New to comics and could use a little guidance

[Lindsey]

As the title states, I am fairly new to comic's, with most of my exposure coming from either games, cartoons or the movies. I have some characters I am interested in but I have no idea where to start so I was hoping for a few suggestions on on the following characters and good stuff just in general.

The characters I am interested in are

Blink
Kitty Pryde
Colossus
Magneto
Mystique

Being so new, I also would like some help with some good stories in general.

I would prefer to get them in trades but I can get single issues if need be. Thanks in advance for any help.

[cc008]

As far as the current situation for those characters:

Blink isn't doing much these days.. she was great in the new movie though!

Kitty is one of the main characters of All-New X-Men and seems to be one of Brian Michael Bendis' favorite characters to write.

Colossus was a member of Cable and X-Force, which ended in January, and was very good. That can be collected in 3 or 4 trades. He'll be joining Amazing X-Men with issue #8 by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost.

Magneto was in the relaunched Uncanny X-Men under Bendis but broke off into his own solo series written by Cullen Bunn. It's fantastic.

Mystique is really the villain de jour in the X-Men books these days. I guess Uncanny X-Men would be your best bet for her.

[remydat]

For 616 Blink (the main universe), you want to get the Phalanx Covenant trade and Necrosha trade. If you don't mind alternate reality characters then the Exiles book has what some think is a better version of Blink. The Exiles version of Blink comes form the Age of Apocalypse universe which if you are a fan of a more heroic Magneto then you could kill two birds with one stone and get the Age of Apocalypse storyline in trade. Also Magneto has a new solo which is the darker version of the character and has been pretty good thus far.

For Kitty, if you can probably pick up the days of future past trade to get the original DOFP storyline in which Kitty Pryde is the one that travels back in time and not Wolverine. As for Alternate versions, she had a long run as the leader of the X-men in the Ultimate X-men universe. Other than that, she is in the recent stuff like cc008 mentioned.

For Mystique, I would probably recommend Blinded by the Light, Super Novas, and Messiah Complex trades assuming you are interested in the more conflicted Mystique as oppose to the out and out villain version. Otherwise, as cc008 mentions, she is the villain of the moment.

As for Colossus, the dude is just hanging around but I honestly don't recall any definitive stories of his.

[Bafflement]

As mentioned, Blink doesn't have a huge number of appearances (the other favourites you mentioned do!) and she's best-known for her role in Age of Apocalypse, which also has a lot of Magneto in it.

Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run is often considered a good introduction to the X-Men and focuses heavily on Kitty and Colossus.

The Days of Future Past storyline is also a good pick-up because it's not only one of Kitty's earliest stories, but features Mystique as a main antagonist as well.

[Sandinista]

I can't believe no one has mentioned it yet...but if you're interested in Mystique then you need to read her solo series from 2003 written by Brian K Vaughan. It's collected in four volumes and it's AMAZING, easily one of the best series Marvel has put out. It's also easily the best characterization Mystique has ever had. It shows a sassy, intelligent, ruthless and complex character, much like the movies. Not the psychopath currently showing in X-Men comics.

[Lindsey]

Thank you for all the suggestions, I have ordered the Age of Apocalypse trades and the Mystique trades as that will cover Blink, Magneto and Mystique. Since I don't have any real knowledge of these characters outside of the main stream media interpretations, it doesn't really matter to me if they are alternate realities or what not.

It's funny because I really liked Blink in the new movie and really thought she could be one of my favorites and she has a minimal amount of exposure, go figure lol.

I do have a question about Blink though, I saw that she has a mini-series and was wondering how that is, is it worth tracking down?

Thank you all again for giving me a basis to start my search.

[banky]

Thank you for all the suggestions, I have ordered the Age of Apocalypse trades and the Mystique trades as that will cover Blink, Magneto and Mystique. Since I don't have any real knowledge of these characters outside of the main stream media interpretations, it doesn't really matter to me if they are alternate realities or what not.

It's funny because I really liked Blink in the new movie and really thought she could be one of my favorites and she has a minimal amount of exposure, go figure lol.

I do have a question about Blink though, I saw that she has a mini-series and was wondering how that is, is it worth tracking down?

Thank you all again for giving me a basis to start my search.

I'm not sure what mini-series you're referring to but there was a 4 issue arc which focused on Blink in Age of Apocalypse. It's covered in the series Astonishing X-Men v.1 #1-4 which is collected within the AoA trade paperbacks #2-3

[GMT47]

Since you seem particularly interested in Blink, you should look at Exiles as was already mentioned. Exiles is the reason I'd never say she has had a minimal amount of exposure. She was the central character/team leader there for almost a decade. I think part of the reason it came about in the first place was to take advantage of her cult popularity.

[Daymare]

What I would recommend would be to do a 1 month subscription to Marvel Unlimited and just go crazy reading issues on it. You can search by character and read a variety of chacrater specific stories or try out issues from the recommendations. You will find that everyone's opinion as to what is a "good" story is greatly subjective and even some of the classics for myself, 20 years later would not hold up or you may find horrible.
Marvel Unlimited gets some flack but the interface has greatly improved and their back catalouge has really started to expand- I have been very happy with the purchase.
Marvel U does have the full Blink mini-series also from before she joined the Exiles. It is more or less a prequel to her in the Amazing X-men issues so it lends some insight.- Read X-men by the Light , then the Blink Mini-series, then Amazing X-men (make sure it is in the AOA), and Exiles...this should cover her for you.- all available in full on MU also (not plugging it, it will just be soooo much cheaper for you in the long run if that is a concern).

[CAFitz]

Kitty Pryde

Being so new, I also would like some help with some good stories in general.

I would prefer to get them in trades but I can get single issues if need be. Thanks in advance for any help.

The introduction of Kitty Pryde overlaps with some of the most well regarded X-Men story-lines. Be sure to check the issue numbers included in the trades, as there are a couple of collections put out under the same names. I've listed below the ones you might want.

X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga by John Byrne and Chris Claremont (collects Uncanny X-Men #129-137)
X-Men: Days of Future Past by John Byrne and Chris Claremont (collects Uncanny X-Men #138-143)

Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly; and director of Marvel's The Avengers) wrote an X-Men comic book that featured Kitty heavily:

Astonishing X-Men: Gifted by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
Astonishing X-Men: Torn by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
Astonishing X-Men: Unstoppable by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

[Conch22]

The Blink 4 issue miniseries from the early 2000s! Its basically filler, the arts not particularly great, at least for the first issue. I read a basic plot synopsis online to satisfy my curiosity, but I wouldn't really recommend it. Would recommend the first 35 or 40 issues of Exiles, felt it kinda lost steam after that. Would be about the first 6 or 7 trades. Kieron Gillen did some interesting stories with colossus, Believe its Uncanny X-men vol. 3 , trades 1 through 3. X-men: Dreams End features a pretty great Colossus story. Magneto has an epic storyline in New X-men: Planet X, but it might just be best to read Grant Morrisons entire run, as the storyline is very involved. Some series are restarted with new creative teams and volumes (new # 1) so its handy to note a particular vol. And authors run your interested In. Essential X-men vol.2 - 8 feature plenty of well regarded or important stories, though many stories that refer to them like X-men: Deadly Genesis, are kept fairly new reader friendly

[victorxd1999]

Definitely check out Exiles! It's pretty great and requires next to no pre knowledge. Gor Colossus and Kitty I would recommend Astonishing X-men #1-24 and giant size Astonishing X-men #1 (collected in 4 regular trades, 2 ultimate collection trades (bigger trades) and a out of print omnibus). If you would be willing to back far in time you should check out the Dark phoenix saga. It inspired X-Men 3 (it's way better though) and is considered one of the best comics ever created (altough it's a bit dated), it introduced Kitty Pryde and the Hellfire club.