CBR News spoke with Fraction about the Red Queen and her scheme, which involves the return of a fan-favorite X-Man; as well as the writer’s future plans for “Uncanny,” which involve the introduction of a new team of “Dark X-Men.” It pretty much confirms that Psylocke is indeed back to her original body! Check the entire article for preview art and more news concerning "Sisterhood " and the upcoming Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men crossover!The result of the ritual performed by the Red Queen and the Sisterhood appeared to have returned the spirit of Psylocke to her original body, which had been deceased. Also known as Betsy Braddock, Psylocke hadn’t been seen in the pages of “Uncanny X-Men” for several years, and Fraction wanted to bring her back to the title for a number of reasons. “It’s also part of that initiative to bring in more strong and powerful female characters. That's really been our agenda,” Fraction said. “Plus Psylocke is great. She’s got a rich and complicated history and she provided stuff that no one else on the team had in terms of character, power set, and the complications her return brings about. Those complications made for an intriguing problem and I’ve got a lot of affection for the character. When she first came into 'Uncanny' was sort of my prime era of reading the book as a fan.”
Uncanny X-Men #509 Cover Revealed!
As Fraction mentioned, Psylocke brings with her a complicated back-story that involves switching bodies with a Japanese woman named Kwannon, a death, a resurrection, and a stint protecting alternate realities with her former teammates the Exiles. “Our mission with her is really to simplify as much as possible,” Fraction said. “We’re trying to bring her back in a way that satisfies people who know who she is and where she’s been, but at the same time present this character to people who don’t have any idea of who she is. Without blowing where the rest of the arc is going things become clearer in issue #509. She is a very important canary in the coal mine. She’s a test run if you will. What they do with Psylocke, they want to do to someone else.”
“For so long, my life has been out of control. Chaos and serendipity, wrapped in insanity. I have suffered, I have lost. Not just my life, but my very soul, my self. But no more. Now I know who I am.” – Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock, daughter of Otherworld, mutant, telepath, telekinetic, defender of the realm and, above all, X-Man.
20 comments:
I have high hopes for these storylines. They rejuvenated my interest in comics because of my Psylocke fandom (even though I ignored Exiles' existence). I hope Betsy has more than regular telpathy because the probably won't use her at all on the team since Emma is already there and for some reason she's been the Queen of everything since Jean died. I rather have Betsy with Scott :P
Thank you Fraction for FINALLY returning Betsy to her real body and simplifying things like I've wanted for years. I just hope you keep her in it and the 512 cover is NOT Betsy in the Asian body. Please! Kwannon needs to be in the Asian body and on the team ;)
that cover is absolutely beautiful!
It is quite stunning, which for Greg Land is saying a lot. I agree with Andrew, both Betsy and Kwannon need to be in their respective bodies and ninja training. I don't mind British Betsy fighting, heck it's what should have been done in the 1st place, give her fighting skills while maintaining her body. I have faith in Fraction, what he did in Uncanny 508 was nothing short of, well...Uncanny, and that goes for Land as well, I never though I would actually like his art again and he made it happen...
Okay, so it means this Psylocke isn't Kwannon or an alternate universe version of her; she's the real deal, right? That's a big relief...
I hope the story explains how she went back to Earth-616 after being with the Exiles.
BTW, this cover is gorgeous - however, I must say the colors aren't as good as the one from the black-and-white drawing that some fan (I think it was LuckyStar, but I'm not sure) colored before. But hey, at least we can see each half of her has a different-shaped eye to match the half's origin (British or Japanese)...
If Betsy has lost all of her martial art skills, than it will be a very sad thing...
...but on the other hand, was there a reason why we saw a British Betsy in SOTB that had both TK and TP at the same time? Hmmm? ;-)
"The result of the ritual performed by the Red Queen and the Sisterhood appeared to have returned the spirit of Psylocke to her original body, which had been deceased" - Fraction.
Please note the "APPEARED".
This could still go either way.
I noticed that "appeared" part as well. Also, she does seem to be Asian on the x-club cover, so either they are trying really hard to fool everyone, or she is staying in her Asian body.
Im kind of hoping that it's not Betsy, and she arrives in the middle of the fight after getting word from wolverine that her original body was boosted. It would be a real WTF is going on moment for her if she runs into her old body again.
Ooooooh! It would be cool if the Psylocke in Besy's original body was that of the "Dark/Sadistic" Psylocke that was in "Sword of Braddocks".
if you put the faces together you can tell Greg Land used Angelina Jolie for the Asian face and Kate Beckinsale for the white face.
So I assume Exiles is non canon and is not going to have any relation to Uncanny now if Psylocke is still in it and still Asian, never having been captured. I really hope Jean comes back and has a friendship with British Betsy, and that Betsy has more than telepathy.
I love Psylocke and went back and re-read when she returned in Uncanny a couple years ago. I loved how she returned and had a little banter with Emma Frost and was hugged and loved by all of her friends. But the issues after those were horrible with the art and stories. I can't believe people complain about the art now. Some of the artwork in the Uncanny issues where Betsy returned were the worst I've ever seen. They looked like generic coloring books. I did like how X23 copied Psylocke's poses in some of the panels though.
i die if i have to wait another month....
Francis, I agree, there are soooo many questions, how on Earth will we be able to wait that long! ;-)
Was Kwannon resurrected or did the "Sisters" transfer Betsy's mind into her old body? If so, what about the psychic/physical immunity? And why hasn't Sage, all-knowing-Goddess that she currently is, warn the X-Men at least? And what about the outfit, why is Betsy in her old ninja suit?
My take is this;
The Sisterhood did manage to grab the 616-Psylocke and work their mojo on her, but this is part of a plan between Betsy and Sage. They could have seen the Sisterhood do this on an alternate Earth and decided they should intervene somehow, even at the risk of Betsy's own life. So Betsy's mind would then be intact in her original body, but she would then be pretending to following Maddie's orders.
Either that, or the "real" 616-Betsy will show up at the end of #509 and tell Sage that she was to late, that Betsy from Earth 888 couldn't be saved, and that she's now going after the Sisterhood. Would explain asian betsy on the cover of #512. ;-)
Or for that matter it could be Spiral pulling a fast one. She may not like the Red Queen playing with one of her favoirite little creations, anything can happen really, we just have to wait and see.
It would be funny if Betsy's old body was de-powered during M-day an they had to put her back.
Looks like betts is staying asian...
http://i.livescience.com/images/UNCX510COV_variant.jpg
:(
I guess that plus the x-club cover would suggest that she is staying asian, but anything can happen at this point.
I always thought that the original Psylocke transformation into Lady Mandarin was not supposed to be a body swap but more Betsy projecting what she wanted to be. Because she was a telepath, It would have made sense for Betsy to have projected a warrior image of herself into peoples minds, because she always seemed vulnerable in her old body and unable to pysically be a hero. She was defeated by slaymaster and needed body armor to protect herself etc., and I think at times admitted that she felt helpless to defend her friends.
Perhaps that is what will happen here, maybe betsy will be in her original body but mind trick everyone into seeing her warrior self.
Lets hope so, I'm really sick of Asian Betsy...I think that she was an unnecessary move by Marvel or Claremont or whatever~. They should have gone a much simpler way imo...
i really don't see how to stay sad with that. we learnt to love and know her as the cunning psychic ninja,the british body is meaningless when compared...i'd definitely be more frustrated if fraction would trash years of character development in one issue
Fraction DID warn us to wait until it was all over before we passed any judgement...
I rather enjoy Betsy as Ninja Psylocke; I mean she's become everything she's wanted to become: A hero, a warrior, empowered and aware of her self.
I would also love the return of Revanche... ala Kwannon.
I'm thinking this alternate cover for 510 either means Betsy going asian again or Kwannon resurecting...I'm really hoping for the second one...
Me too, Rogue! Me too... I think that way, the defenders of both bodies will be pleased.
Wow, I'm even missing the old 90's comics with Psylocke and Revanche fighting each other, teaming up against other foes and stuff like that; even though most of those stories were awfully written, it was just nice seeing "two Psylockes" at once...
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