Nightscrawlers

So yeah, as the title says, I've grown up with the cartoons, seen the movie adaptations (ah-hem), read MULTIPLE wikis, and even poked around internet for random comic pages here and there, but this is my first time saying; Yes. Marvel. Comics. OTHER than Deadpool, gunna read em'! But jumping into the Marvel universe as a virtual comic virgin is...intimidating to say the least.

I've noticed this community doesn't seem to be very active lately, but I'm convinced I can find no truer bluer Kurt Wagner fans than here. So, where should I jump in?

I've heard that the old school Excalibur comics were pretty definitive of Nightcrawler, and have started them, but starting off with Kitty [spoilers] mourning the loss of the X-Men as DEAD [/spoiler] I couldn't help but feel like I was missing out on some important stuff.

So yeah. Nightcrawler recs for a comic book virgin? (and should I continue with Excalibur after Vol 1?)

So, as a Nightcrawler fan, Excalibur is a great place to start. With a few exceptions, the last 50 issue are not very Nightcrawler- centric despite him being the team leader. Issue 16 is a great Nightcrawler spotlight, but really anything with Claremont or Davis on the creative team is good stuff... I also recommend anything by Dave Cockrum as he created the character and admits that Kurt was his favorite X-men member. You're pretty safe with any Uncanny X-Men issue prior to #160 or so, including X-Men Annual #4 which doesn't have a lot of Nightcrawler action, but provides great insight to his history. Lastly, Nightcrawler had 4 different solo series, two of which were minis. The second volume isn't great, but definitely check out the other three. Hope this helps and welcome to the forum!

P.S. I think its safe to say you don't need to call spoilers on comics from the eighties, but good looking out, nonetheless