Lockheed

A big comic convention like New York Comic Con is a fantastic time to pick up some exclusive goodies, and just like every year, Funko has outdone itself with this year's line-up. The collectibles juggernaut has unveiled a range of exclusives for this year's NYCC featuring awesome Batman, X-Men, and Suicide Squad toys and more.

In a universe brimming with unique superheroes, and a franchise full of cool looks, Nightcrawler stands out. Kurt Wagner was born looking like a monster, but he takes pride in his appearance and makes great use of his teleportation power to focus on being a Big Damn Hero. I've always liked Nightcrawler, and was happy when my friends gifted me a print of the cover to the first issue of the 1985-1986 Nightcrawler miniseries, written and drawn by his co-creator Dave Cockrum. I'd heard good things about the series so I bought it on Comixology and wound up having a fun, funny ride that was a joy to be on.

Who are the greatest ever X-Men? Over the coming weeks, we’re going to try to answer that question, selecting five X-Men at a time from across the franchise’s long history, and pairing up your votes with the opinions of our own panel of highly opinionated X-Men fans. Your scores will be added to ours to determine the top 100 X-Men. Today we're voting on two of Kitty Pryde's very best friends, the dragon and the demon. We also want you to weigh in on one of the many Angels, the first of multiple Beasts, and the one and only... Artie Maddicks.

Although cosplay has been present for decades within the comics, anime, and sci-fi/fantasy fandoms, social media has played an integral role in the thriving communities of costuming that exist, such as Cosplay.com and the Superhero Costuming Forum. Over the years, the cosplay community has evolved into a creative outlet for many fans to establish and showcase some impressive feats of homemade disguise, craftsmanship, and sartorial superheroics at conventions. In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we’ve discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent.

Welcome back to Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men, a weekly podcast in which X-Perts Rachel Edidin and Miles Stokes explore the ins, outs, and retcons of fifty years of Marvel’s greatest superhero soap opera! This week: Professor X is (canonically!) a jerk, Miles has Sidrian Hunter feelings, Kitty Pryde is Clarissa Darling with a dragon, we introduce a drinking game, the X-Men do Barbarella, Rachel has a ‘shipper moment, Rogue joins the team, Storm gets a haircut, Mastermind is still the worst, and Madelyne Pryor is underrated.

It may be a hoax, a dream and an imaginary story all rolled into one, but this sketch of Kitty Pryde as Flavor Flav and Lockheed as Chuck D by Marvel's upcoming "S.W.O.R.D." artist Steven Sanders will make a lot of folks' mornings: Here's the maestro's explanation via Twitter: "So for warm-up I did a Kitty Pryde as Flavor Flav w/ huge Star of David...