Thursday, November 5, 2020

Excalibur #14 – X of Swords, Chapter 15 Preview

Excalibur #14
Writer: Tini Howard
Art by: Phil Noto
Cover by: Mahmud Asrar

The Story:
X of Swords – Chapter 15
Two swords. Two cups. Two must answer.

In Stores: November 11, 2020

41 comments:

X-Man said...

That's some pink hair. Yikes lol.

lucasg_i said...

Phil does know how to draw expressive faces huh.
She's really following the meaning of the 9 of swords card with her confidence issues (after all, she did die in a sword fight).
I'm intrigued

Max said...

she should have communicated with Jubilee using her butterfly insignia. tbh it is pretty difficult to determine who was making the telepathic communication in Excalibur because both Betsy and Apocalypse are telepaths

PsychicScion said...

ugh the pink hair and orange skin

Psi-Girl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nate X said...

Looks pretty light purple to me.

Benjamin Hutton said...

And blue eyes.

Unreadable trash.

THE FLYING NEGRO said...

Free Betsy from Excalibur and Tini Howard! Absolutely hate what she has done to this character.

randybear said...

The conversation between Betsy and Jubilee felt sad and like the last time she will hear from the Betsy she's known.

lucasg_i said...

Wow you people like to complain about everything... Any consequence of this event or the whole book/dawn of x era will be erased in a coupe years and you'll have a lot more to complain about. There are actually important things going on in the world, relax, read, enjoy and get your priorities straight

randybear said...

Go kick rocks. This comment section is to share your opinions on the blogs posts. We aren't here to discuss anything going on in the world other than what pertains to the posts.

If you dont like it then you don't have to read the comments and you certainly don't need to post here. No need to be so dismissive towards others sharing their opinions especially if they aren't directed at you.

X-Man said...

I think we are capable of multitasking lol.

All due respect, with all the issues going on in the world, you also took the time to come and engage in conversation about a fictional character we all love.

Imo a lot are just frustrated that Betsy was written so awesome in Dissassembled or UXF, and in this book it seems like (not to steal from the prophecy lol) she's an echo of who she really is.

TPTB won't know if we dislike or are unsastisfied with anything, unless we voice it. I dont believe that translates to us not having our priorities straight. Everyone should be allowed to respectfully voice their likes and dislikes our faves.

Jmho.

Jeferson said...

Betsy has at this very moment: super strenght, flight, telepathy, telekinesis, invulnerability, millenia in experience with sword and hand fight plus bloody ninja skills... Really, Marvel? Do u want us to believe Betsy is worried about to fight someone supposed to be "unbeatable"? Who? If you are going to kill Betsy is good to you write the most iconic fight we ever read in our lifes, cuz that Vargas shit in Xtreme is still unacceptable.

Jeferson said...

Betsy has already faced Apocalypse (won), Shadowking (won), Magneto (won), Proteus (in exiles she was strong enough to face him), that First Fallen... Betsy is a high class mutant, you all. Show them some respect

FSaker said...

...Other discussions aside, is Betsy going to be the first Swordbearer to fight, then?

That leaves me a bit worried. The tradition in these kinds of stories is that the heroes lose the first battles, to make the challenge even harder for the heroes to succeed. Hickman does like to subvert expectations, but then again, it's Howard who's writing this chapter, not him...

I hope Howard doesn't even think of having Betsy get killed in this battle. Betsy's fans are already unsatisfied with her work so far; if she does kill Betsy (even though we know she'll be back a couple months after XoS is over), she'll likely become the most hated writer in Betsy's fans' eyes. And Betsy's fans are quite vocal, as some previous writers have already acknowledged...

(and she won't be able to say the hate is due to sexism, because if I remember correctly, most fans were actually very supportive when Marvel announced that a woman would be writing the Excalibur book)

Kiki M. Ishola said...

Lucasg i telling Marvel off for ruining Betsy isn't whining. Are you happy she has lost the Psylocke, her martial training, her butterfly and little by little her purple hair and femininity? Cause most people is mad.

Kiki M. Ishola said...

Ditto times infinite!

lucasg_i said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lucasg_i said...

She was killed by Vargas though

lucasg_i said...

Betsy has never been feminine in the conventional sense, she was always an action seeker, even when she didn't have any combat capabilities.
Psylocke is just a codename... characters change codenames all the time, in fact, on some countries she was never called Psylocke.
As far as we know, she hasn't lost her hth or weapon proficiency, she was after all able to defeat Brian in a sword fight.
Also, I saw no one complaining when her hair was colored black while in her other body, so no I don't care about her hair color that much.
The butterfly, that does work me a bit, I hope she either gets it back or evolve more.
But yes, it does come off as whiny

lucasg_i said...

@randybearok, I see your point.
It's just that seeing people complain about everything in a forum that I'm sure marvel writers DON'T read gets tiring quite fast while we could be focusing on the positive aspects of the story

Unknown said...

What Marvel os doing with Betsy is a complete shame. It's beem like a teenage Mary sue...

FSaker said...

That makes me wonder, are these complaints being made on CBR's X-Forums, too? Because we know some people at Marvel (including writers and editors) DO read what people post there; in fact, more than once we've seen things said there being implemented on the stories (like Iceman being gay, or Lois London being brought back from editorial limbo after, I don't know, THREE DECADES or something?).

In fact, Betsy did start getting more prominent on stories after several people started expressing they wanted her to be more used in stories on the X-Forums, if I remember correctly.

Kiki M. Ishola said...

Lucasg i oops whiny or not Betsy was feminine and proud when she wore her pink fairy gown suit as a new X-Man and strutted her goods in lingerie right in Havok's face. Did I mention Betsy posed naked in her real body for Colossus to give him inspiration for his paintings and that she was a super model who dyed her hair purple to kill the competition? Yeah figures.

Sad Puppets! said...

For perspective, vocal Betsy fans on X-Twitter are overwhelmingly positive about Tini's run on Excalibur, including the writers on Xavier Files, etc. As a lifelong Betsy fan who takes my Betsy fandom very seriously, I love this run. I'm excited for what's coming, and I'm not the only one. Not saying that you're not entitled to your opinion, quite the opposite, but just to be mindful of speaking in generalizations about what Betsy's fans do and don't enjoy.

Love this blog. Been a reader since the early 2000's.

lucasg_i said...

Oh, ok, I get what you meant with feminine, I agree that she was feminine in that sense, but I don't see how she's not feminine anymore.
With the hair issue... It's literally hair color, let it go already, it's not that they went blue, it's like a pinkish purple, her character is defined by more than her hair color, she had multicolored hair when she first became Captain Britain ! She was blonde when she first appeared ! She had black hair multiple times as Psylocke while in Kwannon's body !

Rahsaan said...

@Benjamin, I like the blue eyes like she had before Slaymaster ripped them out. Mojo gave her purple eyes, so I could logically say her remaking her body without them. (I'd be fine with them retconning her new purple eyes to blue.)

The tan is weird though and her hair color reminds me of the Jem character, Raya. Really hoping this behavior in these panels is her playing possum before she opens a can of whoopass on this chick by using her telepathy to block her access to her "never lose" power.

lucasg_i said...

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

lucasg_i said...

I think the skin color has to do more with style than the colorist actually believing she's that tan, the hair is a bit on the light side.
As to her behavior... Betsy's always had confidence issues, she did when he first joined the x-men, because she wasn't a fighter. After the body swap she became over confident in her combat abilities, which got her killed by Vargas, it does make sense she'd be nervous. I do hope she realizes the way to win is not with her sword and shield but playing smart with her powers, either blocking Isca's (they made a whole deal about Betsy boosting Iceman in the handbook after all) or getting her with illusions like she did before the bodyswap or even in the contest of champions and tricking her into believing she's winning.

Rahsaan said...

@lucasg_ I was kidding about the tan. It's definitely a coloring issue by the inker. As for Bets, yes! Praying that this is when Tini starts to really show us that she understands Betsy's psychic abilities beyond just creating that sword and shield and using telepathic communication! Betsy was a master trickster with her telepathy way before she became a physical fighter. And she also was master at using her telekinesis to augment her martial arts skills. Tini has a golden opportunity with this tournament to integrate all of this and show that Betsy has learned from all her experiences. And yes to using her telepathy to augment or shut down a mutant's access to their powers. I loved when she enabled Iceman greater access to his on Utopia and loved when she cut Marvel Girl's access to hers when they physically fought in Central Park during Inferno. Crossing my fingers that Tini delivers.

lucasg_i said...

Let's hope so !!!

SoulTapestry said...

That, "Get away from me.", was cringey. Very not in character for the Betsy I love. All it was missing was, "OMG, Ew!"...

Tobias Chatti said...

Betsy is out of character reading lines from a paper for a play. If it's a front good if it's a change of her personality I don't like it. She used London meet and greet with strangers and was polite until she entered frenzy if she sensed evil in them.

Toffnut said...

The art is gorgeous.

Unknown said...

This has always been a bad trope in Marvel storytelling: "The Unbeatable Nobody Villain". Unfortunately, Betsy seems to be a victim of this more than once. The first time was to a nobody named Vargas, who actually managed to kill her. He was so unimportant in the long run, that The Nasty Boys killed him (yes, those idiots). And now, she's apparently intimidated by... um, whoever this is Mind you, she's beaten big bads like Magneto and Shadow King one-on-one. So, this is just good old, contrived Marvel hooey.

Finn said...

Same.

Jaime Braz said...

Tini Howard has shown her writing skills with indie comics. She has story telling and world building methods that are unconventional but effective.

She conducts research on the characters therefore I don't believe she writes so by accident. There is a grand scheme that we don't know of and she has set the stage that way for the pieces to fall into place. Any major changes made to characters are done to revisit concepts and stories of the past with a twist. That is a refreshing approach.

Betsy and her unusual behavior makes us angry. She hasn't acted strange before but there might be an answer to that as well as the butterfly signature which comes and goes depending on how Betsy is confident in herself. Howard has stated in interviews she became a Betsy fan because of the Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender. Howard will return Betsy to her roots after the Otherworld stories are wrapped up.

The little things that make me have faith are hints of Betsy's past like her interactions with Brian, Jamie, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Apocalypse, Rachel and Pete Wisdom. In her discussions she shows how connected she is to Brian, Rogue, Rachel, Gambit and Jubilee which tells she is the old Betsy. Betsy still doesn't trust Apocalypse and Jamie for she was a former Death Horseman and a victim of Jamie's madness.

lucasg_i said...

Also, Betsy's always had confidence issues, be it at the beggining of her career as a super hero, after being blinded by Taskmaster (and in her battles with the alternate Taskmaster in exiles),and her lack of combat skills, to her overconfidence in her ninja days (which got her gutted and ultimately killed). It's only natural that she's in a middle place, and knowing that if she dies there's no coming back.

Jaime Braz said...

Betsy is under great pressure. She is divided emotionally to protect three worlds at once. The Homo Sapiens world from the side of her mother, the magic world of Otherworld from the side of her father and the Homo Superior world from her mutant side. The strain to keep her focus divided on all sides drains her. It's just that Tini Howard isn't self explanatory with her writing to spell out Betsy has a lot on her plate.

Betsy has overcome her fear of the Slaymaster, Sabretooth and Vargas in the Exiles run. She honed her combat skills there under Ogun and her telepathy under her Otherworld magic counterpart with a giant psychic butterfly for a head. Death is Betsy's enemy because she doesn't want to relive it and let down the people who love her.

lucasg_i said...

Exactly !

Tazirai said...

In some of those she got lucky, and against magneto, he let her. He had a backup plan. Betsy is still my girl though.