Nightscrawlers

(If someone has already reported on this, I apologize- hopefully you all haven't seen this already. )

I don't know how many of you are fans of manga as opposed to reading primarily or only western comics, but I was wondering if any of you had heard anything about the upcoming X-men manga due out in early 2009.

The manga is being released by Del Rey, and features Kitty Pryde (of course) as the newest and onyl female member at the Xavier Institute.

Pros: Nightcrawler is her best friend

Cons: He's 'goth'

Pros: He's kind of hawt if you dig the emaciated demon with perfect hair aesthetic

Cons: Kitty seems to wear underpants on her head. It might be a hat.

This is a shoujo series (a girl's comic) and Kitty's romantic interest appears to be an aloof Iceman. (Not sure where that combo came from, maybe people liked Iceman as a romantic interest in the movies?) Probably more about relationships and Kitty's own issues than actual fighting and butt kicking, but then I could be wrong.

(Although if you're more interested in butt-kicking, they are also releasing a Wolverine manga at the same time, this one a shounen/boys series.)

But I couldn't just post this headline without some pictures! Only recently they've put out some new character sketches. Yay!

http://manga.about.com/od/newmangaprevi ... -Pryde.htm
Kitty Pryde. Err... I find it a little hard to reconcile this ball of sugar with the Kitty we know, but maybe I'll be surprised.

http://manga.about.com/od/newmangaprevi ... -.--n7.htm
Beast's design is RIDICULOUS! He looks like Totoro! He's still insanely cute and I want a plush.

http://manga.about.com/od/imagegallerie ... stique.htm
Mystique, looking really young here. I wonder if they played with her age?

http://manga.about.com/od/imagegallerie ... verine.htm
Wolverine. This is the version for the *shoujo* manga. Apparently people freaked out when they thought this was the one intended for the action-packed boys manga.

http://manga.about.com/od/imagegallerie ... agneto.htm
Magneto looks like he should be capturing princesses!

http://manga.about.com/od/imagegallerie ... -X-Men.htm
Jean Grey. I'm sure cosplayers are woring on this costume as we speak.

http://manga.about.com/od/newmangaprevi ... n.--nD.htm
Iceman and Nightcrawler. I like Kurt's design overall- except for the long claw-like fingernails. It reminds me of alternate universe Nazi-Nightcrawler and his untrimmed toenails.

Yummy ... I wanna date Jean Grey! Oh, wait, I'm a married woman ... never mind ...

Okay, Beast should NOT, in ANY universe or country look like an overstuffed badger! They wanna draw Beast, I'll send my Dad over to model. Shame, shame. Bad Beast.

Mystique: not bad. Not bad at all.

Wolverine: not bad. Passable. Doesn't scare me enough; I think Logan should always be a little bit scaaaaary, like one relative in every family who everyone else hopes won't show up at holiday functions but is tolerated if he does.

Kurt ... ahem ... not bad. I suppose one *could* learn to love him ... but he looks funny with pupils ... that sounds funny, but you know what I mean. One could easily see him garnering the moniker "fuzzy elf" in this edition.

Thanks for sharing, Cat.

I wonder who they'll try and hook Kurt up with. As far as I know the best friend always his/her significant other before the main part, so that there is jealousy because he/she has now less time.

...I think I've just admitted that I read girly comics...*cough*

And yeah, spikey Kurt doesn't work out that well for me, but otherwise he looks really cool. I think Kurt should always look very demonic and act all funny and friendly.

Although...Bobby?...

Thank you for sharing! I can't believe they managed to make wolverine 'willowy' but they did.

OMFGWTFBBQBEAST!!!!! Um... yeah. Looks interesting?

Whoa I like that style nighty. hmmmm....

Ooookay. Can honestly say I think I'll steer clear of this. If these are what the characters look like in sketches, god knows what they'll be like in the text.

Ok: my thoughts.

Kitty looks okay, but yeah, I agree. The hat is a little much.
Beast looks cute. Not true to the character, but cute, nonetheless.
Mystique is smokin. So is Jean.
Wolvie looks good, but I think he should be more stout. Not so skinny.
Magneto is eh.... he needs an awesome helmet.
Iceman just looks normal. Got no prob with that.
And Nighty... sweet. I like the changes made; the Japanese always have to put a spin on things. Why not? The nails make him look devilish and while I prefer no pupils, they make him work.

You know, they could have done so much better, I mean there is some amazing Manga out there, why not try that great manga styles, before falling back on this kind of....kiddies look

Oh dear... I'm not a fan of shoujo manga as it is, but I'll have to pick this up just for kicks. (But there's gonna be a shonen manga also? That one could be more promising... *if* Nighty's in it!)

What do you mean by "goth"? If he just dresses that way, fine; I just hope his personality more befits our 'Crawler!

Kitty's cute, and definitely looks better with short hair manga-style than she ever did canonically. But I don't see why she couldn't have her curls! And the hat and cat ears are way too much. IMO, not Kitty at all.

Wolvie: EGAD.

Beast: ... *snuggle*

It's probably going to be a fluffy romantic story that would have worked perfectly well with ordinary non-mutant, non-X-men characters. *sigh* I'm with steyn, if they ever put out an X-men manga that was actually supposed to go somewhere, rather than make a quick buck by riddling it with cliches, I'd be happy.

@ steyn- well, keep in mind, this is a girl's manga. It's being targeted at... well, early teenage girls. This sort of art style is pretty standard for that sort of manga. Really flowery, blah blah blah. Can't say I like it for X-men myself, but if that's what they're going for- they could have done a LOT worse with some of these designs.

@ Feurstien- I wish I could explain more about what 'goth' is supposed to mean. I honestly don't know, that is simply how the Del Rey press release described him, with no elaboration. My guess is that it's their way of stepping around having him actually be *gasp* religous in any real way. Which seems strange, (especially since it's being written by American writers who should be adept at handling western religion better than the average Japanese mangaka) but, I guess I can understand the choice. It's a girl's manga, romance oriented, not gonna change the face of comics as we know it. Someone, while looking at a whiteboard of characters thought "How can we make this trait of Nightcrawler's more accessible to the average teenage manga reader?" and that's what they came up with.
I can't imagine they made him weepy and mopey though.
I also agree with you. The Kitty design is cute- but she's got about as much in common with Kitty Pryde as... um... this stick of gum I'm chewing.

The Wolverine Manga might be more what some of you are looking for. Being a Shonen (boy's) series- it's more focused on action etc. I think it's meant to be an origin story? Logan looks to be pretty young. Either way, I can see it working out a little better. At least Wolverine's got ties to Japan.

He looks more like a bondage goth than a mopey goth.

lol @ Iceman. I can't actually read the manga my students bring to school cause it's not in English, but they are always enamored with the faggiest-looking character so I assume that means he, with that delicate pout and those slanty ice queen eyebrows, will be the romantic lead.

There are slightly higher quality pictures here.

You can see that the bandage picture is described as "weird accessories" and that he definitely has a big ol' rat tail hanging off the back of his head.

Heh. Side note - as a goth myself, I object to the 'weepy and mopey' goth stuff. Goths as a rule aren't. It's the EMOS that are, AKA that design of Bobby

So yes. Beast is Totoro. That will be interesting, as I now won't be able to read him without the 'Totoro' song going through my head. (Though I now want to watch that again.)

Kitty is....heh. Interesting. Kinda. But if this is aimed at teenage girls, of course Kitty will be the teenage girl they all wanna be.

I lol'd at Wolvie. Really lol'd. Pretty boy!!

Mystique is cool, as is Jean, I can totally go with that - at least they haven't got oversized!boobs. And is it wrong that when I saw Mags the first word I thought of was 'Sephiroth'?

And gothy NC? Dude, hawt. Weird with the pupils and the claws are....hmm, but yeah. I don't think they've taken away the fun from how he's drawn there, but I guess we can only sit and wait to see.

Yeah, that rat tail doesn't win many points from me. I have scissors! Wanna snip!

Also what is the weird way his tail departs from his spine? It's like this boney plating, and it diverges from too high up.

Other than that he just needs a good manicure, and he'd not be bad at all. Though...what is WITH the mask? I see that a lot with manga and I've not figured out if it's a fashion statement or a SARS hangover.

Paws

Yuck, they are all too "good looking" for my taste.

It probably has something to do with the masculinity being... No where, if Bobby and Kurt would have breasts drawn, they would be female characters.


Hank though, looks hardcore.

[Edited on 18/5/2008 by Crocodile Hunter]

HAH! I agree. I like men to look like men...manga tends to be very slight men that have very feminine features. Where'd all the chest hair go? Jaw lines? Any of it?

Hank looks like one of those inflatable clown things I had as a kid that if you punched it would pop right back up.

Chest hair and jaw lines are ugly. 'tis why I like women

Also, 10 bucks of there being slash fics up about this right the day after the book hits the stands?

LOL Croc.

What you have to remember, though, is that this is shouju. It's done for girls, so the art is pretty girly, tbh. You'll probably find that the boys will look more hardcore and the girls will have bigger boobs in the boy's manga

Originally posted by fourpawsonthefloor
Yeah, that rat tail doesn't win many points from me. I have scissors! Wanna snip!

Also what is the weird way his tail departs from his spine? It's like this boney plating, and it diverges from too high up.

Other than that he just needs a good manicure, and he'd not be bad at all. Though...what is WITH the mask? I see that a lot with manga and I've not figured out if it's a fashion statement or a SARS hangover.

Paws

If it was that, Kitty would be the one wearing it. They aren't really a fashion statement, I think they are supposed to be protection from the dust.



Kurt's bandage thing looks like a "goth" fashion statement with the bandages or whatever it's supposed to be. Maybe he's pretending to be Jono.

The tail looks more logical to me this way, it's got some support like it could actually support his weight.

I think the mask is supposed to make him all ninja

I kind of like the tail, but it's still too high, although I still prefer old fashioned kurt's tail. very yummy

[Edited on 19/5/2008 by steyn]

Originally posted by The Drastic Spastic

Originally posted by fourpawsonthefloor
Yeah, that rat tail doesn't win many points from me. I have scissors! Wanna snip!

Also what is the weird way his tail departs from his spine? It's like this boney plating, and it diverges from too high up.

Other than that he just needs a good manicure, and he'd not be bad at all. Though...what is WITH the mask? I see that a lot with manga and I've not figured out if it's a fashion statement or a SARS hangover.

Paws

They aren't really a fashion statement, I think they are supposed to be protection from the dust.

Don't know about Japan, but in China and South Korea people wear them cause of the shit condition of city air, pollution etc.

Originally posted by Crocodile Hunter

Originally posted by The Drastic Spastic

Originally posted by fourpawsonthefloor
Yeah, that rat tail doesn't win many points from me. I have scissors! Wanna snip!

Also what is the weird way his tail departs from his spine? It's like this boney plating, and it diverges from too high up.

Other than that he just needs a good manicure, and he'd not be bad at all. Though...what is WITH the mask? I see that a lot with manga and I've not figured out if it's a fashion statement or a SARS hangover.

Paws

They aren't really a fashion statement, I think they are supposed to be protection from the dust.

Don't know about Japan, but in China and South Korea people wear them cause of the shit condition of city air, pollution etc.

You will still see people in South Korea wearing those medical masks when the air is perfectly good for breathing.

Originally posted by The Drastic Spastic

Originally posted by Crocodile Hunter

Originally posted by The Drastic Spastic They aren't really a fashion statement, I think they are supposed to be protection from the dust.

Don't know about Japan, but in China and South Korea people wear them cause of the shit condition of city air, pollution etc.

You will still see people in South Korea wearing those medical masks when the air is perfectly good for breathing.

better safe then sorry

Its like wearing condoms when you aren't having sex! Pish.

Actually there was a south park episode on that...LOL

Paws