X-Men: Kitty Pryde—Shadow & Flame

(Marvel, 2005–2006)
™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

A splinter group of The Hand is watching, when Kitty goes looking for an old flame. Actually, it’s an old love interest of Lockheed, her pet dragon. When confronted by street thugs, Kitty displays the skills she learned in the 80s Kitty Pryde & Wolverine mini-series. With her mutant phasing ability perfectly matched with the combat skills of a ninja, Kitty is a character with lots of room for exploration. After the 80s mini-series, I figured that Kitty, despite being named after a brand of cat litter, was destined to become one of Marvel’s marquee characters.

Now, 20 years later, Kitty’s growth finally continues. The storytelling is fine, but there are kinks with the manga-ized art. While the background burlap weave works fine on the cover illustration, the use of other, varied Zip-a-Tones throughout the interior doesn’t always work as effectively as it would have in black and white. With computer coloring, the patterns go from providing gray tones to looking pixilated.

Still, both the series and the character have a lot of potential.

— Michael Tierney

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