Kurt Wagner: Nightcrawler Appreciation 2020

[Su_Whisterfield]

JeanxKurt from X-Men: The End. I have the whole series. Its quite long. Haven't read it since it first came out. This was one of the tings I remember the most about it probably because it was unexpected.




I scanned them all at the same time so I assumed they all came out the same size so when I scaled all them down I did each by the same percentage. Don't know why they are came out different sizes. Sorry, I have zero interest in fixing it right now. I hate scanning for many different reasons right now but I always love posting them.

Also, I remember there was some very affectionate stuff going on between Kurt and Jean in Ultimate X-Men when Kurt was more like 616 Kurt before he turned creepy when Vaughn took over.

Re old relationships and moving forward. I only really have this feeling with Amanda and Ray - I prefer her as s friend anyway. Same with Rachel. I don't count women like Betsy and Cerise. With Betsy it never actually happened just close friendship with some flirting which happens a lot with the fuzzy guy, and I don't count Cerise since their actual relationship lasted , when it became official, for all of four issues plus one annual in Excalibur way, way, back though, there was the time Cerise came nockin' wanting some lovin' in X-Men. I imagine after being in a Shiar prison and being Lilandras servant she was feeling certain urges at the time. But Kurt was a Priest. Aaah! Fate sucks. Kurt plots either get railroaded or nothings really seen through. It's annoying. Speaking of which, for those that like the short lived but not official romance with Ororo it would be the same deal. I don't think Cerise and Kurt would last long now if he's starting a religion. This isn't Davis' or Ellis' Kurt.

Kurt’s tail!

Cerise never really went anywhere sadly. None of his relationships do, which I find sad.

We seldom get a writer truly invested in Kurt, certainly not invested enough to write him convincing subplots, not since CC and AD.

Oh thanks. Never read the End all the way so this is a new surprise for me. Its unfortunate we dont see more of them in DoX but I really liked how Red solidified them as friends

I love the image of them in the sunset. Jean and Kurt are really good friendship, a solid, believable friendship.

[Rev9]

I always wondered why Kurt with his penchant for swashbucklery and swordsmanship was not put on as a Marauder with Kate instead of Storm.I feel he's a natural fit

[Havok83]

I always wondered why Kurt with his penchant for swashbucklery and swordsmanship was not put on as a Marauder with Kate instead of Storm.I feel he's a natural fit

Storm was put on that team bc of her history with Emma. The writer chose his team based on character dynamics and thats one he wanted to play with

[taozen]

I have always been a huge Kurt fan. I have not read much X-Men consistently in the last 15 or so years. Are there any great Nightcrawler stories in that time. I mean I cannot remember anything really great since Excalibur. How about the Alan Davis X-Men run? Is it worth it. Does Kurt have a significant roll?

[From The Shadows]

I have always been a huge Kurt fan. I have not read much X-Men consistently in the last 15 or so years. Are there any great Nightcrawler stories in that time. I mean I cannot remember anything really great since Excalibur. How about the Alan Davis X-Men run? Is it worth it. Does Kurt have a significant roll?

Same here. I dropped Marvel when Claremont/Davis' XSE storyline was completely taken over by a crossover that I wasn't interested in. I've caught up with some trades but I haven't been consistently following anything MU in general and I use to purchase many titles. Not much has been done with as far back as Brubaker (despite his like of the character) but Marvel/X at least let his seniority shine through. Prior to that they seemed to want to undo what Claremont, Davis and Ellis did for him post Mutant Massacre. So when he did show up it was usually a good showing. That sort of changed when they started favoring Pixie though and it was back to the old BS and the issues just before Kurt's death he was having bouts of self-doubt due to Pixie of all people.

The only stories I can think of that were Kurt - centric were X-Infernus mini also collected as a HC, be prepared for the opening page to be about Kurt's low self esteem because of the younger better teleporter, once that is over with Kurt is kicking ass. The art is excellent.



Then there is Aarons Amazing X-Men ongoing which is when Kurt returns from the dead. The first issues are a must for any Kurt fan. The old feelings are gone and he is very much the confident/competent character he was when he was his best. Also, the X-Men as a whole are very much a family again and show good teamwork. Ice Man and Storm have good showings as well. The art is excellent here too.



Oh! There is also the recent Domino Annual as well as the Spider-Man/Deadpool team-up with the same artist from Amazing. He's practically a co-star and is great in both. If you've read and enjoyed Spider-Man and Deadpool like I have that is an added bonus.

[From The Shadows]

More 616 Kurt goodness...

Whoops! I focused only on the last 15 years but you want to know if there has been anything good since Excalibur? Um, I've read both Davis' and Seagals issues from those days but they weren't my favorite runs. But the Davis' issues are always good for Kurt despite him not getting a great deal of focus but there weren't many stand out moments for any of the characters. It did have some cool friendship bits though between Piotr/Kurt/Kitty hot off of Excalibur as well as some good Kurt/Logan moments. That said a great comic that is mostly Kurt focused is the X-Men Annual 1999. Its by Davis and Leonardi and of that era and it involves SHEILD. It was pretty good. It's also the story where Nick Fury tells Kurt he's be a good SHEILD agent.

The Revolutions era where Kurt becomes a priest is not thought of well by some but Kurt isn't the angry priest here. He is the happy, confident guy from Excalibur. He also mentions how he missed being a superhero. The dialogue is very Claremont though. But it has some great art by Yu. If you are interested pick up adjectiveless though as that's the team he is on though they cross over quite a bit with the Uncanny team.



Next up is The Magik mini (Amanda/Jimaine version) with Kurt as the Co-star and he gets some great focus and I actually include among my favorite Nightcrawler minis. It's takes place during the above Revolutions era. The writers Abnett and Lanning, are really good . They have written Marvel UK and Marvel cosmic stuff and they seem to really get the character. Kurt isn't a brooder here but he isn't just fun and games either which I prefer. There is also some good sword fighting in this and Kurt befriends one of Jimaine/Amanda's guards/soldiers. If you are against the Kurmanda romance then don't worry, they are just friends here but they share a hug. The art is by Liam Sharpe and he has a rather unique style. He drew the Deaths Head II series in the MUK imprint and I recommend that also written by Abnett, slightly off topic sorry.

Joe Casey era: Its an acquired taste but the Icons Mini of that era was solid. He is a priest in this an is a little darker than when he was under Claremont but there is no real dogma here. It also confronts Kurt inner violent streak that Davis and Ellis explored. The interior artist is good and the covers are beautiful. I can't remember the writers name but I do remember it was his first, or one of his first work, in comics and he was a playwrite previously. Kurt makes a guest appearance in Claremont's X-Treme X-Men which is pretty profound and great art by Salvador Larocca, this is before he switched to the style that people seem to hate now. Can't remember the issue number. Kurt is also in the second series of Wolverine, with issue #6, a great story by Rucka with the artist that would later draw Kurts first ongoing solo.



X-Men Unlimited #32with great art by Deodato Jr. Very different from his 90s Thor/Avengers work. I wish I can remember the writer but in this Kurt was down right mean to the bad guys but still sticks to his usual ethics of not killing but just barely. I can't remember exactly the era but it isn't 80s/90s era despite him wearing his classic costume. I think it takes place just before the XSE era or during it. Speaking of Reload/XSE...

Now... the Reload/XSE days where Claremont returns once again to write Uncanny and Davis is doing art and is alternating with other artist in arcs and one of them is Coipel. What can I say? Kurt gets a lot of love here. There are great friendship bits. Kurt also gets some romance (Ororo and Ray) and has one of my favorite fight sequences with the elf. His leadership qualities also shine through in this. This is the era where Kurt starts bonding with Betsy. Bachalo takes over the art chores.



Continuing this era is the above mentioned ongoing Nightcrawler series by Sacassa and Robinson. Check a page back or two for more on it.

Also, forgot, during the Davis/Seagal era there was a mini called X-Liberators an adventure/friendship comic where Piotr goes back to Russia and is accompanied by his old pals Kurt and Logan. So if you like the Nightcrawler/Wolverine/Colossus friendship/team then pick this up. Nothing earth-shattering but a pretty engaging story IMO.

Also during this era on the subject of Kurts friendships Wolverine #140 (1st series) had a rather entertaining Logurt story by Larsen and Yu.

AU Kurts.

Whew! I'm stopping short of recommending X-Men: The End because many people don't like it. I have mixed feelings because there are parts where it got really boring/meh. I personally didn't like who CC chose for Kurt to settle down with, like her character but don't see the chemistry. Cerise dies too. Despite that he really isn't seen with his wife but is mostly on a space ship helping Jean and TJ. He isn't one of the driving characters but has some good moments. I also liked parts of X-Men forever as well including Kurt. But is another acquired taste.

Oh and Kurts first issues of Ultimate X-Men around 2000 were wonderful and his appearance starts with an escape attempt by him and an impressive one. This is the Millar era of that Universe.

I really need to eat. I'm going to be having a late supper.

Edit! Well now I feel dumb the Icon series writers name is on the bottom of the cover I posted. I wasn't really paying attention when I posted it.

[From The Shadows]

Ok, hopefully not noticing the obvious name on the cover of the Icons mini is the last of brain farts for a while.

Here is Kurt and the guy he befriended in the Magik solo. What did you think he'd be? Human? Kurt also gets to interact with other rulers of Hell and Limbo such as Nightmare, Mephisto and Dormammu. Between Hell, Asgard and Spiderman/Deadpool, his time among British heroes in Excalibur just shows he can fit outside the X-Men. I also think Kurt needs to call on Dr. Strange again because of the Draco alone. Kurt has some huge feet here. You know what that means don't you? Don't you? Don't tell me you haven't thought of it. You'd be lying!





I feel weird. I'm getting weird. I think I may have tried to do too much today.

[Su_Whisterfield]

Thanks for all that, From the Shadows.
I’d missed or forgotten some of those. I can’t find the Icons mini on Marvel Unlimited (though I suspect I have the comics in a box somewhere, that cover is familiar).

[From The Shadows]

Thanks for all that, From the Shadows.
I’d missed or forgotten some of those. I can’t find the Icons mini on Marvel Unlimited (though I suspect I have the comics in a box somewhere, that cover is familiar).

You're welcome!

I just edited the above posts with actual issue numbers for those that haven't read those comics.

Also, the post House of M days also had these buddy books.

The Dynamic trio action starts here in Uncanny X-Men # 496



Nightcrawler & Wolverine in Nation X

[Su_Whisterfield]

You're welcome!

I just edited the above posts with actual issue numbers for those that haven't read those comics.

Also, the post House of M days also had these buddy books.

The Dynamic trio action starts here in Uncanny X-Men # 496



Nightcrawler & Wolverine in Nation X

Sigh, Kurt and Logan should never be allowed out unsupervised.
Peter doesn’t count as suitable supervision.

[taozen]

Alan Davis: The GOAT Nightcrawler Artist:

[taozen]

Another nice piece:

[taozen]

The Nightcrawler statue that I want to own. Love that pose with the swords and the devilish huge grin. I do not believe it was mass produced. Man I need more disposable income:

[Su_Whisterfield]

1A279191-B85E-4441-AD24-45737E9AC8CF.jpg

Kurt vs Kurt in Excalibur.
I took CC to task over this one, it should have been Justicer Elgin or Holst (or another British composer) rather than Cadbury (a chocolate manufacturer).

[Su_Whisterfield]

The Nightcrawler statue that I want to own. Love that state with the swords and the devilish huge grin. I do not believe it was mass produced. Man I need more disposable income:

That’s a particularly good one, I like Kurt’s grin and the dynamism of the pose.