And finally for this week, the final issue of X-Men: Kitty Pryde - Shadow & Flame, the latest miniseries with an excessively long title.

My head tells me I really shouldn't like this comic.  Certainly, as a story, I can take or leave it.  It's one of those throwaway miniseries that will barely be remembered this time next month.  It's the sort of book that's trained readers to think that nothing ever happens in the miniseries.  Kitty Pryde goes to Japan and fights a bunch of ninja types who have a bafflingly irrational plan to blackmail her into leading them.  Kidnapped dragons are involved, for those with a burning desire to find out what happened to the Japanese dragon who appeared in one issue of Uncanny X-Men in the mid-1980s.

Basically, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and it's really just an opportunity for Kitty to run around Japan fighting ninjas.  Sometimes, for variety, other people also fight one another, with swords.

So, really, I shouldn't like it.

But it's got art by Paul Smith, and whatever other flaws the book may have, it certainly makes the most of its artist.  The action scenes are given room to breathe, the layouts are stylish, and it's all beautifully choreographed.  It's one of those comics that reminds you of how good a solid, well-drawn action sequence can look in the right hands, and shows up how incoherent a lot of artists are when it comes to this sort of thing.

Plus, Yoshida and Smith do nail Kitty's character, in a way that gets back to the appeal she had in her heyday without obviously hitting the reset button.  Surprisingly for such a perennial team player, they also carry her off as a solo heroine.

It's a dodgy plot, but fairly well executed, beautifully drawn, and with undeniable charm.  Overall, a much better miniseries than I'd ever expected it to be.

Rating: B+

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