Psylocke Heads To Japan

IGN: Anyone who has been following Uncanny X-Men over the past few months knows that Psylocke made a grand return to life. This act of resurrection is just the latest in a long, complicated string of body-switches, deaths, and cross-dimensional travel. At the end of the day, though, all that matters is that the X-Men have their own personal psychic ninja back on staff.

Psylocke will quickly be playing an integral role in Matt Fraction's future issues of Uncanny, but that's not the only place fans will be able to catch the adventures of Betsy Braddock. At Heroes Con this weekend, Marvel revealed that Chris Yost (X-Force) will be writing a new four-issue mini-series called X-Men: Psylocke, with the first issue due in November.

We're always eager to chat with Yost about all mutant matters, so we talked to him and editor Daniel Ketchum about the premise behind this Psylocke book. The fact that Marvel are so quick to compare this story to Kill Bill has us salivating at the thought of stylish ninja action, and from what we've heard so far, it sounds like that's what Yost intends to deliver.

IGN Comics: Psylocke is alive and well once more. What is her current mental state after her resurrection? Does she feel she has any place with the X-Men these days?

Chris Yost: I imagine that Psylocke feels pretty disconnected from not only the X-Men, but from herself these days. Imagine what she's been through in her relatively young life... the insanity that she's had to deal with. Then death. Then resurrection. Then getting pulled into another dimension with alternate versions of her teammates and friends. I think maybe she made out with alternate universe Sabretooth.

And now, she's back, pulled home as a test run for body snatching by the Red Queen.

Luckily, this series doesn't touch on any of that, except a bit of the last part. So the question is, to Psylocke, what is real? Who is she? What's important to her?

IGN Comics: Why does she choose to return Kwannon's body to Japan? Is this the late ninja's final wish?

Yost: It's out of respect, not only to Kwannon but to herself. This is the body she was born in, and while she's accepted her new body... she's still got fond memories of her original. So she wants it to be treated well.

That doesn't go to plan.

IGN Comics: How do Psylocke's powers function now that she's back in her original body? Is she not quite the ninja she once was?

Yost: She's not shadow melding, she's maybe a little telekinetic. She's got high level telepathy, which she can focus into a psychic knife. She's got the muscle memory of being a bad-ass ninja assassin, so she can move, knows martial arts, and is lethal with a katana. That's it.

Daniel Ketchum: Psylocke's power set has been a mish-mash of things over past few years. But to boil it down for the purposes of our story: Betsy's a little telekinetic and a little telepathic, but mostly, yeah, she's a bad-ass ninja.

IGN Comics: Describe the opponent Psylocke faces in this story. What sets her on the path of revenge?

Yost: Matsu'o Tsurayaba has a long history with Psylocke and the X-Men, going back to the day that Psylocke went from pink butterflies to ninja assassin. But they made their peace, right? That's what Psylocke thought. So when Matsu'o does something fairly unspeakable, it makes her anger all the more... angrier.

IGN Comics: This story is being compared to Kill Bill. Is that a stylistic comparison as well?

Yost: It's a revenge story, but it's a little more complicated than Kill Bill. As for the style, I'll leave that to Daniel.

Ketchum: I actually think a comparison to Kill Bill applies to Psylocke herself more than the book as a whole. When I signed on to edit this book, the first question I asked was: What kind of Psylocke book would I want to read? I love the idea of Psylocke being a force of nature…walking carnage, ninja-shaped death. I want her to be a complete bad-ass and a force to be reckoned with, not just that purple-haired chick on the B-roster of the fourth X-Men book from the left.

And, as a sidenote, if there's anyone who can do that for Psylocke, it's Chris.

IGN Comics: Chris, what made you want to be the one to tackle Psylocke's story following her return?

Yost: All Daniel has to do is call me up and say, 'Would you be interested in..' and I'm already sold. In this case, with Psylocke, I was sold on her as of New Mutants Annual #2. Seeing her grow over the years, survive the mutant massacre, take a more and more bad-ass stance with the X-Men, and finally see her evolve into what she's known as today... she's an amazing character that's been on one hell of a journey.

We just want to remind people why we love her.

For instance, I love her because of that shot of her coming out of the water that Jim Lee drew, which made Cyclops go all slobbery right in front of Jean Grey.

IGN Comics: We suspect Captain Britain will be interested to know his sister is alive again. Will he play any role in this story?

Yost: Ha ha, poor Brian. He's always the last to know. Nope. He's fighting Dracula in one of my favorite books, Captain Britain and the MI:13 by Paul Cornell. So go buy it!!

IGN Comics: Anything else you'd like to add about the Psylocke mini at this point?

Yost: If you've been reading comics lately, coming away feeling empty... wondering why you're not seeing incredibly sexy, bad-ass telepathic women fighting ninjas on a quest for revenge, culminating in a battle with one of the most vicious killers on the planet...

...buckle up.