If you find the rest of the series in the long box but not this one, I got there first!

I won't buy it every time, but if it's a cheap copy? Yeah, buying it again! From 1984, Crystar #6, "Demon" Written by Jo Duffy, pencils by Ricardo Villamonte, inks by Dave Simons. The best cover by Michael Golden!

Weirdly, while I know I had the first and third issues for sure, I don't think I got a copy of this one until much later, although I suspect I might've read it in-store. Nightcrawler guest-stars this issue, gets more panel time than in like a year of Uncanny X-Men, and is of course just the coolest. After a session in the Danger Room (where we hear the Professor, but don't see him or any of the other X-Men) Kurt gets dressed up for a date with his girlfriend Amanda. Although it hadn't come up in a while and she was semi-retired, she was a pretty decent sorceress, and had been trying to follow up on a weird magical feeling she had experienced lately: too late, she warns Kurt, maybe don't teleport near the space rift...

Kurt gets zapped to Crystalium...that is a terrible name for a planet. Oh, like 'earth' is that great. He hides out as two local farmers walk their dragon, but is then spotted by the youngest crystal warrior, Stalax, who thinks he must be a Chaos demon. While Crystar and his men search for the 'demon,' Kurt is taken in by Moltar and his lava men, who assume he's on their side. Lava babe Lavour gives Kurt the tour, and confides that Moltar and his wizard Zardeth are probably sweating the idea that he's there to replace them. (EDIT: Lavour had dated first one brother, then the other; she was conniving, greedy, and calculating. So, basically the book's Veronica.)

Stalax finds Kurt's clothes, since he changed into his usual costume after arriving; and Crystar recognizes them as earth garments: maybe it's not a Chaos demon after all. But, the crystal girl wizard Ika gets captured by the lava men, who plan to kill her, and Kurt doesn't hold with that: he saves Ika, Crystar and company show up, and a bit of a scuffle ensues. Kurt teleports around to draw fire, and maybe showboat a bit, and the heroes get away safely. Ika is grateful at being saved, and offers to send Kurt back to earth...maybe later. Hours after disappearing, Kurt reappears at Amanda's, where she's a little miffed to recognize he had some gems from Ika! If Kurt talks his way out of that one, that's his real mutant power!

Checking out the racks that month, G.I. Joe #21 was also on sale; but I suspect my favorite was the first issue of the second Hercules mini-series. Chris Claremont would have still had a firm grip on the X-Men: X-Men/Micronauts #3 and New Mutants #13 would have been the only ancillary X-titles that month; but I wish Jo Duffy had gotten to do more with Nightcrawler.