Kitty and Caliban

[cyberghostface]

Caliban first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #148.

















In #169, Angel is kidnapped by the Morlocks and the X-Men go to the sewers to rescue him.











#170...







Storm ends up being the one to challenge Callisto; the fight ends when she stabs Callisto in the heart.



#176...





Callisto is planning on using this to provoke a fight with the X-Men and get her leadership back from Storm.

In #179, Kitty's dead body is discovered but Wolverine discovers its not hers by the scent.







Kitty flees into the sewers.




The X-Men eventually arrive to rescue Kitty but she tells them she's made her choice and asks for them to back off. The Morlocks lend the X-Men their healer to save Colossus.





The two had one more scene together in Power Pack #12.

Comments

[byc]

Friend-zoned.

But he took it well.

[icon_uk]

Kitty has a long list of friend-zoned ex's (or not-quite-got-far-enough-to-properly-count-as-ex's); Piotr, Doug, Illyana, Rachel (Who Claremont wanted her to end up with), Pete and I've probably forgotten a couple

[flint_marko]

Where'd you hear the part about Rachel?

[raspberryrain]

Look for the 'Jay and Miles Explain the X-Men' podcast where they talk with Chris Claremont.

[icon_uk]

The Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men podcast, #100 has a long interview with Chris Claremont.

[reveen]

Y'know, there comes a point where you have to question whether what you're reading even counts as a superhero comic anymore...

[icon_uk]

The X-Men can only really be considered to be a long form soap opera, with superpowers and variable societal analogies thrown in.

[arilou_skiff]

The same is true for Spider-man.

It's relaly Marvel's greatest contribution to the genre.

[starwolf_oakley]

This wasn't the final Kitty/Caliban story. That was Uncanny X-Men Annual #18, July 1994

[cyberghostface]

Thanks I'll try looking into that.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I'd love to see some of it here, if you find it. =)

[cyberghostface]

I'll try making it a separate post today.

[halloweenjack]

Wow, I'd forgotten what an asshole Callisto is. Was. Whatever.

[kates]

This is all exceedingly Phantom of the Opera.

[raspberryrain]

So many artists! Are some of these issues drawn by Paul Smith?

Wow, Leech really was redesigned a lot in X-Factor.

[cyberghostface]

Yeah I checked and it is Smith on #169 and #170. I assumed wrong about Cockrum apparently.

[raspberryrain]

Caliban's first appearance in #148 is by Dave Cockrum, isn't it? It looks more like Cockrum than like Smith.

[cyberghostface]

Yeah #148 is Cockrum.

[raspberryrain]

I thought so! I didn't mean to confuse you.

[sadoeuphemist]

That is such a shitty gift to bring back from Japan.

[icon_uk]

It does have that "We got this free at that sushi restaurant chain outlet we went to" vibe to it, doesn't it?

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Poor Caliban. Likable as Morlocks go, though.

[icon_uk]

In a somewhat creepy stalkerish way yes, especially given that Kitty is (at most) 14 in these pages.

[norj]

Everyone stalked Kitty back then, it got to the point where I started to think she had pheromone powers, then I realised Claremont has a fetish.

[beyondthefringe]

You'll have to be more specific. Dude has multiple fetishes. :)
It's worse when you remember Kitty was only 13 1/2 - 14 at the time.

[lyricalswagger]

Yeah, it's extra yuck when you consider that when she awakens in his bed, he has obviously undressed her and put her in a nightie.

[cyberghostface]

Well she was soaked in sewer water and sick at the time.

[tigerkaya]

I wondered if he had a chance if his first name was Peter.

[beyondthefringe]

Wow... talk about reaching into the past. The last part of this--Kitty being "dead" and Piotr being gravely injured--was just about where I came into reading the X-Men, back when I was much younger. It's interesting to see the Morlocks in their earliest appearances again...back before they were either killed, mutated, or in Leech's case, turned cuddly. :)