X-Men Monday #82 – Jordan D. White Answers Your X of Swords Week 7 Questions

AIPT!: X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White runs through X-Fans’ latest round of burning X of Swords questions.

AIPT: Based on Saturnyne’s interactions with the representatives from Mercator in Stasis, is it safe to assume she herself doesn’t know everything about the post-Secret Wars Otherworld she oversees? 

Jordan: It is very safe to assume that. She has never been in there. I’m pretty sure if you go back to the data page about Mercator, it talks about how it used to be a different kingdom. So she knew about that. But something has happened that has taken over that realm and has sealed it off. And no one from outside has been in since then. So she doesn’t know what happened in there since that time. 

But it does have a familiar name. 

AIPT: Based on Tarot’s reading at the end of Stasis, things seem pretty dire for Captain Britain. What can you tease about Betsy’s future? 

Jordan: What can I tease about Betsy? I love Betsy. I’ve been a fan of Betsy for ages. I think I’ve been a fan of her for a long time, but my fandom for her grew because she was a very prominent character in one of my first ongoing gigs at Marvel, which is the book New Exiles. 

She was a cast member in that. Her and Sage were the two 616 characters in that book. And as a result, both of them have become very close to my heart. Just because, again, I’ve been reading Marvel Comics my whole life and getting a job at Marvel was an absolute dream job. So I was very, very excited, and to jump on New Exiles–as my first issue was Exiles #99, but you know, we were already working on the relaunch for New Exiles at that time. And yeah, it really bonded her to my heart. She’s terrific. 

That was one of many times when we tried unsuccessfully to give her pants. Once in a while we go, “Why don’t we put pants on Psylocke?” And we do it, but then time passes and she just stops wearing them. I don’t know what the deal is. 

AIPT: You pivoted from teasing her future to talking about her past and then pants. So, what can you tease about her future? 

Jordan: So obviously, we’ve got big plans for her. I don’t know what your readers consider spoilers. I mean, there’s an interesting cover, but it also doesn’t quite answer the question. 

AIPT: Are you talking about the one where Betsy appears to be the Queen of England? 

Jordan: That’s the one. Well, again, I wasn’t saying it, because I don’t know, some people consider a few upcoming covers to be spoilers. But yes, I’m talking about the cover of Excalibur #17 where she seems to be the Queen of England. But then the question is, is that her? That’s a good question. There are important things going on with her and I hope everybody enjoys them. 

AIPT: Are the Tarot cards accurate glimpses into the future, or can we never truly trust anything from Saturnyne? 

Jordan: That’s a really good question. I think that, yes, of course, Saturnyne does mess with people, but I don’t think she’s stacking the deck, if you know what I’m saying. Like, I think she is using this Tarot deck that she, you know, had to destroy a sun, I think to get–it’s a big thing. 

She is doing the proper reading that said–well, I don’t want to say as with all Tarot cards, because my belief on how, or whether Tarot cards work in real life is a separate matter entirely. As with Tarot cards in fiction, always, I think the future is in motion and et cetera, et cetera, you know, like, just because it says something will happen doesn’t mean you can’t avoid it, or you can’t change it. And also, as Tini has often pointed out, Tarot cards are not usually telling you, “Hey, tell me what is going to happen in the next three days.” It will be this, this, this, this–it’s more a reading of what the forces of the world are aligned toward, you know? And so it’s telling you about now and where now is headed, but that can then be changed. It’s not a locked-in reading of “Here is what happens in the future.” It’s, “Here’s what will happen from now.” 

That’s a little confusing, but hopefully, it made sense.