Back in 1973 when she was a student at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary, one of her classmates was John Byrne, who would later prove to be one of the most popular X-Men artists in the series’ history.

“I first noticed John in our (still-life) classes. While the rest of us were drawing nudes, John was drawing sketches of Batman and Spider-Man. One day he told me he loved my name and promised when he became famous at Marvel Comics, he’d name his first character after me. I never thought anything of the compliment,” Pryde said.

In 1980, while Ms. Pryde was living in Toronto and pursuing her career, she received a package from Byrne. It contained one page of Byrne’s character designs for Kitty (which she auctioned off in 2001 for $4,500), plus a signed copy of issue 129 containing the character’s first appearance (now up for sale through MetropolisComics.com). The comic is signed “To Kitty, the real one. Thanks for the use of the name. John Byrne”.

The character Kitty started out as a teen with mutant abilities and eventually developed into a full-fledged superhero like so many of her mutant friends.

The real-life Kitty had her own powers.

Pryde is a renowned Canadian artist whose art has been featured in galleries around the world. From China to Grenada, and Baton Rouge to Boston, her art is well received. But no matter where she exhibits, someone will inevitably ask Pryde if she knows that there is a comic book mutant with the same name.

“I’m not amused by such recognition. I’m an artist. I want some credibility. I don’t want to seem to be basking in the notoriety this has brought me,” she said. “At least twice a month when giving credit cards, picking up dry cleaning or giving my name over the phone, I get, ‘Did you know there’s a comic book character…?’ This unsolicited notoriety has followed me across the country.”

“I was intrigued when Kitty called me to explain her situation and interest in selling the signed comic book. I had always heard that Kitty Pryde was named after one of Byrne’s friends. I researched the story further and decided this would be a very relevant piece of unique comic book history to offer to the comic book community. Metropolis is currently offering this comic book to the highest offer received in the next 2 weeks,” said Metropolis COO, Vincent Zurzolo. “If you are interested in purchasing this comic, contact me by email at vincentz@metropoliscomics.com or (212) 260-4147 ext 14 with your offer.”

Pryde is also autographing the newspaper clipping seen with this article, and it will be included with the purchase of the comic book.

To view Kitty Pryde’s copy of X-Men #129, click here.