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X-Men: One-Shots
X-Men 2: The Movie
The X-Men struggle to find a balance between the human-hating mutants led by Magneto and mutant-hating humans, including William Stryker, a wealthy and ruthless former Army commander engaged on his own kind of crusade.
144 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2003
2 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Austen
432 books16 followersChuck Austen (born Chuck Beckum) is an American humor novelist, comic book writer and artist, TV writer and animator. In comics, he is known for his work on X-Men, War Machine, Elektra, and Action Comics, and in television, he is known for co-creating the animated TV series Tripping the Rift.
In his most recent prose novels, Chuck Austen has been going by the name Charles Austen.
In his most recent prose novels, Chuck Austen has been going by the name Charles Austen.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 14, 2025
Breve resumen de la segunda película de los mutantes de Marvel. En tan solo unas pocas páginas nos ofrece los momentos más importantes de la misma pero sin aportar nada nuevo. Por lo que simplemente solo sirve como una curiosidad para los fans de la cinta.
October 9, 2021
Oli tämä parempi kuin muistin, odotin tai pelkäsin. Mutta ei tämä likelläkään täydellistä kuitenkaan ollut. Taidekaan ei ollut täysin juosten kustu.
August 28, 2022
No recordaba lo hecha mierda que estaba esta revista ni lo pedorra que era la traducción y lo estúpido de la falta absoluta de tildes. Al menos creo que la ligué de arriba.
October 4, 2024
It serves its purpose as a comic book adaptation.
November 22, 2016
Despite my misgivings and the fact that I have no idea why he is called Kurt Wagner here, this comic probably handled his origin story a whole lot better than any other I read so far ever did. It is more consistent, we don't have the fake German stuff (at least not past some names) and no stereotypical gypsy crap. So basically they managed to make it fit Germany more, by basically erasing everything that they considered German; that is how unauthentic Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) is.
However, I would not count on him being German here. Sure the intro calls him "German-born" but this is even more unspecific than what we usually got. You see we got this giant blond guy who is called Werner, the circus is named Szardos ... if these are supposed to be Germans from Germany in Canada, why do they speak in English only? And yes it is English, no signs that it is supposed to be something else.
Also here Margali seems to be a 40 something redhead... well you could claim that her trinkets and ear ring and head scarf are supposed to be "Roma" but this here is so vague you can easily miss it. Which based on what I saw from Marvel so far is probably for the best.
Also this here has modern day caravans as they are typical for travelling circuses. Therefore I doubt the Szardos are still "gypsies" here. According to my experience Marvel would not portray "them" as actual contemporaries. They would have them in ancient wooden caravans and with really stereotypical gypsy or beggar clothes.
Also, I don't think that this is a German-circus, due to names like Woodhead and Chester. In addition Margali apparently called Kurt her little Nightcrawler because he was always up at night. By this you know that this was not written by any German of any sort (unless they are deeply Anglophile), since that name might sound endearing in English but not in German and probably not Romanes either. Had she called him Nightingale or something; that would have fit, but not Nightcrawler. No matter how you literally translate that term, it simply does not sound good in German and would not be a name any loving mother would give her child.
Despite that, this is overall a well written story, a whole lot better than what I usually got and shows what can be done if a character is free of the baggage of decades of chaotic canon.
PS. For some reason this Kurt has none of the ritual scars that his movie counterpart has. In fact he doesn't come along at all, like someone who would do that. Which is odd, because this is supposed to be a prequel to the film X-2.
However, I would not count on him being German here. Sure the intro calls him "German-born" but this is even more unspecific than what we usually got. You see we got this giant blond guy who is called Werner, the circus is named Szardos ... if these are supposed to be Germans from Germany in Canada, why do they speak in English only? And yes it is English, no signs that it is supposed to be something else.
Also here Margali seems to be a 40 something redhead... well you could claim that her trinkets and ear ring and head scarf are supposed to be "Roma" but this here is so vague you can easily miss it. Which based on what I saw from Marvel so far is probably for the best.
Also this here has modern day caravans as they are typical for travelling circuses. Therefore I doubt the Szardos are still "gypsies" here. According to my experience Marvel would not portray "them" as actual contemporaries. They would have them in ancient wooden caravans and with really stereotypical gypsy or beggar clothes.
Also, I don't think that this is a German-circus, due to names like Woodhead and Chester. In addition Margali apparently called Kurt her little Nightcrawler because he was always up at night. By this you know that this was not written by any German of any sort (unless they are deeply Anglophile), since that name might sound endearing in English but not in German and probably not Romanes either. Had she called him Nightingale or something; that would have fit, but not Nightcrawler. No matter how you literally translate that term, it simply does not sound good in German and would not be a name any loving mother would give her child.
Despite that, this is overall a well written story, a whole lot better than what I usually got and shows what can be done if a character is free of the baggage of decades of chaotic canon.
PS. For some reason this Kurt has none of the ritual scars that his movie counterpart has. In fact he doesn't come along at all, like someone who would do that. Which is odd, because this is supposed to be a prequel to the film X-2.
February 1, 2016
One-shot comic book prequel to X-2 following the back story of Nightcrawler.
Lamenting his unrequited love for his step-sister Amanda, our spiritual acrobat is captured by Stryker, given a psychotropic mutant extract drug and manipulated into killing.
Absolutely adored this. Its a really nice exploration into Nightcrawler's love of his step sister and Stryker's cruelty comes across wonderfully. Nightcrawler too is both tortured and heroic and a little bit devil-may-care. You've got the nice devil/angel duality going on too. The dialogue's punchy and Nightcrawler delivers some of his finest lines. Karl Kerschl's art is rather nice and Nightcrawler fans won't be disappointed, he's shirtless quite a bit in this one.
This is fairly specific so the only characters are Nightcrawler, Stryker, Amanda and Margali - this doesn't really have much of a bearing to the X-Men universe as a whole, but its dark, emotionally engaging and an excellent exploration into how Nightcrawler gets into the position he's in at the beginning of X-2.
Lamenting his unrequited love for his step-sister Amanda, our spiritual acrobat is captured by Stryker, given a psychotropic mutant extract drug and manipulated into killing.
Absolutely adored this. Its a really nice exploration into Nightcrawler's love of his step sister and Stryker's cruelty comes across wonderfully. Nightcrawler too is both tortured and heroic and a little bit devil-may-care. You've got the nice devil/angel duality going on too. The dialogue's punchy and Nightcrawler delivers some of his finest lines. Karl Kerschl's art is rather nice and Nightcrawler fans won't be disappointed, he's shirtless quite a bit in this one.
This is fairly specific so the only characters are Nightcrawler, Stryker, Amanda and Margali - this doesn't really have much of a bearing to the X-Men universe as a whole, but its dark, emotionally engaging and an excellent exploration into how Nightcrawler gets into the position he's in at the beginning of X-2.
September 18, 2014
Chuck Austen potrebbe anche essere uno scrittore leggibile. Potrebbe, ma questa ipotetica convinzione crolla come un muro colpito da una palla demolitrice quando scrive il personaggio di Nightcrawler. Oddio, sarebbe già crollata se citassimo la sua orripilante e illeggibile run sugli X-Men, ma oggi il masochismo non ci va proprio. Nei fumetti, odiato dalle genti perchè mutante dal non troppo bell'aspetto simil-demoniaco; nella realtà: punito per inspiegabili motivi con un flagello di nome Chuck Austen. Cosa avrà mai fatto di male il povero Kurt Wagner per meritarsi questo scrittore? Egregi Signori della Marvel, non credete che l'elfo blu me l'avete fatto soffrire un po' troppo? Non vi sentite un po' in colpa per aver permesso ad Austen di mettere le sue luride zampacce su Nightcrawler? Questo numero merita di essere studiato nelle scuole durante la lezione dedicata a come non dovrebbe essere raccontata una storia, perchè anche questo bisogna sapere, come evitare di raccontare storie brutte. E di storie brutte, Chuck "Il Mariottide dei fumetti" Austen ne sa a pacchi.
November 12, 2012
I love everything Marvel. The storylines are incredible! They have everything you could want: action, adventure, comedy, romance, political intrigue, allegories, metaphors, etc. Some stories drag, some end too soon.
July 26, 2009
A little bit more backstory on Nightcrawler was nice but all in all - left too much story out.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews