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Kitty Pryde (2005) #1-5

Astonishing X-Men: Kitty Pryde - Shadow & Flame

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A deadly mystery draws Kitty Pryde and her fire-breathing friend Lockheed from Astonishing X-Men to the shores of Japan. Ninjas and dragons will be the least of their worries Featuring art by legendary X-Men artist Paul Smith and written by Age of Apocalypse scribe Akira Yoshida Collects X-Men: Kitty Pryde - Shadow & Flame #1-5.

120 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2006

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255 people want to read

About the author

Akira Yoshida

93 books7 followers
Pseudonym of C.B. Cebulski

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5 stars
75 (25%)
4 stars
92 (31%)
3 stars
87 (29%)
2 stars
32 (10%)
1 star
7 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Chad.
10.4k reviews1,061 followers
April 21, 2022
A solid successor to Kitty Pryde & Wolverine. I liked that Cebulski didn't try and resurrect Ogun. This is about his legacy, another ninja clan he started. The plot threads can be a bit scattershot. In order to keep showing double crosses and betrayals, motivations behind then were often lost and unclear. I don't think it's necessary to have read the original, but why wouldn't you? The original was smack dab in the X-Men's prime.
Profile Image for Becky.
866 reviews75 followers
September 19, 2014
This was SO fun. I LOVE competency porn, and I LOVE Kitty Pryde.
The comic I read before this one was the Wolverine and the X-Men with Kitty's mystic pregnancy, and then I read this one and was like... remember when Kitty was bad-ass?! Remember when she was best friends with a dragon, had ninja know-how, and could out-think anyone?! Remember when she was such an honorable warrior that House Yashida let her wield their ancient sword?! Remember when she could speak Japanese and had incredible swordsmanship?!

I miss those days.

This was a fantastic run. I want it. And I want someone good to write the X-Men again so we can have more comics like this one.
Profile Image for Alex E.
1,731 reviews13 followers
January 4, 2022
Kitty Pride is summoned back to Japan under the impression that there is a female dragon that could be a good mate for Lockheed. But when she gets there, she gets dragged back into the world of Ogun, ninjas and all.

It was a nice throwback to the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine series to revisit the Ogun storyline, and I'm glad Akira Yoshida took the wise approach of not bringing Ogun back to life somehow. Instead the legacy of Ogun is what survives, and Kitty's place in that is where the crux of the story is.

Unfortunately the story kind of meanders until it reaches a conclusion that was pretty well telegraphed. The writing itself was very reminiscent of more silver age comic book writing, which is ok if you are into that style. To me the book seemed a bit dated and in need of a more modern approach. The art was very much in line with this older style of storytelling, so if you are into that aesthetic, this might be more your cup of tea.
Profile Image for Scott.
2,275 reviews270 followers
January 3, 2018
Maybe it's because Kitty - along with Jessica Jones, though for different reasons - is probably my favorite Marvel female character that I rate Shadow & Flame 4 stars. At this point I would probably read just about any damn thing (Kitty Pryde - Assists Congress Balancing the Budget) featuring her.

This time around she's on a solo adventure - only Cyclops makes a brief appearance in the opening page - in the Land of the Rising Sun involving dragons and ninjas. She capably kicks ass ("Don't make me show you how cutting my wit is right now" quips our sword-wielding heroine to her opposition) and takes names, arigatou very much. Although I had not read the prior storyline that is referenced throughout I did not feel particularly lost. This was sort of lightweight, but still a nice addition to the Astonishing line.
Profile Image for Guilherme Smee.
Author 28 books193 followers
November 14, 2025
A PaniniTM relançou essa minissérie de Kitty Pryde em formatinho na série Marvel Teens. Ela já tinha saído anteriormente no mix de X-Men Extra. O detalhe é que essa história é escrita pelo atual editor-chefe da Marvel, CB Cebulski, que na época se passava por um japonês chamado Akira Yoshida. Assim ele arrebanhou diversos títulos da Casa das Ideias com temáticas orientais. Este aqui, por exemplo, foi desenhado pela lenda das tramas mutantes, Paul Smith. Apesar das polêmicas, relendo o quadrinho, eu gostei mais dele neste momento do que da primeira vez que li. Talvez porque agora eu li a história toda de uma vez só. Yoshida/Cebulski trabalha bem a mitologia mutante no Japão trazendo personagens como o Samurai de Prata, Ogun, Yukio e principalmente a dragoa namorada do Lockheed que é um personagem bastante esquecível da longa e complicada cronologia mutante. Dito isso, talvez esse seja um dos melhores trabalhos do cara que virou editor-chefe por montar um fake japonês para si e conseguir ludibriar todo mundo.
Profile Image for Artemis Crescent.
1,218 reviews
November 13, 2022
I've read this comic twice in my life - the first time I practically forgot all about it. While my three-star rating of 'Astonishing X-Men: Kitty Pryde - Shadow & Flame' hasn't changed on my second read, I nonetheless enjoyed it.

Its biggest flaw is that it lacks depth. Deep emotional resonance and development are needed in a story like this, especially for what is essentially a sequel to 'X-Men: Kitty Pryde & Wolverine'. Kitty's severe PTSD from that miniseries is barely touched on beyond surface level in 'Shadow & Flame'; one or two freezes and nightmares aside, overall it is not made into a big deal. It isn't explored, isn't given a resolution, and isn't remembered in the last couple issues. This is maddening.

However, at least Kitty Pryde, no longer a slightly naive teenage girl (I think she's no longer a teenager..?), has grown into a badass, excelling most other characters, including other X-Men, in intelligence, planning, cunning, wit, snark, fighting skills (she's literally a ninja master - something that was forced on her in 'Kitty Pryde and Wolverine', not that this comic acknowledges and examines that fact much), and in using her mutant powers to their fullest potential. The comic hasn't forgotten she can fly, I'll give it credit for that!

On the other claw, it seems to have forgotten about her codename, Shadowcat, which originated in 'Kitty Pryde & Wolverine'. It's never mentioned.

Plus, Kitty sends Wolverine an email at the beginning when she arrives in Japan again, and after that, he is forgotten about too!

This comic is solid - a solid mess. Kinda. It's a fun and breezy 'Kitty Pryde' story, that loves and respects her, but its underdeveloped elements are infuriating. Another problem is it's too short, and too fast-paced.

I adore Kitty. She is my favourite X-Man, and one of my favourite female superheroes. As well as showing her to be an awesome and capable hero (wasted potential with her PTSD aside), I'm keeping 'Astonishing X-Men: Kitty Pryde - Shadow & Flame' mainly because I wish to own a 'Kitty Pryde' solo title. How many of them are there? Certainly less than how many Wolverine's got, I'll tell you that! She's criminally underrated, underused and underappreciated. Why are there no modern titles starring her as, well, a star? Is she still currently an X-Men leader and school principal? I don't keep up with what's going on with the X-Men in the comics.

(It's undoubtably got to be better than what the movies have done, I'm sure.)

I still hardly know anything about her pet dragon Lockheed, whose species sets the plot up for 'Shadow & Flame', as another of his kind (female, of course) is in Japan. He's apparently her best friend, who she will do anything for, and risk everything for. How they met is not explained to the readers. Things happen too fast.

Well, for a fun time with Kitty Pryde regardless, I recommend 'Astonishing X-Men: Kitty Pryde - Shadow & Flame'. At the very least, buying more books about her might finally induce the heads of Marvel to make further comics with her in a lead role. Remind them that not only does she exist, but she is among the best, and it's not solely about female empowerment and representation. She deserves attention - more mainstream attention, anyway - for the same reason any other popular superheroes do: because she is awesome.

Final Score: 3/5
Profile Image for Alex Robinson.
Author 32 books212 followers
November 10, 2025
Paul Smith was the X-Men artist I imprinted on so I was happy to see him return to drawing Kitty Pryde again The art is of course fantastic but the story feels a bit slight, especially without any subplots or other interesting characters (could they only get Wolverine on the set for one day?)
It’s technically a sequel but I never read the original. I can’t figure out what age Kitty is supposed to be.
Profile Image for Andre.
1,424 reviews107 followers
February 2, 2021
I read this because I really wanted to see an example for what Marvel wanted an "authentic japanese voice" and the whole thing surrounding the author, but more on that at the end.

One thing to note though: maybe this here looks better because prior to it, I read Atlantis Attacks # 1 and it is not difficult to be a better story than that crap.

The story started nice with "the old flame" being the little dragon Lockhead's. Albeit it really looks more like the green dragon is held at ransom with the cage and the note.
Plus, on the one hand you could say having the dragon stolen and the letter sent by ninjas is stereotypical. However:
Ninjas are not uncommon in Japanese stories as well.
Considering that a basic trait of Ninjas was to come and go unseen, endure no matter what, get the job done no matter how and that stuff like shapeshifting, camouflage, teleportation etc. exist in this universe, it makes sense to have ninjas do the job.
Sure, using ninja stars as weapons is wrong, but it's not as if Japanese people don't get that wrong as well. So, so far, I cannot see any lack of authenticity in comparison to the books written by "Asian" authors that I have seen from Marvel so far.

One true problem here is however that sometimes, despite all the means available today, I couldn't figure out what certain words were supposed to mean: What is an "unkaiyo spirit" sighting? Did they mess up the word yokai? Could be, the writing is good and they play a bit with cultural differences. After all, why would a Japanese intelligence officer know about "Puff, the magic dragon"? That would be like an American suddenly knowing about Tabaluga. Plus, later on we get something stupid like: "Kurokaze, the black wind" as kurokaze means black wind."

But apart from things like that, this comic is well written (e.g. Kitty does correctly notice that the ninja on the footage wanted to be seen. That does fit ninjas), so I doubt the author did something wrong here. His writing is good enough to have things fit Kitty's level of competence. Not so sure about the gangbanger/sexual harrasment thing, or the slight xenophobia... but that was a common trend at the time and its not as if Japanese can never be xenophobic. Or think that "gaijin" girls are easy to have. But later on we got told why she was attacked.


I thought "Bozo" is a japanese term, but its actually american and refers to a clown... so Kitty calling that Hand ninja a clown actually makes sense. Also, that was a very well written and drawn fight, the author knew what he was doing. Unlike some other authors I could mention.
Very good investigational skills by Kitty in regards as to why these Path ninjas belong to the Hand or not and why she figured it out. She truly comes across like a seasoned fighter.
Not just did we get a good fight, but Kitty could tell by the strokes and stance that her demon masked opponent (she also knows that its not Ogun because otherwise she would be dead already) is a woman. Good observational skills. And not unrealistic.
And the artist was good enough, that when you look closely, you realize that the "demon" is a woman in a ninja dresss, not a man. You notice in the way it fits her body, but you have to be observant, it is not obvious at first. Good work."

Furthermore, the author doesn't overpower Kitty either, after all it would have been stupid if she had been able to beat Silver Samurai. And boy is this guy old fashioned. You should see his mansion and clothes.
There is more here but I spoiled enough of the comic already for potential readers, so I should really stop. Lets just say that there are some nice twists coming your way.

Let's just address the elephant in the room and why I read this in the first place: Allegedly Cebulski took on the name Yoshida because Marvel wanted an "authentic voice" or so (some sources say "Japanese" and others "Asian") and apparently many say its important or so. And the author gave them one by pretending he was Japanese, he even hired a man to pose as him in interviews. And I am not against writers using pen names, because sometimes that can be the best way to protect yourself from crazy people, but this was outright lying. And so far, I don't know why this name Akira Yoshida was picked... respectively, how allegedly no one noticed. But reading this and comparing it with Japanese manga or Marvel's current "Asian" authors that I read, I musk ask: How is this any less "authentic?" Where is the difference?" I can't see any.
Profile Image for C.
1,754 reviews54 followers
October 18, 2017
Continuing the great x-read of 2017...

While the story wasn't anything particularly *new* I quite enjoyed this one.

It's nice when writers remember that Kitty is a kick-butt character who is smart and tough and highly trained in martial arts. Most writers seem to want to de-power her, it seems. This felt like the "real" Kitty Pryde to me.
Profile Image for Nicolo.
3,504 reviews206 followers
October 10, 2023
Paul Smith had a seminal run with Chris Claremont in Uncanny X-Men. It was brief, a little more than a year, but it was an influential run that resonated with fans and comic creators who followed.

This miniseries returned to Japan, a setting used frequently in Smith's original run in Uncanny X-Men, with Kitty Pryde helping to hook up two dragons. This was a series with heavy nostalgic feels, while the modern urban vibe of Tokyo. It was unexpected juxtaposition of themes. This was going to be good. Until I read the other collaborator in this title.

The fiasco that was of a white man using a Japanese sounding pseudonym tainted this work. This and other work under the pseudonym could have gone to an actual writer than belong to a minority, but it looked like Marvel was goosing its diversity involvement. This was distasteful.

Fortunately, Marvel's talent pool has become more diverse in recent years. However, never forget that its current editor-in-chief once cosplayed his writing credits as a Japanese sounding person.

This was originally read as six single issues in floppy from. Here are the links to my reviews of each issue.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Profile Image for Niche.
1,060 reviews
May 22, 2023
A limited run series that calls back to Claremont's X-Men: Kitty Pryde & Wolverine. This finds Kitty returning to Japan to investigate a letter regarding "Puff," a companion of the dragon Lockheed. Ninja are involved. Enough information is given that you didn't have to read the previous work, but it would definitely make more sense of why Kitty exhibits PTSD symptoms knowing the possession-like encounter that took place previously. It's relatively simple and straightforward action-adventure story.
Profile Image for Pau Gambetta.
124 reviews2 followers
March 31, 2021
Primera parte, amo a este personaje, una de mis x-men favoritas de siempre.
En esta ocasión es llamada a Japón en la búsqueda de un dragón verde.
Por ahora va tranquilo, presentando la aventura, los compañeros de viaje y una pequeña escena con el villano misterioso que esta siguiendo a Kitty. Después de eso no pasa mucho más.
Lo increíble son los dibujos y ver a este personaje en compañía de un dragón y dos catanas es una locura.
Profile Image for Diana.
442 reviews21 followers
July 25, 2021
*screeches about asskicking Kitty Pryde and Lockheed for five minutes*
528 reviews4 followers
October 8, 2021
It's great to see Paul Smith back, but this nothingburger of a story has little else to recommend it.
Profile Image for Adam Stone.
2,062 reviews32 followers
July 21, 2025
Updated Review From 2025 Readthrough:

This time, I read this well apart from Cebulusk (aka White Guy Using Japanese Pseudonym)'s Wolverine run, and I didn't find this book as endearing.

I think if you're a fan of the original Wolverine & Kiddy Pryde adventure, this might seem like a decent follow-up. But, as someone who doesn't enjoy the White Guys Writing Ninjas era of comics (particularly Wolverine) this quickly bored me. It also doesn't have any signifigance to the overall X-Men universe, so you miss nothing by skipping it.

***

Original 2018 review: I read this back to back with Yoshida's "Wolverine: Soultaker", and this is a far superior story. Placing Kitty Pryde back in Japan to ostensibly find another dragon for Lockheed to hang out with makes for a fun story. And while the backstory from Pryde & Wolverine's previous Japan outing is a foundation for this story, the way the flashbacks always end with someone snapping her out of daydreaming is a structurally weak storytelling device.

The art is fine, although the shadows were off enough to be noticeable, which is a sure sign to just leave out shadows from your art.

If you're a Kitty Pryde or a Lockheed fan, this story is worth reading, for casual X-fans it's just ok.
Profile Image for Mitchell Friedman.
5,877 reviews234 followers
July 6, 2014
Disappointing followup to X-Men: Kitty Pryde & Wolverine. The art was especially bad but the writing and even plotting could have been a lot better. It makes me wonder if Marvel has any idea how to draw and write a young adult Kitty Pryde at all. And if she'll ever get to grow up. It was good to see Lockheed though. This books does further remind the readers who Kitty Pryde is and what she can do - from speaking Japanese however so rusty or being a ninja.
Profile Image for J..
1,453 reviews
February 21, 2015
Sort of "ok" all the way around. The plot and art are both adequate, with no real surprises either way. A very standard, slightly too cutesy story. And I don't know why Kitty is suddenly kicking ninja butt all over the page. Apparently, in Marvel comics, ninjas are the wussiest of all possible villains. They're all like the Foot Soldiers from the old '80s TMNT show.
Profile Image for Garrett.
1,731 reviews24 followers
February 28, 2014
Good enough on its own, a little cute - not what I'd call a proper third chapter after Wolverine and Kitty Pryde and Wolverine in the X-Japan saga. Didn't dislike it, but it went down a little smoother than maybe it should've.
Profile Image for Lord.
556 reviews22 followers
April 9, 2011
This story takes place in Japan and it is sorta a continuation of the old "Kitty Pride & Wolverine" book. Though nothing too spectacular here, it is a must for Kitty fans.
Profile Image for Larisa.
804 reviews
July 19, 2013
Mainly this made me nostalgic for the original Kitty Pryde-Wolverine mini-series, both artwork and storyline.
Profile Image for Craig.
Author 16 books41 followers
September 16, 2013
A contemporary book with amazingly beautiful Paul Smith art. The story is meh, but who cares when it looks this good?
Profile Image for Brent.
2,251 reviews196 followers
June 30, 2016
This is kind of a dodge, as I read the first and last chapters/issues/installments.
Recommended for fans of comics artist Paul Smith!
Profile Image for Matthew Ledrew.
Author 70 books63 followers
March 11, 2019
A bizarre follow-up to the original Kitty Pryde and Wolverine mini series that leeches off the popular Astonishing X-Men series by Joss Whedon.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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