer (father), Mrs. Palmer (mother, apparently deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Metropolitan General Hospital, New York City;
    formerly St. Vincent's Hospital, New York City
    formerly Tucson, Arizona;
    formerly "an exclusive midwestern suburb"

First Appearance: Night Nurse#1 (November, 1972)

Powers/Abilities: Christine is a skilled nurse, and she is highly compassionate, willing to spend her off-time treating the people of her old neighborhood. She's also quite the Betty.

Height: 5'6"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Red

 

History:
(Night Nurse#1 (fb)) - The day she received her letter of acceptance to Metro General Hospital, Christine left her home in an exclusive midwestern suburb, and he father had told her that if she left home she could never come back. She vowed to make a new life without her father's money--and if nursing school was all she could afford, then that's what it would have to be.

(Night Nurse#1 (fb)) - Christine became roommates with two other student nurses, Linda Carter and Georgia Jenkins. The young women were initially highly judgmental and even semi-hostile to one another--a result of their different backgrounds.

(Night Nurse#1 (fb)) - Christine and her roommates were called to work on an emergency involving children who had been burnt. When they each realized that they valued their work and missed their families, they found common ground, and they were soon fast friends. They shared pizzas as well as fear of their supervisor, the size ten-shoed Miss Brundage.

(Night Nurse#1 (fb)) - Nearly three years later, Christine happily prepared for a night out with her visiting father. He told her that while he was proud that she was able to see her decision through, but he figured that she had had enough of nursing by now. He told her that if she came home after graduation he would give her anything: college, a trip to Europe, etc. Christine promised she would think about his offer, but that that was all she could promise him.
    The next night, Georgia realized that her brother Ben--who had become furious with power outages in their neighborhood--had teamed up with Rocky, intending to use the threat of bombing the hospital's generator to force the government to return power to them. Linda sent Christine to get the police or guards, while she and Georgia rushed to the generator. Ben ultimately turned against Rocky and was shot for it, though Rocky was arrested by police. As Ben recovered from surgery, Christine promised her that her father would get the best lawyer he could. Christine and Georgia later comforted Linda after she had broken up with her boyfriend, Marshall Michaels.

(Night Nurse#2 (fb)) - Georgia, Christine, and Linda graduated from nursing school. The three girls decided to continue living together.

(Night Nurse#2) - Christine was on night duty when Linda arrived with hit-and-run trauma-victim Betsy Greeley, daughter of the police commissioner. Both Linda and Christine assisted Dr. William Sutton in surgery, and both were impressed with Sutton's consummate skill. Sutton was equally impressed with Christine, offering her a job in training as his special assistant, and she accepted; Georgia remarked how interesting it was that Christine was taking a job in surgery, as she was usually "the girl who won't even slice celery."
    Christine was assigned to keep records of his supply requisitions, instrument counts, and schedules; to keep reports from the interns and residents who assisted Sutton; and to be his number one scrub nurse. After a surgery, Christine asked him why there were two more people assisting in surgery than hospital safety rules allowed, but he blew off the question, taking her out to dinner instead and whispering sweet-nothings in her ear. The following Saturday she met with her father, who again asked her to come home with him, telling her that if she didn't come home by Thanksgiving that she shouldn't come home at all.
    Christine asked Dr. Sutton about his large drug requisitions, but was distracted as he felt faint from a weekend of partying. She covered for him in the O.R. when he dropped a scalpel blade, and he told her that he drank to excess because he was lonely, and he convinced her to come to dinner with him. At dinner he convinced her--since nothing was too extravagant to save a patient--to redistribute his excessive prescriptions amongst his residents.
    Linda noticed that Christine was keeping false records of Dr. Sutton's drug supplies. She chastised Christine to no avail, as Christine believed that Dr. Sutton wouldn't do anything wrong. The new resident Dr. Jack Tryon told Linda that Sutton was taking credit for the work the residents did, and that there had been problems with the records books. Linda shared that Christine had been faking the records, and she and Jack resolved to get to the bottom of the situation.
    That night, Christine watched in horror--unable to stop him--as an intoxicated Dr. Sutton took her for a drive, nearly had a head-on collision, side-swiped a parked car, and then headed to surgery after answering a page about Betsy Greeley having taken a turn for the worse. She accompanied him to the O.R., futilely trying to stop him from going through with it, and she eventually ran out n mid-surgery, unable to stand his ineptness.
    Meanwhile, Linda and Jack had gone to confront Sutton. Upon finding that he was out, they decided to wait for him inside his townhouse (courtesy of his butler). Inside the townhouse they found large amounts of liquor, several bottles of drugs ordered with Jack's missing prescription pad, and finally an automobile repair bill, which showed that it was Dr. Sutton who had hit Betsy in the first place.
    Linda and Jack returned to her apartment to talk to Christine. After Christine received the call that Betsy had died intra-operatively, Linda told Christine the truth about the car accident. Christine rushed to get an explanation from Sutton, who pressured her to cover for him. Christine was called into his inquest, and ultimately she realized she couldn't lie for him any more, and so she exposed his actions. Sutton denied everything, until Linda threatened to reveal what she had found in his house, and he confessed to his crimes. Distraught, Christine rushed off.

(Night Nurse#4 (fb)) - Christine told Linda that she wouldn't go home, but that she couldn't stay there either.

(Night Nurse#3 - BTS) - Christine didn't return to the nurses' apartment. For unknown reasons, her father began inquiring about her, urgently and daily.

(Night Nurse#4 (fb)) - Christine headed to Boston to get away from and forget her problems, but all other cities and hospitals reminded her of the past.

(Night Nurse#4 (fb)) - Christine took a job as a private physiotherapist at Sea-Cliff Manor. As she headed over there, everyone in the nearby town refused to bring her to the Manor.

(Night Nurse#4) - Christine arrived at Sea-Cliff, and the butler Harold tried to drive her away, but Edna Porter heard Christine outside and made Harold let her in. Edna introduced Christine to her nephew, Derek, who would be Christine's patient. Derek protested, insisting that he was permanently paralyzed and that therapy was a waste of their money and hopes. Shown to her room by Harold, Christine noticed the blinking lighthouse light before going to sleep. When she mentioned the light to Edna, Harold was obviously started, while Edna told Christine that the lighthouse had been abandoned since World War II and that any lights she had seen must have been her imagination or the storm. A little later, Christine began physical therapy on Derek, who consented to his aunt's wishes and showed attraction to Christine. Christine tried in vain to cheer Derek up but a wheel on his wheelchair broke during a trip outside and he nearly tumbled off the cliff.
    That evening, Christine awoke to a broken shutter slamming in the wind, and she again glimpsed the lighthouse light. This time she also a figure out on the cliff, holding up a lantern, but the railing on the balcony snapped as she leaned against it and she barely managed to grab a pole to save herself. Christine found the succession of events odd and pointed them out to Edna, who dismissed them. Taking a walk outside, Christine found a pair of footprints--male and female--leading to the cliff. She shared her findings with Derek, who offered to meet her out there at midnight, allegedly to add some excitement to his life. Before going out, Christine tried to call Linda to get her opinion, but found the phones dead. Sinking back against the wall in surprise, Linda unwittingly activated a secret passage that led downstairs and out towards the sea-cliff, as well as a pair of muddy shoes left by the door. Linda then went out to meet Derek, realizing then that the shoes were a match of Derek's. Rising to his feet, Derek revealed that he had recovered from his paralysis months before and was sponging off his aunt while acting as the northeast connection for smuggling drugs into the country. Christine tried to flee, but Derek caught her hand, threatening to cast her over the cliff's edge. Just then Edna and Harold arrived, and Harold shoved the abandoned wheelchair at Derek, surprising him so that he let go of Christine before he fell over the edge. Christine comforted Edna as she admitted that she had known Derek was up to no good but had been trying to avoid facing it as he was the only family she had left.

(Nightcrawler III#1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Christine returned to Metro-General, working as a night nurse.

(Nightcrawler III#1 (fb) - BTS) - Christine met Ororo Munroe, the X-Man Storm.

(Nightcrawler III#1 (fb) - BTS) - Christine was on duty when 13 of 14 children in a special psychiatric ward were mysteriously torn apart (as demons emerged into the Earth dimension through their bodies). Seth Walker was the sole survivor.

(Nightcrawler III#1 (fb) - BTS) - Via Christine, Storm arranged for Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) to investigate the deaths. Dr. Louis Childs, the supervising physician in charge of the childrens' psychiatric ward, mistakenly assumed Nightcrawler to have been sent by the FBI, and he instructed Christine to cooperate with him.

(Nightcrawler III#1) - Christine served as Storm's contact, meeting with Kurt when he came to investigate the deaths. After introducing Kurt to Barney Franks, the night watchman who had been on duty the night of the deaths, Christine went looking for Dr. Louis Childs. She returned with him, and promised Childs that she would be with Nightcrawler when he met Seth. However, Seth was terrified by Kurt's appearance, and so Kurt teleported away, allowing Christine to comfort him.

(Nightcrawler III#2) - Christine approached  Nightcrawler, showing him that the bodies of all thirteen slain children had burnt to ashes within their individual airtight cabinets without a single alarm going off or anyone noticing.

(Nightcrawler III#3) - Christine found Nightcrawler, telling him that "Mrs. Walker" (actually a woman possessed by the thirteen demons who had recently arrived on Earth) was attacking Dr. Childs.

(Nightcrawler III#4) - Christine informed Nightcrawler that Dr. Childs had taken Seth Walker and had left the hospital.
    She later assisted Magik, bringing Seth's fourteen clay statues so that Magik could bind Pazuzu and the other demons within them.

(Nightcrawler III#4 - BTS) - Christine transferred to St. Vincent's hospital.

(Nightcrawler III#5) - Christine accompanied Kurt--and Wolverine & Storm so it wouldn't seem like a date--to see Phantom of the Opera. She accompanied the X-Men as they investigated a runaway subway train, hoping to help treat the conductor if he were injured. When they found the conductor, Christine pronounced him dead.
    Later, she made it clear that she liked Kurt, but he told her than they needed to be just friends. She told him that they didn't have to love one another, that if they just liked each other that would be ok for right now. The conversation was interrupted by a call from Storm--whom Kurt had feelings for--informing him of further subway problems that he needed to investigate.

(Nightcrawler III#6) - After Kurt had gotten recognition for the people who had died during the construction of New York's subways some 100 years before, their ghosts stopped assaulting people traveling through the subways. Christine told him he should be proud of what he'd accomplished. He told her she was a good friend, and she resignedly replied that if that were really all she wanted her to be, that she would be ok with that.

(Nightcrawler III#7) - Christine was present at the X-Mansion, helping to treat Kurt while he was having nightmarish delusions after being assaulted by Vermin.

(Nightcrawler III#8) - Christine accompanied Kurt and Wolverine to Bavaria, Germany, to investigate Kurt's past. She awoke near morning to find that Kurt had been up all night, recalling past memories of his youth. They eventually arrived at the Jahrmarkt and found it in flames.

(Nightcrawler III#9) - Christine, Kurt, and Wolverine searched the devastated circus, finding the fire-eater Feur still alive, though wounded. Feur told them that this circus folk had been torn apart by creatures looking for a sword, and that the creatures had then headed towards Florida, so Nightcrawler led Christine and Wolverine to the Florida swamps-based circus in which he had formerly been enslaved by Amos Jardine.

(Nightcrawler III#10) - Christine and Wolverine arrived at the circus while Nightcrawler was fighting the likes of the Man-Thing, "Gator" Grant, Carrion, and others (including some reanimated dead) secretly under the control of the demon Hive. Christine rushed to care for a woman whose life force had been sapped by Carrion. Magik (Jimaine Szardos/Amanda Sefton), Margali Szardos, and Nightmare then arrived, and Nightmare sent all of the attackers into a slumber. After Margali revealed the Soulsword by pulling it from within Nightcrawler, Jardine spewed forth a swarm of flies, including Hive, and Hive possessed Wolverine, causing him to skewer Christine with his claws.

(Nightcrawler III#11) - Magik slowed Christine's heart while simultaneously closing her wounds, regenerating lost tissue, and replacing lost blood.

(Nightcrawler III#12) - Christine was present at the X-Mansion for Kurt's surprise birthday party. Like the rest of the guests, Christine was temporarily frozen in time by the demon-lord Mephisto, who attempted futilely to convince Nightcrawler to not play a part in the coming demon war.
    Later, Kurt began to tell Christine that he was re-thinking their relationship, but she stopped him, telling him that she was going back to Tucscon, Arizona, where she could be with her mom and get her old job back. She commented that she had almost died enough times that she realized she needed to leave New York. Kurt gave her a warm parting kiss, telling her that their story wasn't over, not by a long shot.

(Four#28) - Still at Metro, Christine informed Reed Richards of the imminent death of Martin Simms, a dying man to whom Reed had promised to be there when his final time came.

Comments: Created by Jean Thomas and Winslow Mortimer.

Night Nurse lasted four issues, but #4 only had Christine Palmer--who was BTS in #3--in it.

Christine Palmer has since shown up in Nightcrawler, and it is POSSIBLE that Linda Carter (or her predecessor "Linda Carter, Student Nurse") might be the Night Nurse in recent Daredevil issues. I haven't seen Georgia, though.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

images: (without ads)
Night Nurse#1, p2, panel 6 (classic face)
        p10, panel 1 (full body)
    #4 cover
Nightcrawler III#1, p7, panel 1 (modern image)
        #4, p11 (not including title page), panel 6 (modern face)

Night Nurse#2 (January, 1973) - by Jean Thomas (writer), Winslow Mortimer (pencils), Roy Thomas (editor)
Night Nurse#3 (March, 1973) - by Jean Thomas (writer), Winslow Mortimer (pencils), Roy Thomas (editor)
Night Nurse#4 (May, 1973) - by Jean Thomas & Linda Fite (writer), Winslow Mortimer (pencils), Roy Thomas (editor)
Nightcrawler III#1-2 (November-December, 2004) - by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Darick Robertson (penciler), Wayne Faucher (inker), Mike Marts (editor)
Nightcrawler III#3-6 (January-April, 2005) - by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Darick Robertson (penciler), Wayne Faucher (inker), Mike Marts (editor)
Nightcrawler III#7-8 (August-September, 2005) - by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Darick Robertson (penciler), Jimmy Palmiotti (inker), Mike Marts (editor)
Nightcrawler III#9 (October, 2005) - by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Darick Robertson (penciler), Jimmy Palmiotti & Rodney Ramos & Scott Koblish (inker), Mike Marts (editor)
Nightcrawler III#10-11 (November, 2005) - by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Darick Robertson (penciler), Rodney Ramos (inker), Mike Marts (editor)
Nightcrawler III#12 (January, 2006) - by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Darick Robertson (penciler), Rodney Ramos (inker), Mike Marts (editor)
Four#28 (May, 2006) - by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (writer), Mizuki Sakakibara (artist), Warren Simons (editor)

First Posted: 02/23/2006
Last updated: 11/13/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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