aah THE QUEST FOR VR BESTE Me SSS 73vO KURT WAGNER, THE X-MAN KNOWN AS NIGHTCRAWLER, EARNED HIS PEACE IN HEAVEN Te mu FULL a eta Pe ist PEACEUIAS INTERRUPTED WHEN HIS FATHER, ON AZAZEL, SENT A (ON PIRATES TO STEAL SOULS FROM HEAVEN. HICHTCRANLER BESTED Te N COMBAT a THE PIRATES, AND AZAZEL, ESCAPED. MEANWHILE, BAMFS, LITTLE CREATURES WHO BEAR A STRIKING RESEMBLANCE 10 NIGHTCRAWLER, HAVE BEEN STEALING ITEMS FROM THE JEAN GREY SCHOOL AND BUILDING APORTAL. THE X-MEN DISCOVERED THE PORTAL AND UPON INVESTIGATING IT WERE PULLED IN. NOW WOLVERINE AND NORTHSTAR MUST FACE DOWN ONE OF AZAZEL'S DEMON PIRATE SHIPS, WITH THE REST OF THE TEAM NOWHERE TO BE SEEN. Thle QUEST FO HIGHTRAIL PART 2. of 5 WRTERUASON AARON — pevicuen ED McGUINNESS xen DEXTER VINES coors MARTE GRACIA termerer VC’S CORY PETIT cover by McGUINNESS, VINES & GRACIA assistant epiTor XANDER JAROWEY associate cortor JORDAN D. WHITE coor NICK LOWE EDITOR IN CHIEF AXEL ALONSO CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER JOE QUESADA PUBLISHER DAN BUCKLEY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ALAN FINE (© 2013 Marvel Characters, nc. All rights reserved. All characters featured in this issue andthe distinctive names and likenesses thereot, and all elated indicia are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc. No similarity between any ofthe names, characters, persons, and/or institutions inthis magazine with those of any living or dead person or institution is intended, and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental.COUGH COUGHS STORM, HOW ABOUT WHIPPING. UP. SOME WIND TO CLEAR THIS SMOKE OUT, SO WE ‘CAN GET A LOOK "AROUND? A NICE FREEZING, RAIN WHILE YOURE ATIT. IT is INSANELY HOT IN HERE, RIGHT? ‘STORM? CANNOT. my POWERS... ARE ‘GONE. i's AS I AS IF THERE'S Is THAT A, RIVER OF BLOOD? WHAT KIND OF PLACE HAS A GIANT RIVER “OF BLOOD? AND DOES ANYBODY ELSE HEAR. SCREAMING? KNOW WHERE WE ARE. ‘THE BAMFS, PULLED US INTO THEIR MACHINE, WHICH ‘APPEARS TO HAVE ‘TELEPORTED US. ‘SOMEWHERE. WHAT JUST HAPPENED? AND AM MAN, WY'S IT ‘30 HOT IN HERE? WHERE'D THE OTHER X-MEN WHAT'S THAT oMew ene wr Th ‘OH, man, IM MELTING LIKE CRAZY, GUYS. T DON'T THINK T CAN STAND MUCH MORE OF THIS. I MEAN, SERIOUSLY, IS IP gUST ME OR Is THis PLACE NOT ‘AS HOT AS. GO? AND OH, GOD,PIRATES. ALL Fi iH ROBE. ) we Mavee raKe UDE- iis OPPORTUNITY TO. Ger Te He. GUT OF FELL3 a” y x , Ve I ms : whee ay: Cz yy Pd ye -ADMIRAL, a \ szage be Leen \ \ NEEDIN’ SOULS, . ) Bove: soars f FLL THe HOLD WITH ALL We 00K AT MUST‘A BEEN 7 SOME BORING Lie ‘THESE PEOPLE LIVEr "TO DESERVE A OREVERTHANK YOU. YOU SAVED My THOUGH ‘SOUL. Tha /xcz rece oles Bite OW YEAH, DID YOU MEET ‘THis GUY Yer? SERGEANT SNIKT, MEET CAPTAIN “sraeey(59 a9e) 4 Soi )Sif Be assesses GET OFFI WHATEVER HAPPENS NEXT...DONT LET GO. aTELL YOU TO DO? ‘MINE SAID TO PUT HER HEART IN THE FIRE. LISTEN TO. bs WHO? WHO THE HELLAMIAZANG ANGES Hi there, X-Heads! Welcome back to ‘AMAZING X-MEN, Pm euitor Nick Lowe and ‘welcome to our frst AMAZING X-CHANGE! We hhad a TON of emails come in talking about the first issue. TONS! I honestly can’t remember a time wien we've gotten more mall. It's Friday ‘and we're sending #2 to the printer today and ‘time is short, so let's just dive right int Dear Masters of ‘mean, X-Office, twas a Wednesday in 2010 that will never forget. it was a seemingly normal day, when ‘around noon | started receiving text messages from concerned friends offering their ‘condolences for my loss and asking if | would be okay. wasn’t quite sure what had occurred ‘until | received a phone call bearing the news; ‘Kurt Wagner, AKA Nightcrawler, AKA “Jack’'s- Favorite-Super-Hero”, had passed away. Devastated, 1 dashed immediately to ‘my local comic shop to witness the event ‘mysolt. Kurt had given his life for another (typical Kurt). When 1 came home, | added ‘that Issue to my Nightcrawler Shrine (which ‘contains various Nightcrawler comics. and ‘merchandise including GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1) ‘and | mourned. Truth be told, | have not been ‘the same for about three years now. It feels like a piece of my soul was taken away. ‘Thelittle Bamts in Jason Aaron's WOLVERINE ‘AND THE X-MEN have provided me with litle ‘glimpses of the happiness | once enjoyed, and ‘with each Bamt a piece of my soul returned. ‘And now, having freshly read AMAZING X-MEN #1 at work (ssshhhith), I feel complete for the first time in three years. The return of the Fuzzy Eif was everything ! could have hoped for, with the refreshing and fhumor-flled ‘writing of Mr. Aaron that Pve come to expect ‘and the crisp art of Mr. McGuinness. Thank you for making me complete again. Thank you for ‘returning my ultimate hero, THE INCREDIBLE NIGHTCRAWLER! 1 look forward to joining you ‘on many more adventures. Life and Death, Jack Phoenix “master of Life and Death.” | lke it, Jack! We got a lot of letters like this one. Lots ‘of folks are extremely overjoyed that Kurt Wagner, the swashbuckling Wightcrawler, is back. We are as happy as you are! ‘This HAS to be the first -book Pve picked up Ina couple years that actually feels genuine. ‘The humor is on point, the story has just the ‘ight amount of intrigue, and you get a sense fof each character's distinct personalities right off the bat. | love the Warbird/Iceman ‘dynamic. They're hilarious. Right after I was finishod with the Issue | called my LCS and had them put this on my Dll-list immediately. Thank you for putting this together. Dox That's a very backhanded compliment, Dex. For newbies out there "LCS" means local comic sho ll ist Is Just a list ‘of books you want your shop to hold behind ‘the counter for you. 1 highly recommend ‘getting one so you don't miss an issue! Ht you need to find a local shop go to http://wrw.comicshoplocator.com/ ! 11am not sure where to bogin with AMAZING X-MEN number 1. The name of the book itself Isbad. The way Marvel has been titling books latoly has beon a head scratcher. UNCANNY AVENGERS, AMAZING X-MEN? Seems to show 4 lack of originality. 1 applaud the Idea of bringing back the beloved Nightcrawler. 1 folt his “death” was meaningless. and just for shock value. 1 know you'll disagree and ‘say his death was the root cause ofthe X-Men ‘becoming divided but I don’t buy it, We all know W's a marketing a thing. 1 also distike the story taking place in “heaven”. Come ‘on, can't you tell one whole story where the X-Men don’t go to another dimension or go {into space? 1 think it again shows a lack of originality. | can't stand seeing the pointless Warbird. Sho's not a mutant and besides Wolverine Is in this book so she serves no point. On the positive side, | do like seeing Firostar around, although | would proter to see hher in a revamped New Warriors book, where ‘she truly belongs. The most redeeming thing about AMAZING X-MEN Is MeGuinness's art, He could make almost any book worth picking ‘up. That's my two cents. “Mark PS. Please fix Angel. He has been a joke for {ar too long now. Well, your overuse of the phrase “shows @ lack of originality” shows a lack of originality, ‘Mark. We didn’t get a lot of letters like this ‘one, but | wanted to give It a fair shake. Sorry you aren't digging everything we're doing up hhere, Mark, The idea of calling It AMAZING X-MEN was mine, | think, so Pl take any blame ‘anyone wants to heap om us for that. | thought it was coo! especially with Spider-Man heing ‘Superior and not Amazing right now. Pl also ‘argue with you that Nighterawier's death ‘wasn’t just a marketing thing. | was one of the people in the room when we decided that ‘he was going to die and it was all story and ‘character motivated. We also do alot ot stories ‘where X-Men don't goto other dimensions or ‘space, Mark. Infact, | don’t think we've spent ‘more than a couple issues in elther of those places inthe last few years! SO THERE! Greetings to the BEST Comic Book Company ‘and Comic title ever! ‘ve been collecting X-Men since | was 11 ‘and F'm now 32. The magic was brought back to me during “Messiah Complex.” AMAZING X-MEN #1 captures all those memorable things ‘bout X-Men during my early years collecting ‘thom. 'm excited to see what comes next even AFTER “The Quest For Nightcrawler” story arc. Ed McGuinness's art Is perfect for the fun ‘tory that Jason Aaron has written. And | am ‘$0 IN LOVE with the colors provided by Marte Gracia and have heen since “All-New X-Men a Ws fun to see how the tittle “Bamt demons that appeared (and repeatedly appear) in WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN come full circle and how the mystery of the reasons for their appearance is solved. And the “Red Bamfs” are an amazing addition to the story. Last but DEFINITELY not least, it's fun to see ‘Nightorawier back in action. Even though the X-Men will be in “Heaven” fighting alongside their dead comrade against his malicious father Azazel (and his Red Bamfs), Pm hoping that Kurtis one of the many dead characters ‘Marvel truly resurrects. Antoine Mitchell ‘Thanks, Antoine! Couldn't agree more with ‘your compliments for Jason, Ed and Marte, but ‘no love for inker Dexter Vines? I'm assuming you just forgot to mention him, but 1 want to AMAZING X-MEN was lterally amazing! ‘This new book brought @ breath of fresh ai. ‘The weiting and art reminded me of the old X-Men adventures and had a great balance of ‘being nostalgic and modern at the same time. Ws lke the X-Men, Peter Pan, and Pirates of the Carribean mixed into one. i just fet fun. ‘loved the banter and al different characters Interacting with one another. (That pane! with Firestar and Iceman was gold, reminded me ‘of SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS.) Jason Aaron writes a brillant Northstar, never ‘thought I'd like that character. It was great to hhave the students step back for a while and Jt the teachers have some fun. And may ! say the arton this book was incredible! The pages ‘were full of life and adventure. | hope we have Ed McGuinness on this book fora tong time! | believe this is and willbe the greatest X-Men ‘book to come for long time, but it has to be the team of Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness. {W's a wonderful jumping-on point for any now fans out there and brings freshness to tong {time fans. This Is the book X-Fans have been waiting for! David Cabs | picked David's letter because of his hope for Edto stay on this book fora long time.‘That's the plan, David. Ed's doing 1-5, taking 1 breather on #6 and the plan Is for him to be back on #7 for another huge story that 1 ‘can't even start teasing yet. Half the reason this book oxists Is because Ed Is the iggost Nightcrawler fan in the world and wouldn't ‘stop pestering me to bring him back. He's in it for the long haul! iant writing from Ja on and great art from Ed So, Not for nothing, I recKon you tke This comic, Reed. ox ue izing! | have been a fan for many ye y lovely wife Amber ae abipradinn Mceasisedag eeaeitbom ase s ( two questions though, 1) will sltnslibefesveaneiio cep sehpypoeseepetl ‘Amber sounds like a smart lady, Chad. Hang ‘onto her. To answer your questions! This WILL be the lineup for the foreseeable future, but ‘don’t be surprised if some characters get more focus than others, like in this issue where we ‘don't see alot of Rachel, Angel or Warbird. And Logan DOES NOT have his healing factor here, which makes It even scarier! If you aren't reading Paul Cornell and Alan Davis's current run of WOLVERINE, YOU ARE MISSING OUT! Seriously, | fr boon more proud to el geek! (You s fe In progress!) Yo SEND PICS OF YOUR SLEEVE, MIKEY! If Pm ‘amazed of horrified, I might print it! , Pm really stoked to see the Valois unny and friendly the Send letters to: offic com Icox@marvel. 135 W 50TH ST. 7TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10020 (PLEASE MARK “OKAY TO PRINT?) desi onenahT). Anreeay, wellene ~ thie thie the old Bret volume chance, and it looks 1 6s walt flying colors! ‘Thanks, Dakota! You aren't the only one ‘who wants a new costume for Firestar. | like what Ed has here, but we'll keep it under ‘consideration. line finally bi thing cool. Even probably one favorite things. | think i's just BAMEs in sascas pan pada Randy echoed a lot of readers who want plush Bamfs! Pl see what can do! X-MEN or derawlar has abuays been my t Yan. Growl See jecting Hope. 1 tke that ieee come tas iodo Sc, tattte tan 5 Selita What a nice letter, Sean. Your mother ‘sounds pretty amazing in her own right. Glad you liked itt depressing week so far, b that MEN Is 1 two 0 tose my money t Xmen Nightcrawler died so tr finaly get to read ny week. them and put them a3 find a job frst. Sorry about your job, Steve, but glad we ‘could put a smile on your face. Write back to tus and tell us what you do or want to do for a living and maybe we and the X-Fans out there ‘can help you out! ‘Seo you all on January 15th for the third Issuel a MEX T: