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Hey everybody, welcome to another great character spotlight, right here in Marvel Snapshot! This week, the focus will be on a female character from the X-Men, and it will be Kitty Pryde! Yes this woman was once a wide-eyed little girl that joined the team under some very crazy circumstances, and we’ll get to that right now! She was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne (Uncanny X-Men #129, 1980).

Way back in X-Men history, there was a little story called “Dark Phoenix,” you might have heard of it. The X-Men had just finished battling Proteus, and were heading back home. Jean Grey was subtly being manipulated by Jason Wyngarde, and the team was in a bit of disarray. Xavier became aware of a young mutant named Katherine Pryde. She and her family lived in Chicago, but when Kitty reached adolescence, she began having very bad headaches. These were a symptom of her mutant powers activating.
One day, she left school early because of one of these headaches, and came home to find her parents talking with a “Miss Frost.” Emma had also learned of Kitty’s powers, and wanted to recruit her for her school. As Emma is walking out of the house, she bumps into Xavier, Wolverine, Colossus, and Storm, who are also there to recruit Kitty. While Professor Xavier stays to talk with Kitty’s parents at the house, the X-Men take Kitty to a diner for some lunch. Just as things seem to be going good, three armored goons assault the X-Men, but are beaten handily. They do provide a distraction, though, giving Emma the chance she needs to mentally knocked them out. Kitty, however, phases through the diner wall, and watches from the alleyway. She quickly phases through the exterior of the ship that the X-Men were taken aboard, and thinks that this course of action might have been a mistake.
In the end, Kitty manages to free the X-Men, and become part of one of the biggest stories in Marvel history. The next biggest thing of note was a little story called “God Loves, Man Kills.” In it, Kitty is a central figure in fighting a crazed lunatic called Reverend Stryker. She learns some huge lessons in this story, as do all the X-Men. An adventure against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, a fight alone against the N’Garai demon, and eventually developing feelings and a relationship with Colossus. She gains a lifelong friend on a mission in outer space, too. Lockheed, an intelligent, fire-breathing dragon, to be exact!

Over the years she’s endured possession by Ogun, the Morlock Massacre, a brief tenure as an agent of SHIELD, and a long standing assignment to the team Excalibur, where she also had a love interest named Pete Wisdom. Kitty has risen to great heights, saved the team and planet, and has even run Xavire’s school! She is certainly one of Marvel’s best female characters, and hopefully she’ll be around for a long time!
As usual, check out my recommended reading list below, and some of Kitty’s best cover shots from over the years. See you next time!
Recommended Reading:
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga – Tpb
God Loves, Man Kills – OGN (HC)
X-Men: Kitty Pryde & Wolverine – HC
Uncanny X-Men: Breaking Point – Tpb
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Tpb

Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net