Starting off 2020 - a new decade - with a few 'X-Men' comics, and I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by most of what I've read.
Specifically, I'm very impressed with Kitty Pryde.
I read 'X-Men: Kitty Pryde & Wolverine' a couple of years ago, but now that I've received my own copy instead of a library one, and have read more about Kitty in the original comics by Chris Claremont, I've come to appreciate her enough that not only is she my favourite X-Man, but she is one of my new favourite superheroines ever.
I bountifully admire her. She is an inspiration, and I wish that she had been given the love, respect, and popularity she deserves in recent comics, and in other mediums.
Any 'X-Men' screen adaptations do NOT do this girl justice - that is, when they bother to include her at all. Katherine "Kitty" Pryde is not some whiny teenager and low ranking X-Man whose mutant power of phasing through solid objects is the only thing that marks her out as special. No, Kitty is brave, practical, tenacious, determined, and is a child prodigy with a genius IQ; while still believably a young teenage girl, with adorable and relatable perks. She's not repulsed by her abilities and who she is, she's excited! She is a dancer, an ice skater, and later a great martial artist - for powers alone do not make a hero, hard work does. She is Jewish and the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. Storm is one of her best girl-friends. Ordinary and X-traordinary (sorry not sorry) at the same time, this kitten is learning and growing all the time. Oh, and she can "air walk" - practically fly!
(She has thick brown hair, like me, too!)
Hard to believe that Kitty was only thirteen when she was first introduced. She started out at the beginning of 'The Dark Phoenix Saga'. Read the comics to get a sense of the real Kitty Pryde! She's a sweetheart who's not to be underestimated and messed with!
I've read little of Kitty's more recent comics - there doesn't seem to be a lot about her, at least as her own independent hero, which is a shame - but from the days of the classic eighties 'The Uncanny X-Men' run - mass overuse of dialogue and thought balloons and all - Kitty Pryde was a young feminist icon that that decade sorely needed. She empowers teenage girls and does them justice; in the old comics, anyway.
In 'X-Men: Kitty Pryde & Wolverine', Kitty gets into the most dangerous situations and suffers egregiously - physically, emotionally, and mentally - as no teenager should. For her troubles and wanting to help her family, she is used and abused on a horrific, monstrous scale; you could say demonic, if not psychically. But she is stronger than she thinks she is, and in time she may rise above her trauma, without letting it completely take over her life. She has friends and allies; people who care for her.
An eighties Marvel comic that takes a female character's trauma seriously and gives it the weight it warrants - what a shock! While not empowering Kitty exactly (as trauma shouldn't; too often it's used as a cheap, lazy, insensitive ploy in writing in order to "build character" - it doesn't and it shouldn't), it doesn't make her weak, helpless and dependent. Neither is she ever a typical "strong female character" who hides her emotions and true thoughts (she's very thoughtful and an open book). She's still Kitty, but undoubtedly changed by her experiences. Always does she aspire to do better, and be better.
This comic is as much Kitty's story, and about her development, as it is Wolverine/Logan's, if not more so. It is highly dramatic storytelling, and it is here where Kitty first adopts the codename Shadowcat (I never liked Sprite - it makes her seem small, flighty, delicate, and disposable, which is far from the truth).
As much as I enjoyed it, however, it being an eighties-nineties superhero comic, I have a few issues with it. I don't like the artwork - it's a bit flat, simplistic, ugly, and it doesn't incorporate enough detail, yet has overly detailed faces - those close-ups and mouths hanging open are off-putting. It being set mainly in Japan, it does contain stereotypes - of course the villains are ninjas, sumo wrestlers, and Yakuza-styled mobsters. At least there are about three Japanese female characters on the side of good who are complex and badass. Though sometimes the women are dressed inappropriately, are half naked, and/or are bathing with the artist giving us a fuller show of their cleavage than before. Ahh, the eighties! I hope this sexist work ethic is dying out at last.
But nothing is perfect, and regardless, 'X-Men: Kitty Pryde & Wolverine' is fun, gritty, and a fine highlight and turning point for Kitty (did I just rhyme?). It equally spotlights two of (arguably) the most famous X-Men in comics. Indeed I've quickly grown to appreciate Wolverine as well; far more than anything I've seen on television, especially those hugely sexist Hugh Jackman vehicles that call themselves 'X-Men' movies.
These characters have stood the test of time - from an imperfect time period, towards further imperfect times and misuses. Back to their roots, and as their own absolute selves, they are awesome.
Final Score: 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment