Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Psylocke by Mark Brooks

Mark Brooks: "This is the artwork for the lithograph of Psylocke from the X-Men that goes along with the Sideshow Collectibles statue that I designed and was sculpted by the amazing Adam Ross. I like some elements of the litho but it is far and away from how I envisioned it. Oh well, better luck next time. Pencil and ink on bristol board and colored in photoshop."

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

X-Men: Curse of the Mutants - Storm & Gambit #1 Art


Psylocke makes a small cameo in the issue with no lines. Bachalo!

Remender on Uncanny X-Force



CBR: "Wolverine and Archangel's X-Force may still exist, but they're far from the same team as the previous incarnation. The last line up featured some members who had no real previous experience with killing, including Elixir and Thunderbird. For this new team, the leaders have recruited Deadpool, Fantomex and Psylocke, all characters who have had experience doing the bloody, but often necessary, work that the new team will take on."


"The reasoning behind the decision to recruit Psylocke to the team is rather apparent, as her presence gives the new X-Force some much needed psionic firepower. "Obviously, Betsy's strengths for the team are that she's an omega level telepath and a stealthy ninja bad ass," Remender said. "Like her teammates, she's another character who's been tampered with; another good person who's had bad infused into her psyche. She's a person who has been shattered and then rebuilt. Every one of these characters has had the same thing happen to them. They've all been tampered with. They've all had somebody else come in and reprogram some part of their brain to be wild and maybe even villainous, and that's a common thread throughout the series."

"Psylocke is also dealing with her death and recent resurrection at the hands of the Sisterhood of Evil Mutants. It's made her very reflective about her past, which is something Remender certainly plans to explore. "I think there's a lot to rediscover and be reconnected with in terms of her past. I believe both her brother and her father had some small connection with Fantomex," the writer revealed "There's a duality and conflict inside of Betsy, and I'm really fascinated by that. I've been reading the character since ,85 and up through the changeover into what she is now. Her mind is hard to define at this point, if you follow every point of continuity. It was transferred and tampered with, and then she went through the Siege Perilous. It's easier for me to get my head around if you just think, after all these things, her mind is broken and she's trying to put it back together. She's trying to rediscover the center of who she is and see past all of this smoke that other people have filled her mind with."

Long time X-Men fans know that Psylocke and Archangel were once romantically linked, an aspect of their relationship which will play an important role in "Uncanny X-Force." "That's one of the reasons they're both on the team. There's an element of that. Something in their past relationship is a big reason why they're on this team together," Remender told CBR. "I reread a lot of the issues that featured their relationship, just to see why it worked and why it just wasn't a convenient thing. I don't want to give anything away, but I think what I've done with these characters is sort of the natural conclusion and a natural thing for them to come to."

Notes: Psylocke is mentioned as being an "Omega Level Telepath" by Remender! Uncanny X-Force is on sale Oct 2010.


Thursday, August 19, 2010

Marvel Announces Uncanny X-Force Day



Official Press Release: Marvel is proud to announce Uncanny X-Force Day and wants to celebrate with YOU, the fans, on Wednesday, October 6th! After Cyclops disbands Wolverine’s black-ops group, Logan assembles a brand new team to face a deadly new threat, courtesy of fan favorite creators Rick Remender and Jerome Opeña! Mark your calendars and be the first person on your block to score great Uncanny X-Force Day commemorative items like an exclusive Uncanny X-Force print featuring the team’s first appearance in the hit series Second Coming, exclusive variants, mini-posters and more! Plus, fans can’t miss the chance to add their own heroes to the Uncanny X-Force lineup by sketching on the Uncanny X-Force #1 Blank Variant!

Plus, Marvel would like to thank participating retailers with a special advance screening edition of Uncanny X-Force #1 Premiere Variant! This limited-edition comic, won’t be made available to the general public or retailers not participating in this exciting event!

Retailers, check the Marvel Mailer for information about how to acquire festive party invitations, and all the other special edition party favors and be sure to sign up by 9/9. Additionally, the Marvel Retailer Resource Center and Diamond Retailer Site will feature special marketing items—such as customizable press releases, shelf talkers, cake toppers and flyers—exclusive to Uncanny X-Force Day.

On October 6th, the get ready for an all-new, all-deadly Uncanny X-Force!

Uncanny X-Men #527 Spoilers & Art



Spoilers: Psylocke and Cecilia Reyes travel to Mexico to track down one of the first mutants to manifest powers since M-Day. Gabriel Cohuelo starts thinking and moving so fast, only tranquilizers calm him down. Cecilia tells his parents Gabriel is in the proccess of becoming a mutant. The boys' apparent speed powers causes him to move so fast he disappears, so Psylocke tapps into Cecelia's powers to create a force field around his room so they would not lose him before Hope Summers could arrive to help. Hope enters his room and touches him, helping Gabriel to fully develop his powers.

After having dinner with Tony Stark, Emma Frost visits her prisoner Sebastian Shaw in the brig. Danger assures her that Sebastian will remain their secret. Maddison Jeffries tells Emma that Colossus needs her help. Piotr wants Emma to psychically connect Kitty and Colossus' minds, which she does, much to her dismay. She then has sushi with Namor, who tries to convince her that Cyclops is nothing more than a boy playing at being a soldier.

In Japan, Wolverine tells Scott he's worried about how Summers lives his life once the war is over. Logan wonders if Cyclops knows how to stop.

Monday, August 16, 2010

X-Solicits for November 2010

Uncanny X-Force #2
Written by: Rick Remender
Pencils by: Jerome Opeña
Cover by: Esad Ribic
"The Apocalypse Solution," Part 2 The X-Force are in deep trouble. Stranded in the Blue Area of the moon at the hands of the Last Horsemen, E.V.A. decimated, the team scattered, diseased and terribly injured, the situation is beyond hopeless. Ozymandias and the Akkaba Society are a step closer to instigating a new age. Apocalypse is ascending. X-Force is down, outmanned and without aid. That's it someone's going feral.


X-Men Legacy #242
Written by: Mike Carey
Penciled by: Paul Davidson
Cover by: Leinil Francis Yu
"Fables of the Reconstruction" Part 1 og 2 After suffering heavy damage during Bastion's attack on mutantkind, the city of San Francisco is rebuilding. Hoping to aid in the reconstruction effort, Cyclops tasks a team of X-Men -- including the newly-arrived mutant messiah, Hope -- to lend a hand. But when something goes terribly wrong, will the X-Men lose everything they fought for?



Uncanny X-Men #530
Written by: Matt Fraction
Pencils & Cover by: Greg Land
"Quarantine" Is there anything worse than that slow, sinking, feeling like you're getting sick? You can't get warm. Your bones hurt. Your throat closes and your chest gets too heavy every time you breathe and then you know you're doomed... so what if it happened to all the X-Men, all at once? The Sublime are back and they've unleashed a contagion on Utopia. To what end? Why now? And what's next? Who's left in San Francisco to deal with the Collective Man? Related: where does Dazzler get all her awesome outfits? Part 1 (of 5)


X-Men #5
Written by: Victor Gischler
Penciled by: Paco Medina
Cover by: Adi Granov
Variant Cover by: Paco Medina
"Curse of the Mutants," Part 5 The Vampire Nation's army is unleashed on Utopia, with vampire Wolverine leading the charge and, boy, does he have a bone to pick with Cyclops! Meanwhile, the newly resurrected Dracula is nowhere to be found. So why is Cyclops smiling?



X-Men: Curse Of The Mutants Spotlight #1
Written by: John Rhett Thomas
As Curse of the Mutants reaches its exciting climax, this special issue of Spotlight takes a look at what's next for the X-Men: Who survived the bloody onslaught, and which mutants are cursed for good? With special preview art and insider information from the creative types behind Curse of the Mutants and its many tie-ins as well as looks back to other classic clashes between mutants and vampires it's going to be a blood-sucking good time! Also, Spotlight delivers a post-game report on Shadowland: what's next for Daredevil and the rest of the events' combatants? Finally, we make room for a look ahead to the Chaos War, an event even bigger than Annihilation and the Infinity Gauntlet combined! How's that? Because Hercules is starring in it, that's how!

X-Men: To Serve And Protect #1
Written by: Chris Yost, Joshua Hale Fialkov & more
Penciled by: Vairous
Cover by: Nick Bradshaw
We're knee-deep in the Heroic Age and the X-Men are smack-dab in the center of the Marvel Universe! Yost returns to the X-Books to tell a story that pits two fan-favorite X-Men up against a major Spider-Man villain in a four-part story that will run through each issue of this multi-story extravaganza! Who are these X-Men and why are they wearing disguises? Also in this issue, Fantomex and Batroc fight over a stolen diamond, and more!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Uncanny X-Men #527 Preview

Cover by: Terry Dodson
Writer: Matt Fraction
Pencils: Whilce Portacio & Leonard Kirk
Inks: Ed Tadeo, Leonard Kirk & Jay Leisten
Colored by: Brian Reber
Lettered by: VC's Joe Caramagna

The Story:
“The Five Lights” The fallout of Second Coming is still taking its toll on the X-Men. We can’t tell you anything else until the end of Second Coming! Part 2 (of 5)

In Stores: August 18, 2010


Friday, August 6, 2010

Cup O' Joe: Marvel T&A

CBR: There were honestly too many folks asking after Psylocke's costume, so I went with psycwave's specific wording with "Hey Axel, are the covers for Uncanny X-Force temporary as most seem to be just recolored outfits, namely Psylocke's? It just seems like the character is cursed to wear the thong outfit for all eternity never to be updated or the like, especially when many of the X-men go through costume revamps on a regular basis."

Alonso: They are not temporary. Psylocke is sporting her regulation X-Force silver-and-black tho - I mean, uniform. With it's streamlined aerodynamic design, and splatterproof material, it's the perfect outfit for bringing the fight to the doorstep of anyone who'd mess with mutants.

Psylocke Merchandising

I feel like I haven't paid a lot of attention to it, so here's a list of Psylocke-related products released within the last 2 years with links to where you can buy/pre-order all this stuff.


Marvel Minimates Uncanny X-Force Box Set
The Uncanny X-Force box set will feature Psylocke, Deadpool, Archangel, Fantomex, and Wolverine.
Release date: To be announced.


Kotobukiya's X-Men Danger Room Sessions Psylocke Fine Art Statue
Release date: February 2011
Price: To be announced.


Sideshow Collectibles Psylocke Comiquette
Release date: October 2010
Price: U$264.99 (Pre-Order)


Kotobukyia's Psylocke Bishoujo Statue
Release date: June 2010


Bowen Designs Psylocke Statue
Releasde date: June 2010
Price: U$175.00


Marvel Minimates (Toys R Us Two Packs) Wave 7: Lockjaw & Betsy Braddock
Accessories: Betsy Braddock's hairpiece, two psy-knives, one telekinetic katana.
Release date: June 2010
Price: U$14.95


Sideshow Collectibles Spiral VS. Psylocke Polystone Diorama
Releasde date: November 2009
Price: U$234.99


Marvel Minimates Wave 28: Gambit & Psylocke
Accessories: One psy-knife, one real katana
Release date: August 2009
Price: U$19.99


Hasbro Marvel Super Hero Squad Wave 7: Wolverine & Psylocke
Release date: 2008
Price: U$16.95

Monday, August 2, 2010

The Art of Shunya Yamashita

I guess I've never posted those! Shunya Yamashita is a Japanese illustrator and character designer. As you can see, Shunya is the artist behind the Marvel Bishoujo Statues by Kotobukya and these are the drawings on which the statues are based. Following Rogue, Black Widow, the Scarlet Witch, Psylocke, Jean Grey and Emma Frost, the future of the Bishoujo series will continue with Black Cat and Ms. Marvel statues coming in 2011.