This article contains spoilers for Marauders #11.
The X-Men have just succeeded in bringing Kate Pryde back from the dead. The last few months have been pretty tough for X-Men fans, and not just because of the coronavirus pandemic. Back in January's Marauders #6, Sebastian Shaw killed the one member of the X-Men who can actually die - Kate Pryde. Readers had expected Shaw to take his shot, given he considered Kate a rival for control of the Hellfire Trading Corporation, but they hadn't expected it to be successful.
Kate was a unique moment, because - for still unknown reasons - she was ostracized from Krakoa. She was unable to use Krakoan gateways, and Krakoan fauna blocked her phasing power, which was how Shaw managed to take her out in the first place. Worse still, although the X-Men thought they'd conquered death through a synergy of mutant powers and Cerebro technology, their resurrection protocols failed with Kate. Time and again the Five attempted to bring Kate back, but the clones never broke out of their eggs. The X-Men had to face the grim possibility they hadn't defeated death after all, and Marauders #11 opens with Krakoa's first funeral. It's a heartbreaking affair, and it's causing some controversy online because Kate is a Jewish mutant - and the funeral involves cremation, which runs against Jewish tradition.
The funeral was heartbreaking, but fortunately, it wasn't the last word on Kate Pryde's life after all. Emma Frost and Nightcrawler persuaded Charles Xavier to try one last time, with the Five creating another clone of Kate's body. This time, though, Kurt and Emma watched as the attempt seemed to fail once again. "There's something unique about her physiology," Nightcrawler observed. "She's out of phase. We will guide her back." He was only attempting to comfort a grieving Emma, but his words inspired her. Suddenly Emma understood the problem; Kate Pryde is naturally out of phase with the real world, and it actually takes conscious will to become tangible. The Kate Pryde husks were mindless, and thus they never broke out of the eggs in which Krakoa's clones are made, because they lacked the consciousness to control their innate powers. In a beautiful moment, Emma used her telepathy to guide the husk out of the egg, and Xavier then downloaded Kate Pryde's consciousness into the body. Kate Pryde is officially back from the dead.
The whole thing is deeply symbolic, because it represents the remarkable way in which the relationship between Emma Frost and Kate Pryde has changed. Emma was actually Kate's first supervillain, and she attempted to manipulate Kate into joining her old Hellfire Academy instead of enrolling at Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. The two had a somewhat strained relationship when Emma finally became a hero, and the combative snark between the two women was one of the highlights of Joss Whedon's tremendous Astonishing X-Men run. But they've put that old feud behind them now on Krakoa, with Emma offering Kate the chance to reinvent herself as the Red Queen of the Hellfire Trading Corporation. Now Emma is literally responsible for giving Kate a new life. Another touching detail; Kate's last memory before her resurrection is one of closeness and intimacy with Emma. Nightcralwer comments on another amusing touch; that this was the 18th attempt to resurrect Kate. In Jewish numerology, 18 is the number that represents "life," because the letters of the Hebrew word chai (living) add up to 18.
It's so easy to get caught up in all the high-concept big ideas of the Jonathan Hickman X-Men era, but Marauders #11 reminds us of the impact all these have on the day-to-day lives of characters we know and love. The resurrection of Kate Pryde is a moment of wonder and joy, shining a light on how Krakoa has changed the X-Men forever - as characters, not just as a concept. It's helped by the fact the whole creative team is firing on all cylinders in this book; writer Gerry Duggan tells the tale tremendously well, artist Stefano Casselli truly captures the emotion of the whole thing, and Edgar Delgado's colors absolutely pop off the page. Kate Pryde is back - and her resurrection makes for one unmissable issue.