I started life out as a major Spider-Man fan. My very first comic ever, was Amazing Spider-Man 370.

released October 27, 1992

so comics have been in my life for 31 years. I’ll save you some math and just say I was 10.

and I’m addicted to Spider-Man, buying whatever I can, monthly titles, limited series, guest appearances, back issues.

I quickly become a giant fan of J.M. DeMatteis and fall in love with Spectacular Spider-Man and Sal Buscema. If Marvel ever wants to make a quick $50, put that run into an omnibus, and I’ll preorder it immediately. By far, my favorite Spider-Creative team.

So I’m existing, having a great time, then Spider-Man 25 came out.

cover dated August 1992.

which, dear reader, I’m now just looking at these dates and clearly my Old Dad memory is failing me here.

This is like when I learned Masters of the Universe aired from September 26, 1983 to November 21, 1985, so I was one and it ended when I was three, but I love that cartoon, but it broke my mind. I definitely watched it in syndication but it felt brand new.

Shoot, I have to admit, I thought this was going to go in a different direction and I was going to have this whole solid year I discovered Kitty Pryde, and my love for Excalibur, but now I can’t quite place when I would have bought the comic.

It would have been a year or so later, as I don’t go to a comic con until 1998, San Diego 1998, to be precise.

That seems way late though.

Originally, I thought I had bought Spider-Man 25 off the rack, then Excalibur 53

as that came out at the same time, June 16, 1992.

So, in my mind, I buy a Spider-Man comic, then I want more Excalibur, and lookie lookie, Spider-Man is guesting in Excalibur for that sweet sweet corporate synergy.

I know I bought Excalibur as it was ending at 125

which was released on August 26, 1998 (thanks to marvel.fandom.com for all of these dates!)

Which feels right, as I was definitely on board by the time Pryde and Kurt join X-Men again for the 35th Anniversary era of the X-Men

which these are cover dated October 1998.

which is when I became a major X-Men fan, buying so many comics and maintaining a Spider-Collection as well, but I’m pretty sure I was cherry picking which titles I was continuing with.

I would have sworn I was knee deep into discovering what I like about the X-Men by the time October 31, 1992 came along and we were treated to the FOX X-Men cartoon premiering.

I distinctly recall waiting with each new episode would surely have Kitty Pryde show up, maybe with, but most likely, without Lockheed. Then we got Nightcrawler and I was like, any day now! Which that aired on May 13, 1995, so a very long three years. Which ended on September 20, 1997, so two more years of eager anticipation.

Then I finally get a DVD of Pryde of the X-Men, fall in love with that, and the X-Men Arcade game, based on the pilot, but also, no reference to Kitty Pryde nor Lockheed in it, so that remains disappointing.

Before that, I had definitely played X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants, a PC game that came out in 1990

which had a terrific selection of characters that I probably didn’t recognize any of these folks, at the time.

Thanks to YouTuber Squakenet for hosting some gameplay of the game.

I remember fondly using Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, and maybe not understanding how to use Rachel correctly. I definitely preferred the characters that were more melee. There might be a reason as I may not have understood all of the controls at the ripe age of eight.

It’ll be great to be able to play it again.

This is my memory of how I became a Kate Pryde and Lockheed fan. Of course, having these two be my favorite characters ever, made me giant fans of Magik, Nightcrawler, Rachel Summers, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue (though I lose her along the way), and other characters of course, such as Stevie Hunter.