Permanent? In comics? No such thing...

They probably haven't figured out a suitably "in-your-face" enough method of enraging the fans with a controversial rescue yet. I foresee a "how many people have to die to save this one woman?" storyline eventually emerging, although they could as easily wind up going with the "her body is now made of steel as hard as her heart" approach. Hey, howsabout the ol' "No one will ever know what she had to do to get out of there. No one must ever suspect..."

Has anyone else noticed that the title "Wolverine: First Class" features a very Byrne-era like take on Kitty? The issues I've read, alternately written by Fred Van Lente and Peter David, seem to have a solid, if somewhat light-hearted, appreciation for the character as she once was.

In regards this commission, this is a great deal of fun! Congratulations, Jodi! JB, how can you say you can't draw horses after this? :-)

   This has to be the first time I ever saw JB draw Lockheed.  I wonder how much the commission cost, considering that he never really drew the character (outside of an OHOTMU cover, possibly).  One of the quaint little elements in Claremont's post-JB era UXM issues.

   Of course, I also like JB's take on Kitty as a teenager.  Marvel certainly took her far afield from that in recent years...

••

When I left, Dave Cockrum returned to the X-MEN, and he captured my
version of Kitty perfectly. Then came Paul Smith. Paul is an excellent
artist, but he very much comes from the This-Is-How-/-Draw-Them
school. Recall that I was mystified by the introduction of Madlyne Pryor
because Paul's Jean Gray looked nothing like mine, or Dave's or anyone
else's. Ditto his Kitty, who almost immediately changed from "young
Sigourney Weaver" to Brooke Shields.

With that change, plus Claremont's writing of the character (even when I
was still on the book Kitty was far "off-model" from what I intended) Kitty
became fair game, and each artist who subsequently drew her brought his
own "vision" to the character. Add in the fact that so many artists in
comics simply cannot draw kids, and we're on our way to… Well,
we all know what we're on our way to!

Add in the fact that so many artists in
comics simply cannot draw kids, and we're on our way to… Well,
we all know what we're on our way to!

***************

I thought Cassie Sandmark is a classic example of some people simply just not getting it. You had a spunky, girl-next-door with whom young female fans could identify and within five years at the most, she's a midriff-wearing hottie... in other words, a fantasy for male fans, which shouldn't have been the point.