O-Gunning For Mind Control Part II: Mind Controlling The Copyright Violations?

When we last left our heroes, Wolverine had just arrived in Japan to rescue Kitty from Ogun, a semi-mystical ninja samurai with demonic tendencies who had taken control of her. Not anticipating this situation (who would), Logan ran right into her trap... and her knife (ten times!)

Any other man would have died on the spot after getting carved up by an age old super powered ninja. But Wolverine's handy dandy healing factor kept him going long enough for Kitty's father Carmen and Logan's associate Yukio to sneak up on little miss ninja. Yukio hit Kitty from a distance with poison darts that knocked her out. 

Yukio and Carmen then dropped off the two X-men at a stronghold of the clan Yashida where they both tried to heal their respective wounds.

While Wolverine's injuries were rather extensive, they were merely physical. Kitty found herself assaulted by the personality and memory of Ogun, who to quote Claremont himself had "Taken her innocent soul and reshaped it into his own twisted image.'

It was up to Wolverine to do a little mind control exercise of his own,  by taking a page out of another Asian sensei's book...

"Take an hour and this rake..."

Doesn't sound nearly as catchy as Mister Miyagi's 'wax on, wax off' exercise from 1984's blockbuster The Karate Kid. Still, Kitty got the message and started raking away...

Only to discover to her horror that she'd subconsciously been creating an advanced Japanese zen garden, which proved she was still being infuenced by Ogun's soul. But how did he even manage to sink his claws into her at all? Prepare for some technobabble exposition in 3-2-1...

An enlightening scene: Kitty wants to be free of Ogun but Logan refuses to let her take the easy way out. Yes, Charles Xavier might be able to rid her of Ogun's influence but that would mean the demon ninja had won, according to Wolverine.

If Kitty can't muster up the strength to beat him herself after what he did to her, she'd never be able to heal herself. Point well taken. So after a period of training with Logan, Kitty goes out to confront Ogun while making an interesting discovery about herself...

"I'm not a kitty anymore... Much as I wish differently... I've grown up. I'm a cat,and I like the shadows a whole lot better than the daylight. Shadowcat."

With a new outlook on life (not to mention that new spiffy codename) Kitty finally squared off against Ogun when he tried to kill Mariko Yashida and her foster daughter Ameiko. Ogun thought his former apprentice an easy kill. He was wrong.

Al Milgrom's art really is quite creative here, showing the shattered demon mask to symbolise Kitty breaking free from Ogun's control. But since this limited series is called Kitty Pryde & Wolverine, we need some *SNIKT* time during the finale... So Wolverine shows up, finally healed after Kitty disemboweled him, and proceeds to fight Ogun to a standstill, but he offers Kitty to deliver the killing blow.

She can't do it, thereby finally proving she's regained control of herself because Ogun would have killed Ogun without a second thought (yes, that does sound a little confusing, doesn't it?). But like in any other horror movie, the monster always returns after you think he's defeated so when Ogun tries to stab Kitty in the back, Wolverine finally takes care of him.

So, how does one end a six issue miniseries that proved life and soul changing for the character of Kitty Pryde? How does she cope with having her mind and body violated by an ancient demon ninja? What will ease the void, the sense of loss and trauma?

Yup, ice cream... because mentally mutilated or not, everything is still better after ice cream, right?