Mid-1978, 18 months prior to the character eventually debuting in Uncanny X-Men #129, Marvel Comics artist John Byrne unveiled his new creation – Katherine “Kitty” Pryde – in an illustrated letter to writer Chris Claremont. Fans approved, and Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat has since become an integral part of the X-Men. Also of note in the letter: the introduction of a new ‘”modernized” costume, plus talk of a new team of “X-Men-in-training”, an idea which would come to fruition in 1982 in the form of the New Mutants.

Transcript follows. Image courtesy of Jonathan Mueller, who bought the letter at auction in 2004 for $1625. Click here for larger version.

Transcript

AGE: ABOUT 14·15

HEIGHT: 5’5″

WEIGHT:97 lbs

MEASUREMENTS: (NEVER YOU MIND! SHE’S TOO YOUNG FOR YOU ANYWAY!)

SUGGESTED REAL NAME: KATHERINE “KITTY” PRYDE [IMAGE] SPARROWHAWK

KITTYHAWK

✔SPRITE or SPIRIT

✔ARIEL POWERS that spring to mind for the last two names: She’s an Intangible, able to make herself transparent, in a visual and physical sense, floating on air currents, walking thru walls. CHRIS: MY CONCEPT HERE IS THAT ARIEL SHOULD BE NOT SO MUCH A NEW MEMBER OF THE X-MEN PER SE, BUT RATHER THE FIRST MEMBER OF A SECOND TEAM, A KIND OF “X-MEN·IN·TRAINING” TEAM, WHICH COULD POSSIBLY ALSO INCLUDE THAT BLACK KID FROM F.F.203. THEY’D ALL (HOWEVER MANY THERE ARE – SAY 5?) WEAR THIS MODERNIZED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL X·COSTUME, AND EACH WOULD OCCASIONALLY GO ON MISSIONS WITH THE FIRST-TEAM. SHOULD THE CONCEPT PROVE VIABLE, WE MIGHT EVEN DO “INTERLUDE” EPISODES WITH THESE YOUNGSTERS ON MISSIONS OF THEIR OWN. THE THING TO AVOID, OF COURSE, WOULD BE THE “LEGION OF SUBSTITUTE X·MEN” STIGMA (Signed, ‘JOHN’)