Nightscrawlers

So up until a few weeks ago, I've been in the dark to the whole Marvel thing. (I've been a DC person vaguely since 08 and before that I was into anime and Pokemon games...)
I watched through X-Men: Evolution, got hooked on the team, and fell in love with the fuzzy blue guy.

I've always liked Nightcrawler, I just never really bothered to learn anything about him up until I saw him in action in the cartoon (and now I'm a little more than hopelessly obsessed with the character---not just the cartoon version, either.)

Anyways, as you can imagine, stepping into a franchise as big as X-Men is kind of intimidating, just by the sheer amount of how many comic books there are (and how expensive one little issue is. Well, I think it's expensive, anyways.)

But I want to be a part of it--I just...have no clue how to jump into it. Whenever I step into the Source or any other comic book store I'm really just wandering around and looking at issues that are pretty much in mid-storyline, and I find the descriptions of passed events in the beginning rather vague and unhelpful (I got an issue of X-Men Forever from Free Comic Book Day earlier this year and was totally confused as to why Storm was evil and Logan was dead.)

And as fun as reading Wikipedia for hours is, I would much rather read the comics.


Somebody on another site suggested at the Draco but...
It's the Draco. I'd rather keep Azazel as the Russian lackey in my mind than some mutant pretending to be a demon who is apparently Kurt's father. I still want to read the Draco, just so I know what I'm disliking before I dislike it, but I definitely don't want to start out with that.


So, guys, where should I start? What's a good starting point so I can get what's going on, and understand the main storyline characters? (Not totally interested in AUs at the moment but if Darkholme is the new 'Crawler I suppose I should probably read those too?)


tl;dr help me not be ignorant please ;-;

I would suggest starting with the old Excalibur series from the 80s to early 90s. It's fun, stands somewhat independent from the other series at the time and Kurt was the leader of the team. A lot of us here fell for him in that series.

Bonus also is you can often find single issues dirt cheap and I believe there are now trades as well.

Good luck and welcome!

I was going to say back issues as well. Most of the highlights of Chris Claremont's first run is available in volumes like Essential X-Men vol. 1 and in Marvel Masterworks.

I have the first few collections of B&W Essential X-Men, which follows the X-Men from Giant Sized #1, the first appearance of Nightcrawler. Has alot of great early character development... High recommendation from me...

If you want something modern and quite different, get Uncanny X-Force. A slightly darker version of Nightcrawler joins Wolverine, Psylocke, Deadpool, Deathlok, and Fantomex on December 21. Don't worry about not knowing about some of these characters... they are somewhat explained in the comic. Great books... Try em out...

Everything said above plus this:


Nightcrawler in X-Men 2 is cool, but that's not the most ideal version of the character. The self-inflicted religious scarring was a bit scary. I would (also) highly suggest a peek at the old Excalibur issues. You can start in the 80's, but if you're just getting into the comics now, you are (I'm assuming?) probably a bit young and might find yourself bored. If not, great, if you do, start later. The early 90's stuff is just as good. (Apologies for the assumption if it is incorrect).


As Bob said, Kurt Darkholme will be stepping in for Kurt Wagner in the X-Men, starting well... Today. Actually.


Kurt Darkholme/Nightcrawler, is from an Alternate Timeline. You're a DC fan? Think Power Girl or Wally West sorta. He's still in the canon universe because the Apocalypse storyline (from the early 90's, a great series and I would suggest all of it)-- is based on the idea of what happens if Xavier is assassinated and Mutants Take over. Magneto runs the X-Men and the whole story is just backwards and fun. (That's a very brief summary, mind you).

Darkholme got his start in the AoA (Age of Apocalypse) story as part of X-Calibre, a play on words of the canon-team name, Excalibur.
I would highly suggest starting here as well being this is the character being introduced into the series now, but thankfully you're not forced to start there. Remender is a fantastic writer and he should handle the character well and delicately enough that as a new reader, you shouldn't feel left in the dust.

Like the others, I welcome you to the boards!
I'm Ult_SM (Ultimate Spider-Man), otherwise known as Bamfman in the Chatrooms. I'll extend the invite to join us in chat some time, we're a great bunch! If not, looking forward to seeing you on the boards! HAPPY COMIC READING!


(P.S. --

Somebody on another site suggested at the Draco but...
It's the Draco. I'd rather keep Azazel as the Russian lackey in my mind than some mutant pretending to be a demon who is apparently Kurt's father. I still want to read the Draco, just so I know what I'm disliking before I dislike it, but I definitely don't want to start out with that.

Good call. Chuck Austen... we don't talk about him much here, the same way DC doesn't like to bring him up in the same breath as Superman. :blech :yuk )

[Edited on 1/12/11 by Ult_Sm86]

Thanks guys! I'll have to check these out next time I'm in a store! (Which, I hope, is soon. @-@)

I've lurked on the boards a bit in a couple of threads so I kind of get the gist of Kurt Darkholme and the whole popping into 616 but the "how" still kind of confuses me. I don't really have an opinion on the character yet since I've seen him in action but it still feels weird, with Kurt being dead and all (how do the other X-Men react?)
But anyways maybe for once I'll actually keep up with comic books coming out. xD

Thanks for the welcome, guys! Hopefully I'll be a little active but with school and holidays and all I can't get on as frequently this month.

All the suggestions above are great. I'd add Classic X-Men to the list. I couldn't afford the original comics from the mid 70's to the early 80's, but these are a little newer and also have some wonderfully fun added stories in the back. These are from the early days of the "second team" when Nightcrawler, Storm and others were introduced to Uncanny. They really are some of the best Uncanny stories imho, before the mutant world grew so large. I got almost the entire set in one lot on ebay.

[Edited on 12/2/11 by Indigo_Lady]

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll check them out! :3

(how do the other X-Men react?)

There's actually an Issue of Wolverine by Jason Aaron that discusses just that, and it's one of the more beautifully written Kurt pieces. Very well handled.

Most of the characters reacted poorly. The funeral scene was appropriate, no one was out of character. Emma was a cold bitch, Beast lamented having a friend who was also visibly mutated to relate to. Cyclops missed an ally in the X-Men as well as a fellow leader. Storm missed the always relatable, always reliable, spiritual and confidently positive person that Kurt was.

All-in-all, everyone reacted to Kurt's death quite the way you would expect, but they (unsurprisingly) recovered quickly. It is a comic, can't dwell on something for too long, y'know?

When Grant Morrisson returned to X-Men in the early 2000's (mid 2000's? 6-7?) he had a run on Uncanny X-Men where Rachel, Psylocke, Cannonball, Kurt, and a couple of others were all featured on the team. It was fun but it wasn't amazing.

You can also try UncannyX-men.net.
They have a lot of info on the major characters, and they have synopsis of most of the Xmen back issues. It's a good place to go if someone recommends an issue that you can't find immediately.

Thanks, Jeremus!

And yeah, it seems they don't really give much time to have grief in comics lol. World needs saving and the plot needs to keep rolling, I guess.

As for comics to learn about our dear dead Kurt, I can't offer anything better than what's already been mentioned. If you're interested in jumping onto the X-titles now to experience his AU counterpart, the "Dark Angel Saga" in X-Force is where he's introduced to the team. The last issue of that will be coming out soon. It's hard to tell if he'll be restricted to that title or if he'll make appearances in Wolverine and The X-Men and/or X-Men: Legacy. X-Factor, while on the same side, usually operates fairly independently and doesn't get many guest appearances from other X-folk.

If you want to get a better idea of the current broader story, the Schism mini (not the Prelude mini) and Regenesis one-shot might be worth checking out. For starting individual titles, the first issue marked with the Regenesis banner--nothing is currently more than 2 issues in--should make a decent jumping-on point.

Thank you! (Wow American comics can get really confusing. So many titles to follow. @-@)