My nephew, Curtis, has lined up an artist for a comic book they are working on, but would like to get a co-writer to flesh out some concepts. If you are interested, please reach out to him at : cdcole2006@gmail.com
Thank you!
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When Walker Dennis and I made his hockey table at Home Depot, for the January project, they had the rest of the projects for the year.
We are super excited to build these!
We still have to figure out how to get to the April one as we will be out of town that weekend, but I am hoping I can pick one up after the event or before the event.
I highly recommend attending one of these events. They are always the first Saturday of the month, from 9am to noon. We get there at 9am, as Walker Dennis does not care for all of the hammering sounds (who does?). The staff running the event are fun, you get a free apron and memorial button with the project on it.
Walker Dennis has over 30, so another two years, and he would get a celebration 50 button. Hopefully he wants to still do these projects in two years. He is getting quite good at hammering the nails by himself, I only help get him started with the nails. He loves painting the projects and that has been great to see where he started to where he is now with these.
They also have 75 and 100 project buttons but I cannot even imagine doing it for that long but that could be fun.
This is way late and many dollars short!
I keep not finding this photo on my phone, as I have loads of pictures, and every month, I keep saying I should just make a post so I can find it easier online.
I so look forward to the first Saturday of every month as it is our father son project we do. Walker Dennis has come a long way from essentially me doing the entire project by myself and him providing some commentary. Now he has gotten great with hammering the nails, I’ll feel better if he would keep eye contact with the nail but he’s great about stopping now.
Buddy, the nice gentleman who oversees the project, is always a delight to see and he recognizes us. In fact, there are several employees we have gotten to know as we walk around letting the project dry, and it really is a lot of fun.
Hopefully they show us the image for 2019 and I can make this post much earlier.
Today marks the one year sadiversary of my sister-in-law. For Christmas, it has to be like five years ago now, she gave my wife and me these two blankets – a blue one and a red one. At first, I was like “blankets, really?” but with me working two jobs, I often sleep on the couch so that I don’t disturb my wife by coming to bed. I’ve slept with that red blanket so many times, I’ve spent a lot of time with that blanket. It gets cold here in Montana and I’ve gotten so use to having it over me that it is a constant fixture in our living room. I, of course, picked the red blanket, for Marvel.
We found some pictures of Teri for her funeral slash wake, last year. After the pictures were scanned at her mother’s house, we placed them in the passenger door compartment. I keep meaning to bring them into the apartment and back in the photo album but I sort of been liking seeing the picture and being reminded of her again. We were not that close, I was definitely closer to her two sons, but we had a handful of moments together.
Just wanted to put some thoughts down as I’m reminded of her today. I had sort of forgotten (or taken for granted) about how those blankets were gifted to us – and my wife uses her blue blanket pretty often too – and who gave them to us.
I should have posted this earlier in the day, but I finally came up with a way I wanted to memorialize her.
Bachalo is one of my favorite artists. There is simply something about the way the gentleman draws boots and gloves that I really enjoy and appreciate. Maybe it goes back to hearing how artists do not like to draw feet. Which is silly, as how can you show a guy being kicked in the face, and not draw a foot (as well as a face)? One would think it is impossible. I know one of his biggest criticisms is that it can be hard to follow what he is showing. I will admit that there are times when I have to look at it twice, or just read the speech bubble and move on to the next panel, but for the most part, I just like seeing his art. He may have a team of inkers with him at all times, but he does his own coloring, which I like, as you get the exact image he had in his head, or in the very least, we see the image he wants us to see. Inkers add depth, shading and mood. They probably do so much more, but that’s what I’ve always been told what inkers do and what I recognize them doing.
I have enjoyed his runs on Uncanny X-Men (the first and third volumes), Generation X (which he co-created with Scott Lobdell), Wolverine and the X-Men, New X-Men, I haven’t read his Spider-work as I was not following the character at that point, but I am interested in seeing what he did over there. Generation Next is probably the title I saw of his first and really dug his style, really stood out there in the 90s. Though his style hasn’t changed, but has improved, he is very daring these days.
I like that Marvel used him to open both Wolverine and the X-Men and the third volume of Uncanny X-Men. He really set the tone and style of those titles. Especially with redesigns that are still being used today. Not so much in terms of costumes in Wolverine and the X-Men, but the school’s overall design is the lasting impact. The Uncanny costume changes are still very present and used in every appearance that team makes. Which is in several different titles.
His Ultimate War is an interesting use of his, it looks better on the Motion DVD than it does in print.
It wasn’t until Grey’s End in Uncanny 466, 467 and 468 that I realized the name of that artist that I really liked. He rarely ever has more than four issues in him but what he gives in that short amount of time is stunning.
He also did Death: The High Cost of Living, which is a quieter book and I couldn’t believe that was him then, but that is a very nice read.
He has started writing now as well, writing a very nice Black Widow and Rogue short in A+X 2. He wrote it and drew the story. He could be the next Walt Simonson if he isn’t careful! Also, the second story in that issue is Peter David’s Kitty Pryde, Lockheed and Iron Man short story, which is very funny and awesome.
I haven’t gotten around to reading his creator own work, Steampunk, but one of these days. Written by Joe Kelly, so it has to be wonderful.
Writer Chris Claremont
Artists John Romita Jr. and Dan Green
Special Thanks Steve Leialoha, for inks
Colorists Glynis Wein
Letterer Tom Orzechowski
Reprint of Uncanny X-Men 192
Cover Dated June 1994
Matt Ryan did a stellar job with the cover! It is pretty close to what the original cover had but with modern coloring, it really pops.
Another Bonus Lockheed Month Post!
Issue opens with Colossus lifting a chunk of ground, looking for Kurt underneath it. I really like how the title of the issue is on the chunk, not sure if that is art team or is that Orzechowski’s decision but I do enjoy it.
Colossus is wearing a one piece red bathing suit as a costume for the issue, the cover sort of shows it. Rogue is in a green jumpsuit that I sort of like how it could be an ordinary outfit, if it wasn’t for how green it is. This issue sort of has several new stylings.
Colossus, Kurt and Rogue are doing some practical Danger Room sessions, outside in the woods of the Xavier Estate. They are playing a game of Hide and Seek, and Kurt is staying ahead of the two seekers. Colossus is on a cliff, Kurt shouts at him, and as soon as Colossus turns, Kurt drop kicks him off the cliff.
Kurt shouts that if Xavier could see them now, he would kick them off the X-Men and replace them with the New Mutants. Rogue attacks him by flying and grabbing him, she thinks he should speak for himself as she is winning this round. Kurt teleports onto her back and covers up her eyes. She starts zig zaging and he guides her so that she falls into the water, right next to Colossus.
Rogue tells Colossus that they will bounce back for the second round, but he isn’t listening. He is thinking about Kitty who is coming back from Japan with Wolverine tonight. They have been living through the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine miniseries. They left in Uncanny X-Men 183 and are now coming back for issue 192, they were gone for nearly a full year’s worth of issues, publishing wise. The team has changed as much as Kitty has since the two have been separated.
Kurt teleports down to Colossus and Rogue. Colossus is sad as he didn’t want to fall in love with Zsaji, during Secret Wars – which now that I think about it, should be or has already finally stopped being printed at this point, which is smart in terms of marketing. Issue 12 comes out and fans may be tempted to pick up the titles to see if there is still any ramifications of the series. Rogue tells him that this type of emotion is out of her league, then sadly makes a comment about how the Carol Danvers part of her mind may have been helpful as she had relationships.
Kurt, now that he is thinking of Carol, asks Rogue why she doesn’t use Carol’s seventh sense, sort of like her Danger Sense, power. Rogue doesn’t know if she got that power, but it makes sense if she gain her main powers that she would have gotten the minor ones too. It is a muscle so she hasn’t had to use it and will have to train to incorporate it. Rogue, naturally, doesn’t want to keep talking about Carol or her powers as it is a bitter reminder of her stealing Carol’s powers and life as well as Rogue’s former life.
Kurt sees that it is a sort subject, and in a nice bonding attempt, starts trying to tickle Rogue. She calls him “Nighty” from time to time, which makes sense as a cute name but I couldn’t read it without adding Night to make Nighty Night. Kurt is tickling and teleporting and overwhelming her with the sensations. She wants him to stop, which I completely understand as I don’t like being tickled, much less, for an extended amount of time. This seventh sense kicks in and she is able to backhand him right when he is teleporting. This sends him backwards and she catches him. He makes a comment about how a safe like that deserves a kiss. This highly upsets her and she flies away.
It takes Kurt a little too long to realize why this was insensitive of him. I mean, it would be on the top of my mind all the time if I was talking to Rogue, to try to not mention anything about touching or loving. Even bad news still sheds a light on how Rogue isn’t allowed to have bad relationships.
Apparently Rogue had told Storm about Rogue’s power manifesting when she kissed Cody. Then at some point, Storm told Kurt. I wonder if those two are always gossiping about their teammates? That could be fun, as we never get two characters talking about a third character.
Colossus points to an abandon mansion that Rogue headed towards. Which begs the question, does Xavier have neighbors? I guess, if I had to think about, that I imagined the mansion is in the middle of thousands of acres, so no one ever comes near his home unless that is their intention.
Before they can make their way over there, a giant flash of light falls to the ground.
We leave that cliffhanger to cut over to the Kennedy International Airport. Xavier and Storm are waiting for Kitty. Xavier is letting Storm eavesdrop on various people’s thoughts – which is mess up that he is doing it himself but to let a second person do it too? Super invading of privacy! Storm is surprised with how many people are thinking about mutants, and how nasty those thoughts are. Xavier is apparently teaching a course at Colombia University, which has to be a fancy school as that’s where Daredevil got his law degree.
Apparently the Dazzler the Movie came out where Dazzler’s status of being a mutant is exposed against her will. So people are mad about that. That story has been on my wishlist for ever now. One of these days.
Xavier notices that it is taking a while for Kitty and Logan’s flight to come in. Storm announces that the flight is delayed to bad weather, she would have helped if she could. This makes her sad and Xavier thinks about how conflicted Storm is. She is sad that her powers are gone, but she also loves the man who took her powers away. Which must be love, as rationally, I would only want to murder the guy.
Xavier then notices Illyana muttering. In a very cute page, Illyana is by a window and is upset at her bag. Turns out, she snuck Lockheed with her to the airport! He is getting bored and is also cramped in the bag. Pretty smart of Claremont to realize that he could get away with this stunt as both Illyana and Lockheed’s minds are blocked from Xavier’s probing. Except, now Lockheed is puffing smoke and she tells him to stop that as she can’t hide the smoke. While being slightly annoyed with the dragon, she gets actually angry at her stupid brother as it is due to him that some of Kitty’s homecoming is going to be awkward.
We then see that Rachel is there, also mentally eavesdropping on people’s thoughts. Really goes to show that you don’t need two telepaths on the same team, as it doesn’t really change what stories you can tell. Rachel thinks about how eavesdropping was the only way to survive in the future. Which is what gives Rachel, creatively, a purpose on this team, she can reference the Days of Future Past timeline and give Claremont chances to flesh it and her out.
Rachel remembers her personal past and we are treated to the final moments of Rachel’s time in her future. This gets referenced in a later issue of Excalibur and it is nice to see the building blocks that Alan Davis will pick up later. From my memory, I believe it does sync up rather well.
Rachel and Kate Pryde have broken into Project Nimrod – the Excalibur story, I believe just refers to it as a Sentinel factory. Kate is trying to relax Rachel, and comfort her. It isn’t Rachel’s fault that she was turned into a Hound and had to lead her fellow mutants to their deaths, she was made into a weapon.
Rachel comments that this mission they are on, there is no way to get out of there alive. Kate states that she knows that, and she always did. She does know that Rachel can escape and gives the code word, Dark Phoenix – which is what triggered my memory as that is straight out of the Davis’ story. Once she says it, Rachel’s power manifested and like how she did with Kate’s consciousness, sending it back to a young Kitty Pryde, this time, she teleports herself to our present, and that’s the last time Rachel sees Kate. Predictably, the next scene would have had Kate Pryde, get further into the station, destroy it, try to teleport herself out and unfortunately, get merged with a machine and become Widget. But we are still 213 – 192 = 21 issues away from the end of Mutant Massacre, so two years away Excalibur forming. Then who knows if that was even Claremont’s idea for Widget’s origins as it is never hinted at until Davis fully explains it.
We get an awesome panel transition, from Rachel seeing Kate Pryde to it becoming Kitty Pryde’s face. Kitty has a new hairstyle, fashion sense and if they actually said it, a new code name, Shadowcat.
Kitty goes to greet her friends who are waiting for her. She then notices Rachel and recognizes her from her fragmented memories of her time during Days of Future Past. Which we don’t really get that story ever, there isn’t much there as she was sleeping during most of it but one would imagine it wasn’t a deep sleep and probably she overheard some things.
We cut back to the woods. Kurt and Colossus get to the crater, and they realize that it should be much larger than it is. While investigating the surrounding areas, they see that a tree and a deer have been crystallized. It is Colossus who notices the similarities to how Warlock feeds.
In the ruined mansion, Rogue has been knocked through a loop. She knows that Colossus probably could handle that force but Kurt might be hurt and plans to look for her two teammates. Before she can head out, we see that Magus, Warlock’s father, is back on Earth. Which as a kid and being part of the online community, I remember there have been times when someone would make a reference to Jim Starlin’s Warlock series and Magus is a character of that series so the two are connected there as well. Who knows why Marvel allowed two creative teams to both names of Warlock and Magus for two different pairs of characters but it can be confusing from time to time.
Very interesting having these two characters fight, as they do the same thing, essentially. Rogue and Magus absorb life forces, he does it to feed and she does it to obtain different power sets and knowledge. Also, he enjoys it while she is conflicted about it.
She knows to not let him touch her bare flesh. She grabs a part of his arm and tears it apart, causing him such pain. Colossus takes advantage of that and the surprised attack and throws bricks at Magus. Colossus gets close enough to unleash a battery of punches. He stops once Magus doesn’t move. Of course, as soon as he stops, Magus flees to the outdoors.
Kurt tries to help in the battle. He has never tried such a thing before, but he wants to see if he can teleport a partial item from a larger item. One would think this would have been done in a Danger Room sequence by now but he’s still learning. We know later, that Age of Apocalypse Nightcrawler did this quite a bit to huge success. This is our Kurt’s first time so he successfully does it, but it tires him extremely. Also extremely? Magus’ pain, if he thought having a limb torn off, having one magically teleported away hurts like a billion times more.
Rogue uses her new found seventh sense and avoids most of Magus’ attacks. She gets in close enough to kiss him and absorbs some of his powers. This weakens him even more but it gives Rogue an appearance of the Technarcy. But not the Phalanx as that really means humans who are affected with her transmode virus. Get to that later.
I do feel bad that whenever Rogue has to absorb someone’s memories or powers, she opts to do it via a kiss, so she is usually kissing foes and such. When she does it with an ally, it usually is a simple touch of their fingers. That has to haunt her once she thinks back on the battle.
Kurt and Colossus catch up to her and she is speaking like Warlock, with a bunch of “self hurts” and “self thinks.”
We also find out that with Storm powerless and Wolverine gone, that Kurt is the new leader of the X-Men. This is where he gets his experience that will be forged in fire with Excalibur once Captain Britain leaves.
Magus shows up, as a giant, and tells them that they fought heroically. He will let them live, as he could easily tear the entire planet into pieces but if they bring him his son, Warlock, they can all live. Before they can give him a witty response, he is gone.
There is a time cut and we see the entire team is reunited. Kurt regrets that he couldn’t leave someone behind and then come back with the rest of the team. Wolverine states that no one would have been safe by themselves and it was a good call. Kurt offers Wolverine the leadership role and he doesn’t want it at all.
Xavier tells everyone to be silent as a police officer shows up to the ruins. Xavier uses his powers to make it appear that they are only a group of people in casual clothes, meaning no harm. Also, it is implied that he made the officer’s mind believe there was no danger as why would ten individuals be in a ruin mansion?
The officer gets back to his car, he notices that the car has moved closer to the mansion. With that, the car absorbs him and we see that Magus has taken the officer’s appearance, just like how his son can do. This is the first merged Technarchy and human being, thus Phalanx has created. Which will become a genuine threat during the Phalanx Covenant at around the time this reprint was published but Uncanny 316 – 192 but is still ten years from when this story was originally published. That is one slow burn! Also, is the story that lead up to us getting Generation X! It is all connected.
We get a giant time cut of months as Xavier is leaving one of his classes at Columbia. It is right before Christmas as snow is falling. He happens upon some of his students. There is no many of them and they all have anti-mutant thoughts which throws him off. What also throws him off? A brick to his head! From there, he gets a beating and they leave him for dead.
Someone shows up and drags Xavier into an alley. Now that’s a cliffhanger!
This was the last of my X-Men Classic that I was able to buy from a pawn shop so we will pick this story up with either other issues of X-Men Classic or once we get around to these through Uncanny X-Men proper.
There is a Marvel Bullpen Bulletin that remembers Jack Kirby who passed away recently for them, February 6, 1994. Hard to believe 20 years has passed since that day. Jack “The King” Kirby, without him, we wouldn’t even have the Marvel Universe we know and love, and for this site’s concern, we wouldn’t have the first 11 issues of Uncanny X-Men.
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.
Including all of her appearances as herself, as Daytripper and the second Magik, which is why I’m writing this, she has made a total of 84 appearances, I thought it would be a whole lot more than that, she just leaves an impression I suppose. I own 57 of those appearances, bringing my percentage to 67%. So I feel like I know her pretty well.
Her mother is Margali, of the Winding Way. Amanda is a witch. Her and Nightcrawler grew up together. That’s how I first met Amanda, as Kurt’s girlfriend. Margali is Kurt’s adopted mother, so essentially, Kurt dated his adopted sister. It is complicated. I wonder if that is why the two of them haven’t spent much time together in the later days of their adventures. It can be an awkward subject to bring up, but does it really need to get brought up? That and Kurt killed her brother, who was also Kurt’s foster brother.
The whole family is a mess. Then you add Mystique to the mix and it gets even more out of control!
I know at Kurt’s funeral, someone mentions how they should have invited Amanda, and someone else mentions the relationship. Stating, “it’s complicated” is probably the best way to handle it.
I like writers who just refer to them as former boyfriend/girlfriends and that they grew up together, it is simple and that is the story point that has the most meat to it.
Paul Smith got to draw her, in Uncanny X-Men 168, 169, and 175.
It is a shame that she wasn’t really a member of the X-Men, like how Carol Danvers is. I wonder why Claremont drew the line? Amanda was or may currently be a Flight Attendant, so she makes it to New York City from time to time. I do like how she isn’t a witch all the time; she has an awesome main job.
When she did join Excalibur on a long term basis, Excalibur 75-77, 80, 82-85, 89-92, 95,, 100-102, 108 and then she shows up at Brian and Meggan’s wedding. in 125. Where she has a funny scene with Cerise, Kurt’s Shi’ar girlfriend – who also does not get enough play, but even less so! Cerise was last seen in the Annihilation #6 and the Annihilation : Ronin miniseries. Both of which, I missed out on. Excalibur 125 came out October 1998 and Annihilation : Ronan 2 came out in July 2006, she is a forgotten character.
Then Illyana passes away, and before that, she is deaged, thus making no Magik, no more.
Now, I am not sure if it was due to a copyright issue or not, but Marvel gets the idea that they have to make a new Magik. Storywise, someone has to be the ruler of Limbo.
Now, I’m not sure why that ruler couldn’t have their own special name, instead of making Magik a legacy character. But they did and Amanda got the nod to take over in the miniseries, X-Men : Black Sun 1-5. I only own issues 1, 2, and 5, it isn’t very good, if my memory of it serves. I may also have been a stubborn fan and didn’t want to like it due to loyalty to Illyana.
Amanda becoming Magik II, pretty much ruins the character. She got Black Sun in 2000, then within the same year (probably Marvel thinking it was going to create a new fanbase) and gave her the second Magik miniseries, also in 2000. Sometimes, you will see the first Magik series titled : Magik (Illyana and Storm Limited Series) (1983) and the other as Magik (2000). Which I never care for, as Storm is important to the original mini, but it is Illyana’s story and who cares about anyone else getting billing? I rather we just refer to them as Magik-Illyana and Magik-Amanda, though only two people ever want to talk about the other one. I want to say Magik-Amanda or Magik-2000 (like Knight Rider 2000) has a bunch of references to Illyana, thus, I own all four issues. I may do a review on them, way down the line. Might be nice to, as I barely remember it. I do remember, the severe lack of Amanda appearances afterwards.
So Black Sun comes out November 2000, five weeks, five issues. Excalibur 125 came out October 1998, so she was already in character limbo for two years.
Magik-2000 (makes more sense to do it by years as if you list it by character, I think you might confuse some people – Magik 2000 and Magik 1983). comes out monthly for December 2000 to March 2001.
Nightcrawler gets an ongoing series (richly deserved and pretty good, I believe I read all of them but only own a few of them) and Amanda is essentially the co-star of the title. Of the 12 issues, she is only not in issues 1, 5, and 7. Pretty impressive! I own issues 3, 4, 7, and 12. 12 is Kurt’s birthday, and a bunch of people show up. It is awesome! Also serves as a recap of the series.
Roberto Aguiree-Sacasa of Glee fame and of a horrible Marvel Knights : Spider-Man run wrote the series and Darick Robertson of Space Beaver – a series I am madly in love with and a real shame it only has 12 issues in existence!) drew it. Darick is a huge Nightcrawler fan, and how could you not be! He may not be anymore but he was at the time the series came out, that’s what I’m quoting. (Just in case he has turn his back on the character).
I imagine no one bought Magik-2000, (the issues or the character) as 4 comes out March 2001 and Nightcrawler starts to came out November 2004. That is another two years of being in Limbo, and only coming back when someone wanted to pair Kurt up with a former flame.
Then comes the awkward moment, when people want Illyana back (which they did as soon as she was deaged but once she was dead in Uncanny 303, people really wanted her back!).
Illyana sort of comes back in New X-Men 37, so they quickly put Amanda up in New X-Men 36. These issues come out (along with Quest for Magik) in 2007. Nightcrawler’s series ended in January 2006, and New X-Men 36 came out in May 2007, another solid year of no appearances.
Illyana shows up, it becomes official that Amanda is no longer Magik. With Kurt not beign used and then being killed, she hasn’t had a new adventure since New X-Men 41 cover dated October 2007.
She showed up in a back up in Uncanny X-Men : First Class Giant Size Special 1 in August 2009, X-Men Forever 16 in March 2010 and X-Men Origins : Nightcrawler 1 in May 2010.
None of these are modern tales.
She is such a fun character but once you become a part of a Legacy, people only want the original back, and then you lose all that you had before then. She became a place holder and it is a shame she isn’t used more.
Ideally, she would become a member of Amazing X-Men with how that story involves bringing Kurt back to life but Kitty isn’t involved in that mission so why would Amanda.
I also, don’t want her to just be Kurt’s girlfriend either but clearly she could have been part of any Supernatural style storylines.
She is a fun character, has a great powerset, hopefully still is a flight attendant – a job that I wish I had back in the day, I just like to fly in an airplane. Imagine doing that professionally? Has to be fun! I also wanted to be a pilot as well, but that does seem to be a lot of responsibility, but I’m ready for it.
Probably too late for me though. But it is not too late for Amanda Sefton, let’s get her back in a book, and a good one this time! She got character assassinated!
The issues of her that I still need are only two :
Wolverine Saga (1989) 2
The Marvel Tarot (2007) 1
I doubt either are more than a dollar.
Sometimes I look at Amazing Spider-Man 370 and I’m amazed with how I wasn’t turn away with how intimidating it should have been for a new reader. It is in the middle of a storyline. The Scorpion and Black Cat are on the cover, not the two biggest names in Spider-Man’s cast of characters. Though I do like the Black Cat. This is before the 90s FOX Spider-Man cartoon, so I didn’t really know Scorpion yet. Promoting the mystery of Peter’s parents. It is shipping twice that month, so I’m going to have to come back soon to get the next issue. Right there in a corner, Spider-Man turn 30, so there is 30 years of history with the character. I think about when Quesada was running Marvel and how he made a point, for a year there, that all covers had to be essentially posters with no hint at what was going on inside the covers, that was a disappointing era, artistically.
The comic is cover dated December 1992, so it probably came out sometime in October of that year. I have been reading comics, essentially straight, for twenty two years with no real breaks.
Spider-Man One More Day came out in 2007 so I was a hardcore Spider-Man fan for 15 years.
I keep having this thought and I just need to jot it down and get it out of my head. I keep thinking about Kitty Pryde being a product of a divorce. I also keep thinking about Kitty Pryde’s creation.
As we all know John Byrne created, for the most part, Kitty Pryde. Then Claremont either scaled back some decisions or fleshed out ideas.
So which one is the mother of Kitty Pryde?
I’ve also been trying to take more credit in the ‘creation’ of my son with my wife. Which is really where all of this comes from.
Without my involvement, the boy isn’t born. There I said it. Now, I fully understand that she did all of the extremely hard work and sacrifice that came after me doing my tiny portion. Tiny but super important, least we forget.
So here’s the thing. Did John Byrne give the concept to Claremont to nurture and then left; abandoning Claremont after a year or so to raise Kitty all by himself (and of course with the help of other artists such as Cockrum, Smith and Romita Jr.).
Thus, Byrne’s seed to Claremont’s egg – making Byrne the dead beat father in this scenario. Which he might be, as he never really came back to the character.
Or did Byrne do all of the hard work and Claremont did the quick job of approving the majority of the character and then got the opportunity to raise her as he would have intended. Thus, he is the father that stuck around after the mother … I don’t know, this side of the scenario I clearly haven’t given as much thought as the first one. Let’s say the mother died, somehow, but not horribly tragic (sure?) and Claremont had to raise Kitty the best he could.
Ooof, I was hoping to make one a positive for Claremont and one positive for Byrne but Byrne not coming back hurts him as Claremont has come back for Kitty on several different occasions – Excalibur (where he never really left her, just moved her from X-Men to England) then came back for Mekanix, X-Men 100, his brief return to the Wolverine title, portions of X-Treme X-Men and X-Men Forever.
Also, both of them are pretty father centric, but I suppose that’s just my world view at this time.
If I thought about it more, I should figure out a way to work Terry Austin into the mix.
http://secretsbehindthexmen.blogspot.com/2012/03/kitty-pryde-and-substitute-x-men.html
This must be the article I read that has been bouncing around in my head.
So Byrne came up with the name, her age, her appearance, the concept that she should be young and a student. Claremont changed her original power so that she was the one who phased as well as making her a genius.
I don’t believe that changes anything I originally thought, I think my super awkward metaphor still exists.
I’m more leaning towards Byrne is the father of Kitty Pryde and Claremont is the mother as that seems like how babies are actually made and the other scenario doesn’t quite work for me.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 