Recently, I began rereading the Claremont run on Uncanny X-Men from the beginning and, besides falling in love with Storm all over again, I realized what a truly original and dynamic character Kurt Wagner was right from the start. He is the heart of the new team that Claremont created and his spirituality/sense of humor were a powerful mix immediately. For this week's Blog of X we are going to take a look back at this key X-Men character and the books you'll want to read or collect from his history in comics.
Early Appearances:
Obviously, we all know that Nightcrawler first appeared in comics in Giant Size X-Men #1, an X-Men grail book if ever there was one. This book introduced a new, culturally diverse X-Men team, and started the Claremont run that is the cornerstone of the modern X-Men universe. Along with Giant Size X-Men #1 I would include his second and third appearances in X-Men #94 and X-Men #95 as vital reading/collecting material.
Origin Story:
The backstory of Nightcrawler's parentage is a classic saga. The son of mutant villainess Mystique and the demon Azazel,
Kurt knew very little about them for most of his life. It wasn't until X-Men Unlimited #4 and Uncanny X-Men #428 that Kurt finally heard some of the truth surrounding his parents. These issues are significant keys in telling his story, as well as great reads if you love this character.
New Team:
Beyond being a vital part of the X-Men, Kurt was also a founding member of another team. It's hard to talk about Nightcrawler's history without mentioning his involvement with the Excalibur team. I would recommend fans give the original run of this series a shot since Nightcrawler plays a significant part and the series is quite fun. It's a lighter read compared to Uncanny X-Men, and the cast of characters (Kitty Pryde 'Shadowcat', Captain Britain, and Rachel Summers) are a real treat.
For all you key hunters, the team has a separate first appearance in Excalibur: Special Edition #1, so that's a fun minor key that you can add to your own hunt list. Plus this cover is bonkers crazy and I just love it!
Solo Series:
I am a big fan of the many different Marvel mini-series that came along in the mid-to-late 80s. In particular, I enjoyed the Nightcrawler 4 issue mini. It's very fun, funny, and full of swashbuckling adventures as Nightcrawler travels to a parallel dimension with pirates and treasure! Seeing our favorite elf swinging from the rigging aboard a ship with a sword in his hand was a real bit of good fun.
So there you have it! Those are some of my favorite Nightcrawler reads and some minor to mega key books in his history. I will say, I haven't read many of his more recent stories (like the Amazing Nightcrawler series from a few years ago) so if you have any more recent recommendations please leave them in the comments down below! As always, here is an eBay affiliate link for you if you want to snag some Nightcrawler comics AND help support this blog at the same time. Just click the link and anything you buy off eBay in the following half an hour will benefit yours truly. eBay will pass over some of it's fees to me and you will still pay the same price you were going to anyways! Several of you have done this already and I thank you so much!