#tbt: X-Men #23 – In Japan Lord Nyoirin explains to the X-Men that Shinobi Shaw and Matsu'o are responsible for Revanche and Psylocke's merging of minds and abilities. Gambit and Beast then head off to Tokyo, where they give Shaw a message to send to the Upstarts: the X-Men now know they exist. At the same time, Psylocke and Revanche find Matsu'o at his house in Chosin Japan where they are attacked by him. The two women easily defeat Matsu'o and, both using their psi-powers, have their revenge for his manipulation. Written by Fabian Nicieza and Art by Andy Kubert. Read full summary here.
“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.
9 comments:
The weird thing is that they not only let him live (despite the physical and psychic beating), but Revanche was still in love with him - to the point where she asked him to fight her to death when she contracted the Legacy Virus.
With the universe reboot after Secret Wars (Marvel itself established that the main universe isn't called Earth-616 anymore, for example, plus the presence of Miles Morales, Old Man Logan and Squadron Supreme on it), can we pretend that Revanche was retconned out of existence and that Psylocke just looks different because Mojo and Spiral made plastic surgeries on her (like Claremont established from the beginning)?
This would also eliminate any problem concerning her ethnic group (and explain why she was never treated any differently by any person at all after becoming a ninja). For all effects, she would still be considered a Caucasian woman, only with her eyes eyes having a little similarity to Asian people's eyes).
Ughhhhhhhhh. So poorly written.
@FSaker, your solution would be even more offensive and problematic than the body swap as it be considered literal yellow face. As ludicrous and stupid as the body swap was, it is still less dumb and offensive than "plastic surgery to look Asian". I'm afraid we're stuck with the lesser of two evils now.
Kevin, your comment is 100 percent spot-on.
FSaker, you are wrong. Her skin was also darkened and her hair texture changed to be lank, straight and coarse as is obvious in Uncanny 256 and Kevin is right, your suggestion is not great. Really, the only way to resolve this character is for Marvel to stop being racist with her yellow-face (body swap and retcon) and make her white again, and clearly unless an actual non-white male, likw G. Willow gets her hands on her, that doesn't seem to be happening because the powers that be are so confused about real diversity.
She's a woman hailing from Britain,whose mind was transplanted into the body of a Japanese.What's hard to understand about that?At the end it all boils down to superhero weirdness,I'm not sure Claremont or Lee or Harras brought this change into effect with the intention of fostering diversity in the X-Men.She has been 100% the woman from the UK that she was before she crossed the Siege Perilous.The more I read such complaints on comic book forums,the more I'm beginning to wonder whether race is more important than national identity for Americans.
IMO,where Nicieza should have implemented his ideas differently is Spiral's involvement.Instead of a body-swap,it would have been more engaging and,of course,far more faithful to the source material,if the Hand had used magic to recreate Psylocke-in her own body-in Kwannon's image and Spiral,unbeknownst to Matsu'o,did the opposite thing to his lover's body.Again,this all remains so complicated,but at least a full-scale retcon would be averted.
FSaker,as to your first statement,Kwannon's memories at the time were still fractured and twisted by Nyoirin's diary.I am not sure she remembered who Tsurayaba was.After the Legacy Virus expanded her powers,her now stronger telepathy began to repair the damage inflicted on her brain,and she then travelled to Japan in order to demand explanations from Matsu'o.
Rahsaan ChisolmMarch 14, 2017 at 11:50 PM
PoetryInMotion,
To answer your question... Yes. Race is more important to Americans as we have no unified national identity. From America's outset to today, the social construct of race has been ised to subjugate people socioeconomically, etc. And the election of Donald Trump proved that the "whiteness" seeks to protect itself at all cost to everyone else. That is a really honest answer to your question.
Two articles you might find interesting on this topic:
https://medium.com/message/whiteness-3ead03700322
https://medium.com/message/how-white-people-got-made-6eeb076ade42
PoetryInMotion,
You have to realize in a nation that regularly treats its non-white/non-heterosexual/non-cis people like class that many of us don't feel fully patriotic. For instance, when I travel abroad, I claim New York City as my nationality all the time before American. As much of America is not at all representative of my views on civil rights and human rights. Deapite being a nation, we're the size if a continent and as populated as one and when you travel throughout, you see that Americans are anything but one nation and one people.
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