Arts
BB: Origin, First Appearance, Daughter to Carmen and Theresa Pryde, from Deerfield, IL 13-year-old girl Kitty Pryde first appears #129 (middle of Dark Phoenix Saga), officially joins the team at the very end of #138 (Oct 1980), the epilogue to the same story. First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129 (cover date Jan 1980) Page 11, in the THIRD panel she appears in, Kitty is wearing a star of David Henry: Claremont interview Brandon: According to tumblr fan site johnbyrnedraws, Byrne said: Kitty, as many of you probably already know, became Jewish almost accidentally. My “model” for the character was how I pictured a young Sigourney Weaver, but down the hall in my apartment building at the time lived a friend whose sister bore a strong resemblance to Kitty. Altho she was not Jewish herself, the sister wore a Star of David on a chain around her neck, it having been given to her by her Jewish boyfriend. (The Star of David, not her neck.) Kitty somehow looked “wrong” without that necklace, so I added it to my final drawings in her first appearance. This made her Jewish, of course, since there would be no other reason for her to be wearing it in the context of the character. Uncanny X-Men #143 (1981) “Demon” Written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne (co-plotters) Penciled by John Byrne Inked by Terry Austin Colored by Glynis Oliver Lettered by Rick Parker and Tom Orzechowski Edited by Louise Jones Page 6 Kitty uses mistletoe to kiss Peter Trying to lighten the mood. Clearly interfaith comfortable Page 8 “I’ve never spent Chanukah away from home before. I wonder how mom and dad are doing?” Family holiday Page 21 - Kitty’s parents are visiting, dad responds, “Our visit--your special Chanukah surprise--is as much a gift to us as to her.” Publication date: March 1981 Christmas Eve 1981 corresponds to 29th Kislev Xmas Eve 1980 = 18th of Tevet Later, she refers to herself as a 13-year-old. Bat Mitzvah??? IS THIS A HANUKKAH STORY? A demonic entity (the N’Garai demon) attacks the central home (TEMPLE?) of the X-Men. The scared underdog Kitty fights back, winning with her wits. Page 20 - X-Men return, noting the mansion has “no lights” But the X-Men return to a devastated home they need to fix, rebuild, “repurify?” Final page - “alone, on Christmas Eve, Kitty Pryde underwent a rite of passage - a supreme test of her abilities, her intellect, her courage. Her...self. She passed.” WAS THIS HER X-BAT MITZVAH? Made me think of Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (1989) Written by Eric Kimmel, drawn by Trina Schart Hyman Hershel of Ostropol - trickster figure Uncanny X-Men #159 (1982) “Night Screams” Written by Chris Claremont Penciled by Bill Sienkiewicz Inked by Bob Wiacek Colored by Glynis Oliver Lettered by Rick Parker and Tom Orzechowski Edited by Louise Jones Kitty goes home to visit her family for the weekend, Storm is “mugged” in an alley - DRACULA Was she home for Shabbos??? Page 10, Kitty talking with Storm Storm pulls back in pain Kitty thinks, “The lamplight flashed on my star of David -- and Ororo flinched! Aversion to sunlight, to religious artifacts, anemia, dreams -- this is ridiculous! What am I thinking?!” Page 12 Storm goes to see Dracula Kitty bursts into the room with a cross that doesn’t work Dracula: “The cross has no power over such as I if the wielder does not believe in it! You are no Christian, but a Hebrew!” HENRY - how do you feel about that term? Lunges for her throat, but his hand starts burning “Around my neck--my silver star of David! That’s what stopped him! Thank God!” Love at First Bite (1979 horror comedy) Directed by Stan Dragoti George Hamilton as Dracula Susan Saint James as Cindy Sondheim Richard Benjamin as Jeffrey Rosenberg, grandson of Van Helsing, who changed his name “for professional reasons” In a dinner scene (Cindy Sondheim, Dracula, Jeffrey Rosenberg), Rosenberg pulls out a Star of David that has NO effect Vampires in Judaism There’s a wealth of esoteric and midrashic material on King Solomon raising or summoning demons, including a vampire demon Lilith, mother of demons, often vampiric Sefer Hasidim 464 There was once a woman that was a striya and was very sick, and there were two women with her at night - one sleeping and one awake. And that same sick woman stood before her and crackled her hair and wanted to fly and wanted to suck the blood of the sleeping woman. And the one that was awake woke up the one who was asleep, and they grabbed the striya. And the one that slept, slept more and the one that was awake didn’t sleep. And since she couldn’t do harm, the striya died because she needed that which comes from the blood, to swallow the blood and the flesh” אשה אחת היתה סטריאה והיתה חולה ביותר והיו שתי נשים בלילה עמה אחת היתה ישנה ואחת היתה ערה ואותה החולה עמדה לפניה והיתה מנפצת שערה ורצתה לפרוח ורצתה למוץ דמה של ישנה והעירה הקיצה הישנה ותפסו את החולה השטריא ואחר כן ישנה עוד והערה לא היתה ישנה עמדה השטריא והיתה מנפצת שער ראשה ורצתה לפרוח והעירה הקיצה הישנה ותפשו את החולה השטריא אם היתה מזקת להמית את אשה אחרת היתה השטריאה חיה וכיון שלא יכלה להזיק מתה השטריא כי צריכה את אשר בא מן האדם לבלוע הדם והבשר. Batwoman was our Jewish heroine with ties to Kabbalah. Kitty, strangely, seems to be our Jewish heroine with ties to the demonic - the N’garai, Dracula, her best friend Illyana Uncanny X-Men #199 (1985) “The Spiral Path” Written by Chris Claremont Penciled by John Romita Jr. Inked by Dan Green Colored by Glynis Oliver Lettered by Rick Parker and Tom Orzechowski Edited by Ann Nocenti Page 13 National Holocaust Memorial United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - congress voted to establish it in 1980, but it didn’t open until April 22, 1993 “We are gathered on this remembrance day to honor those who endured a horror unlike any ever experienced in human history--the systematic, institutionalized extermination of one people by another.” International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th, when Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau) was not designated until UN General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on November 1, 2005 Want this to be Yom HaShoah (27th of Nisan, roughly May), established April 8, 1959 by the Knesset in Israel Most likely, this is The Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust. A House joint resolution 1014 designated April 28th and 29th, 1979 as the days Dates chosen to reflect dates on which American troops liberated Dachau Magneto explains to Kitty that those present are survivors or relatives of survivors who go to podium and say names of relatives in hopes of reunion Kitty gave word to participate, “I’m here for my grandfather, Samuel Prydeman. He wanted to be here, more than anything but he died, last year. He had a sister, my great-aunt Chava. She lived in Warsaw before the war. He tried to find her, but there was no record anywhere. It was like she’d been...erased -- as if she’d never been.” Page 14 Magneto asks for a photo, since he knew a Chava with a different last name, Rosanoff. Then Ruth and David Shulman pop up, recognizing Magneto. They confirm Chava Rosanoff is the married name of Kitty’s aunt JEWISH GEOGRAPHY!!!! The Shulmans and Chava were in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the resistance Chava died. Magneto saved the Shulmans Common trend to valorize those who fought back Kitty: “You were a hero?” Magneto: “Hardly. In those days, heroism meant holding onto one’s humanity, while the Nazis tried their best to turn us into animals. The way to defy them--to defeat them--was to lie, to hold onto hope, no matter what. Believe me, Kitty, I was no one special. If I am a hero, then so is every other man and woman who survived.” Interrupted by Mystique, who accuses Magneto of being as cruel as the Nazis Page 16 - Kitty: “Let’s scram--this is like hallowed ground. We can’t fight here!” Page 17 - Colossus bursts in, Kitty yells at him because they don’t want to wreck the memorial Follow up - UXM #210 “The Morning After” by Claremont and JRJR & Dan Green Page 19, mob beating up on Nightcrawler. Kitty Pryde, Illyana, Colossus show up. Kitty: “Hey mister -- who defines what’s human?” Mob: “It’s obvious, girl. Just open your eyes.” Kitty: “That simple, huh? Well, a whole chunk of my family was murdered in gas chambers because the Nazis said it was just as ‘obvious’ that Jews weren’t human. And not so long ago, in this country, people felt the same about blacks. Some still do. Is that right?!”