Kitty Pryde Starts a New Phase of Her Life in the Debut of Exceptional X-Men

A while back, I wrote a bit about how I think you really need to give new comic book approaches some grace. Essentially, you have to at least allow them the conceit. One of the problems with characters who have been around so long is that naturally, people have grown to have very specific ideas about the characters, and thus, when you do something DIFFERENT with them, then that automatically gets people’s danders up a bit. And while that is obviously a natural enough impulse, I don’t think it is necessarily a FAIR one, and because of that, you get situations where fans will write off a comic book just because of the setup, because they preferred an earlier setup.

This is a long way to note that the Kitty Pryde of Exceptional X-Men #1 (by Eve Ewing, Carmen Carnero, Nolan Woodard and Joe Sabino) is a LOT different from the Kate Pryde that we last saw during the Fall of X, where she had adopted the codename of Shadowkat, and was using her ninja skills to slaughter as many Orchis agents as possible as revenge for the seeming death of hundreds of thousands of mutants earlier in the crossover. She is now a bartender in Chicago, trying to deconnect from the world of mutants, and just fade into the background of the world. Some fans might not like that idea, or prefer the Kate Pryde of the Krakoan Age, but A. This is pretty much the same thing her co-creator, Chris Claremont, did in the Mekanix miniseries about twenty years ago, so it seems pretty logical enough to me for her to do, and B. Whether you like that idea or not, you really should at least give the approach a shot.

What causes Kitty to break out of her routine?

One of the main takeaways from this issue is Ewing confirming that Ms. Pryde is bisexual, as she plans to go on a date with a woman in this issue (she thinks that she was stood up, but in reality, she got the date wrong, and the date was on the NEXT night), but circumstances prevent it from happening. However, I mean, come on, we all knew she was bisexual, right? Heck, CBR did a “Marvel confirms her bisexuality” article on a story from Marauders back in 2020! So the bisexual thing is a bit of a non-story, but still interesting, nonetheless!

The bigger thing, of course, is that Kate Pryde has decided to basically cut herself off from mutantdom, and “assimilate” into Chicago as a bartender. However, on the aforementioned failed date, she sees a young mutant about to be killed by a bouncer after she was rejected entry from a concert, and her mutant powers kicked in out of frustration…

It’s a harrowing scene, and very well-handled by Carnero and Woodard. The scene was SO harrowing that it breaks Kate out of her funk a bit when she realizes that this young mutant is yearning for someone to help her with her situation as a mutant in a world that, well, you know, hates and fears mutants (again, the bouncer was about to SHOOT HER IN THE HEAD). In an adorable scene, the young mutant sends Kate a care package, and it breaks her out of her funk, and she realizes that she needs to help out this young mutant, and in embracing this old part of her life, including a little bit of a light in her gloomy world, she also re-embraces the name “Kitty.”

I’ve written before why I think it makes sense to go back to “Kitty,” but the embrace of the name was particularly well-handled in the issue itself, as it really does mark a nice moment (I love when Kitty wears the earrings the young mutant sent her).

How does Kitty reconnect with Emma Frost?

At the end of the issue, we see Emma Frost, who has also cut herself off a bit from the world of the X-Men, but she has obviously decided to go back to teaching and helping young mutants, something that she and Kitty very much have in common (as they are two of the most notable mutant teachers in X-Men history).

She then decides to reach out to Kitty, and that’s how the first issue ends. It’s interesting that Ewing chose to end the issue with only one of the new mutants in the team introduced, although the one she chose (Bronze) is definitely an interesting one to start off with, as it helps to break Kitty out of her funk.

Ewing’s introduction of Kitty’s old high school classmate, Priti, is a smart one, as it is great to have an outside perspective on Kitty’s life (the bit where Priti reveals that she is tracking Kitty’s location, and is thrilled that Kitty has actually left their apartment is ADORABLE). Carnerno and Woodard are up and coming artists at Marvel, who are coming off a great Captain America run, and they do a fine job on the art in the issue.

As noted, this is heavy on the setup, but it is good setup, so it is overall a strong opening to the new series, giving the X-Men line three very distinctive flagship titles in the “From the Ashes” era of the series. There is already some strong continuity (with the reveal in X-Men #2 that being a mutant can be “contagious”), but it will be interesting to see how much closer they get.

Source: Marvel