So the question sometimes I get, is why I don’t follow Rachel and Kurt, if I am going to follow Illyana, then why not the other two?
That’s a great question!
First, financially, that would be pretty expensive, though not really as I am probably already 60 percent there.
But there are times when I look at my collection over at comicbookdb and how it states I have 1800 comics, and that’s cool but I have to mentally discount maybe 100 issues, maybe even 150, that are various Magik or Lockheed appearances.
So adding Kurt and Rachel will be messing with my already fragile headspace.
Plus Illyana and Kitty are linked better than the other two. Not every issue with Illyana mentions Kitty and not enough a lot of them do, but enough of them do whereas, like in Brubaker’s run of Uncanny, I know from uncannyxmen.net that Kitty is not referenced at all, and that was 12 issues in Shi’ar space. And believe me, she doesn’t have to be referenced in the least, I mean, she does if you want me to buy your comic, but I rather people were not shoe horning her into every conversation. How annoying would that be?
I wonder, how often does Kurt and Rachel show up where Kitty is not present. I know Brubaker’s run..I know Kurt had an ongoing title there for a while, and I own several of those issues. Then there was the three years Kitty was in space, and Kurt was on an established X-Men team, just not being used enough.
Kurt wasn’t being used so much, that Marvel actually released a one shot where he was going to quit the X-Men and have various adventures. Of course, at the end of that issue, he just went straight back to the X-Men and died within the next year or so.
Plus, if I collect every Nightcrawler appearance, then I have to do Alternate Universe guys and luckily, Kurt only has the Age of Apocalypse version who was active in Remender’s Uncanny X-Force run. I don’t recall that many other versions. His Ultimate one is dead and once I buy all of Ultimate Kitty’s appearances (so far behind on that) I would essentially have all of Kurt’s with maybe a few extra issues.
At first, I was just following Kitty and various other alternate ones like Age of Apocalypse , as they were quick, done in a few issues and you are out. Then I only bought the Ultimate comics that she was on the cover of, as she wasn’t on many. I do like Ultimate Kitty but she wasn’t a high priority but now if / when I can buy backissues, if there are Ultimate issues, I will pick those up. They are cheaper and more finite.
Ultimate Kurt went crazy, which is a shame, and over Ultimate Dazzler, even more of shame. But if you look like a demon and the girl you are interested in; chooses a guy who looks like an angel over you, you would probably go insane too. But you shouldn’t, you are beautiful, just the way you are and she will be available again sometime, or there are other ladies or dudes out there in the world for you. Hang in there!
As far as I know, no Ultimate Illyana or Rachel exists. Though they have done, at least two different Future Ultimate universe stories, one being Cable’s introduction to the world (and a neat twist) and a Fantastic Four / X-Men crossover.
Typing about Cable brings me to Rachel. As far as I know, she definitely doesn’t have any alternate versions, as that was a story point in Excalibur’s Cross Time Caper, plus she still doesn’t have any alternate versions to this day.
When Rachel swapped with Captain Britain in the time stream, she went to Cable’s future and became the Mother Askani there. I am not sure how many appearances she made as that character, but she was super old and I only own like two issues of Cable as that version of Rachel had an origin issue and some other point and Kitty was referenced in that. I imagine she doesn’t get too many mentions but I rather not own a bunch of Cable comics for that purpose. I do own a few Deadpool/Cable issues and almost the entire Joe Casey / Labdonn run which is most likely the best run of Cable ever printed.
When Rachel did come back to the proper Marvel present day, she was back to being her younger self that we all know and love.
I wonder with all of that if I should start thinking in terms of how I own more like 75 percent of the two character’s appearances.
Kurt is going to be a big part of Amazing X-Men coming up and I am already committed to only buying the Kitty issues.
It is crazy scheduling that she was banished into deep space and then once she came back, he was dead. Then before that, she was on the Astonishing team and he was in deep space before that so they have not seen each other, really, in a long time.
Kitty was off in creative limbo for a long time after leaving the X-Men with X-Men 100 and Rachel was also in said limbo until she came back in the concluding arc of X-Treme X-Men and Kitty was there for that, and Kitty, herself, was only doing mini series and an occasional guest spot, or X-spot if you would. But you really shouldn’t encourage that.
As I was reviewing this post, it dawns on me that I was only taking Post-Kitty’s debut in Uncanny 129 into consideration.
Nightcrawler first debuted in Giant Size X-Men 1. Which I own and once we move, I should have better access to my comics (maybe) but I have been wanting to look at my ratty version of it that I bought off of eBay and make sure it was a first edition. I didn’t pay too much but it wasn’t exactly cheap either. But it was a nice readable copy with only a few wrinkled pages and such. It is also Storm and Colossus’ first appearance, thus also Illyana’s first appearance, which is why I bought it.
Then Kurt moves to Uncanny 94, and has as adventures into 128, which is 35 comics that are extremely expensive! I remember when I added Illayan and noticed she was in Giant Size, my heart skipped a beat as I knew that was an expensive comic, in even good condition. My copy would barely warrant a Fair condition. But I keep wanting to make sure it isn’t like a reprint and I got suckered, or a second printing but my memory is that the ads matched up to that era. I would have to do a proper review of that issue once we get settled in, so look forward to that, someday.
Then Kitty is only in 129, 130, and 132, then has an appearance in one panel of 133 and the space aspect of the Dark Phoenix Saga kicks in, and all of those issues are expensive too. Luckily 138 wasn’t horribly so.
Most of Kitty’s Uncanny issues besides like the big stories, did not set me back too much. Plus, I took advantage of Mile High Comics’ codeword sales. But I was single and in college and had money to burn and a passion to collect.
Lonestar Comics also has great codeword sales and they helped in my collecting missions.
Can’t think of issues of Uncanny with Rachel that I don’t own from that era
I know that Rachel was pretty active in Avengers vs. X-Men so there would be those issues, like one issue of Wolverine and the X-Men that Kitty was not in but Rachel essentially fought the Avengers single handily.
Then Rachel is one of the main team members of X-Men now and I am buying that title, so I am back to getting Rachel appearances.
So the main reasons is expense and interest. Plus already have the said deal with my wife to only follow the three characters, and we already don’t have the space for the boxes as it were. But since my mind is geared to enjoy top five lists and I would agree that my favorite characters are probably Kitty Pryde, Lockheed, Magik, Nightcrawler and Rachel Grey.
Can’t believe I completely forgot (but can actually believe it) that he was part of Chuck Austen’s run – which luckily didn’t include Kitty or Illyana so I haven’t read a single issue besides the Havok failed wedding storyline as I believe Kitty is one of the non-descriptive brunettes in attendance.
. . .
Okay, I have done the math!
Of Nightcrawler’s 1033 appearances, I am missing 416, making my percentage a little under 60 percent.
Of Rachel’s 387 appearances, I am missing 130, making my percentage around 66 percent.
What hurt me in terms of Rachel, was that I underestimated how involved she was with the whole Shi’ar/Emperor Vulcan/Kingbreaker/War of Kings storylines (same with Kurt) and then she was very active in the X-Men v. Avengers storyline. Also, turns out Rachel made more than two appearances in Cable titles. Plus, Quasar appearances (I own one, she showed up on her own a couple times thereafter). Then of course, Rachel and Kurt were on Uncanny together, for a year before they went off into space, and then while they were in space. Rachel was also one of the cast members in X-Men Legacy for a while.
Kurt has more obvious things that I missed out on, such as Uncanny 94 to 128, then 133 to 137, but then there are stories that harken back to that pre-Kitty era. Plus that Uncanny X-Men: First Class series.
Kurt is part of a classic line up, of which Kitty barely misses out on, so he shows up in a bunch of titles like Marvel Age as people like to draw and write about that era.
Then there are the Classic X-Men stories that are reprints of the Uncanny X-Men issues. So that’s like missing out twice as much for the same thing!
Then there are the times Kurt and Logan hang out that I didn’t know to the full extent that they did. There have also been a few times he got to pal around with Spider-Man, that I only thought happen twice but is like three times as much of that!
Kurt was lucky enough to be part of that X-Men / Fantastic Four miniseries wherein four X-Men get zapped by cosmic rays.
Kurt was a member of SHIELD in House of M, so he shows up in various issues that tie into that crossover.
Then of course, he was quite active while Kitty was in space, so he was around for Secret Invasion and Manifest Destiny.
. . .
While going through Kurt’s appearances, I added like so many more issues to my Wishlist! I am now at 270 and I feel like I was a little under 240.
Of Kurt’s 415 appearances that I don’t have, I only want 32 of them. Kitty shows up for a panel in issue 132 of Uncanny. Apparently there is a concluding chapter to the Rom storyline I already have two issues of, so I need 19 now. There is a Fantastic Four Roast that I didn’t even know about that I added. Wolverine Saga 1 – 4 was already on my list. Marvel: Year-in-Review 1989, I added. In 1993, Marvel made an Avengers / X-Men year book that I added. Marvel UK had Excalibur make appearances in one additional storyline that I didn’t know about, so I added Dark Angel 14 and 15. I added an issue of Captain Marvel from 1999. There was a Dave Cockrum tribute book I didn’t know about. There was also a Hulk Team-Up book that I added.
Of Rachel’s 130 appearances I don’t have, I only want to 13 of them. Didn’t have to add any to my wishlist which was nice.
Wolverine Saga 4, Marvel: Year-in-Review 1989, Marvel Collectible Classics: X-Men 2, and Uncanny 472 are the ones that are on both lists. If I ever get to buy back issues, probably make a point of adding these to that order. I imagine all of them are quite cheap except for Marvel Collectible Classics: X-Men issues run usually around the twenty to twenty-five dollar range. I have read that they are on super high quality of paper, not sure if there are bonus material added either.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 