Synopsis: Chicago: Fourteen-year old Kitty Pryde enters her house after confirming with her friends about the stories they are telling their parents so they can go to a party that night. Unfortunately for Kitty, her mother is already on to her, and stops the plan cold. Grumbling, Kitty goes to warm up her dinner (meatballs, even though her mom ought to know she's been a vegetarian for a month!) when it happens: She turns intangible and the plate slips through her fingers. Then Kitty slips through the floor, ending up in the bedroom of a downstairs neighbor who's having an affair. Freaking, Kitty passes through the outside wall to the street. She is halfway sunk into the street when a bus comes and hits her - or at least it would have hit, but Kitty's still intangible. Passengers on the bus are horrified at the half a girl screaming for something solid as the bus passes right through her. Then Kitty falls through the asphalt into a sewer. She whips out her cell phone and calls home, telling her mother that "It's happened again."
Later that evening, Mrs. Pryde reads an email from Professor X, replying to her request for help. Marvel Girl will pick them up in the morning.
The next day, Jean drives the Prydes back to New York, and they briefly talk about Jean's powers. Then Cyclops buzzes them in one of the X-Jets, and tells Jean to loosen up when she chides him for flying so low. Jean is still amazed at how much Scott has loosened up since they got together. They drive into the school grounds, and Charles is there to meet them. Speaking telepathically, he apologizes for the holographic camoflauge, and then again for not verbalizing, something he sometimes forgets to do.
Inside, Jean begins to show Kitty around, while Charles takes Mrs. Pryde to his office. Then Colossus arrives, carrying the badly shot-up and unconscious Wolverine on his shoulder. Piotr says that Logan should be up and around shortly. Jean takes Kitty past Beast's room. Hank's been down since he broke up with Storm, and Iceman's injuries haven't helped any. Inside, Hank is watching the Drakes' lawyer describe the severity of Bobby's injuries, which threaten his ability to walk.
Jean mentions the upgraded Danger Room to Kitty, and Kitty asks who funds everything. Jean doesn't know, and it's not like big companies want people to know they support mutant causes - it would be bad for business. We then cut to Colossus and the now-healed Wolverine, who are facing off against the room's threats. Wolverine hates when Cyclops runs the exercises, but Piotr tells him to give the guy a break. Especially since he has such nice cheekbones. Logan's really just ticked that Scott and Jean are dating: even though he knows it didn't work out between him and Jean, he felt they had a little game going, and she's now changed the rules.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Pryde chats with Professor X in his office. While she is quite impressed with his curriculum, she is disturbed by the idea of the X-Men as a strike force, even if they are only defending against evildoers. She does not want Kitty to get hurt (as was Iceman), and expressly forbids Charles from giving Kitty a "costume" and sending her on missions. Charles believes she's making a mistake - it's a dangerous world out there - but he will respect her wishes.
Outside, Kitty and her mom drive off to get her things, and Kitty phases out of the car onto her butt and into snow that Ororo just happened to forget to clean up after powers practice. Professor X asks Jean if she thinks Kitty's excited about the 24 million-subject crash curriculum, and Jean comments that she's probably more interested in seeing Colossus in his T-shirt.
Suddenly, Jean appears alone, and she turns in horror towards a glow behind her. Screaming in terror, she sees a giant firebird shrieking at the sky, flames filling her entire field of vision. The others turn towards the now-collapsed Jean, and she manages to say "The visions are back!"
Review: Pretty cool issue here. No action at all, but a good setup for this arc. I was apprehensive at first about yet another re-telling of a classic MU story, but I think Millar made some important changes here. First off, in reviewing Kitty's origin, it's clear what her powers are and how they might affect her, but it's really a one-time thing and then she joins the team. In this story, Millar sets it up so that we understand that Kitty's been going through changes for a while, which I thought was cool. I also like the way he expressed the shame, terror and silliness of walking through walls as he had Kitty move through the apartments and the bus. You really feel how freaked out Kitty is. Millar also addresses the idea that if Kitty has absolutely no control over her molecules, she would phase right through the floor if she's not concentrating. Good addition there, and Millar brings it all out in a clear and concise manner that just adds to the realism of the scenes.
The rest was OK. Scott's behavior was shocking in its differentiation from prior issues, but it totally makes sense. Having a girlfriend does wonders for a guy's ego and self-confidence. I remember the days, and it's so true. Nice sequence that captures it. I also liked Kitty's mom - she was really cool about everything, and laying down the law on Charles was right in character. Kitty's really the first one (outside of Iceman) who has a normal parent that approves of mutants, and with the Iceman debacle it's clear that any normal parent would not want their child on a strike team. We'll see how long that lasts, huh?
Now, the interpersonals. Loved how Hank was so concerned about Bobby's severe injuries. I wonder if he will devise a treatment to help him? And he was hanging upside-down!!! Yay. Colossus and Wolverine - I wonder if Logan knows Piotr's interested in him. I can't even imagine his reaction!! And it was nice that Jean alluded to a Kitty/Peter crush, even though it's fairly clear that there's no way it will ever be reciprocated... You know, this could become a Melrose Place-style plot, where everyone sleeps with everyone else because of the limited cast. Some people would wonder that it hasn't happened yet in the main MU, but I tend to think that the mutants view each other more like family, so that only "cross-generational" relationships might work, e.g., Warren and Betsy, Remy and Rogue, etc. Anyway, that was cute.
Finally, the Phoenix. Definitely different, and really a great job by Kubert. I also loved the implication that the Phoenix visions were the ones that drove Jean crazy in the first place, meaning that it's been after her for years. Why so and what exactly this Phoenix is will be very interesting to see.
Oh, and do you think that the Hellfire Club is funding the school? I do...