Marvel Announces Wolverine and Kitty Pryde Series From Legendary X-Men Writer

Move over Batman and Robin – Marvel’s dynamic X-Men duo is making a comeback! Wolverine and Kitty Pryde is the new X-Men team-up series coming our way, written by legendary X-Men comics writer Chris Claremont! Marvel made the official announcement about the project today, along with the details that X-Men Unlimited artist Damian Couceiro will be drawing the book, while another X-Men icon, artist Alan Davis, will be doing select covers for the books, with Rickie Yagawa, Marcus To, and Adi Granov named in the list of variant cover artists. Wolverine and Kitty Pryde will be a five-issue limited series, that debuts on April 30th.

The setting and story of the book will be another Marvel throwback adventure, with Claremont delving into some unexplored history from Logan and Kitty’s time in Japan together, as chronicled in the classic Kitty Pryde and Wolverine limited series by Claremont and Al Milgrom (1984-1985). As the synopsis teases:

“When Kitty Pryde nearly lost her soul to Ogun during her journey to Japan, Logan was there to keep the youngest X-Man on the path to good. But as a mysterious force threatens their lives while staying with Mariko Yashida, it’s going to take all of their combined mutant, ninja, and fighting skills to protect those they love!”

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If you are not an X-Men historian (and you need to be, at this point): A major turn in Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat’s character development came in that original Kitty Pryde and Wolverine limited series; Kitty was possessed by the mutant ninja (and psychic) Ogun, who trained her to be a ninja assassin doing his bidding. Wolverine had to rescue Kitty and then free her mind from Ogun’s hold, via a rigorous sensei/student bonding process. That period forever bonded the two characters and added a darker persona to Kitty’s character – one that has recently resurfaced in the finale to X-Men’s Krakoa Era, where Kitty returned to her ninja ways to mercilessly kill off leaders of anti-mutant organizations.

Kitty and Wolverine eventually left Japan together and linked back up with the X-Men team. Now, Claremont will reveal the “untold” part of the story that occurred between the end of what we saw in the final panels of Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, and when the characters showed back up in the pages of Uncanny X-Men (#192).

“It’s really great returning to this arc, especially since it’s being presented by a wonderful artist, Damian Couceiro,” Chris Claremont said in a statement. “It’s the story of what happens between the end of the original Kitty Pryde and Wolverine mini-series and Logan and Pryde’s return home to rejoin the X-Men. Five issues, more than a single story, complete with surprises galore!”

Marvel Comics Editor Mark Basso also issued a statement, saying, “Obviously, that Kitty Pryde and Wolverine miniseries is so iconic, taking Kitty from the ‘junior’ X-Man to the fully fledged hero we see when she returns to New York,” Basso said. “But there was a clear gap between the end of this Ogun situation and when Wolverine and Kitty arrive in New York in Uncanny X-Men #192, and we were thrilled Chris was ready to show what happened in that intervening window. Why was Kitty in such a different headspace when they got back? And hey, where’d Kitty’s father get to? Now you’ll get to see.”

Wolverine and Kitty Pryde #1 will hit shelves on April 30th.