"Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #5" landed at #136 in the June sales ranking, marking the end of Tini Howard's long reign as the lead writer for Betsy Braddock, and the sole steward of the character since October 2019. The latest release failed to make much impact among the general audience and only garnered attention among Betsy Braddock fans. This comes as no surprise, given that the character's stagnation under Howard's pen had been showing signs of weariness since the second year of Excalibur. While the rest of the X-line underwent numerous twists, events, and storylines, Betsy Braddock remained stuck in the same narrative since Excalibur #1. This undoubtedly alienated readers from both the character and Howard's comics. It's unfortunate that Howard, her associates, and her most devoted defenders on Twitter resorted to gaslighting, dismissing any critique of her work and the characterization of Betsy Braddock as trolling, even when the criticisms were valid and well-articulated. Let's hope for better years ahead for Betsy Braddock. Long may she reign.
“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.
25 comments:
If it wasn't for TH pandering to gay xtwitter no one... NO ONE would say nice things about her run lol
The fact that Catwoman fans don't like TH writing speaks.. pun not intended volumes.
Let's be real here, the only reason XTwitter suck up to TH is because they desperately want to be noticed and validated by that podcast cult leader.
Exactly! I agree with everything you say and I am feel relief now that we son't have to deal with this denial anymore.
Praying a new writer comes in hoping to change Betsy up a bit.
I'd take an editorial limbo era for Betsy before another Tini's run.
Seriously, we need Betsy back as Psylocke and back with the X-Men.
Enough CB crap, this didn't worked.
Everyone on Twitter saying going back to XMen would be a demotion for her lol Like okay let's just keep her stuck in boring ass Otherworld because she's in charge or it 🙄
The whole lore of the Otherworld and its rich background may sound interesting in theory, but in practice, it's a different story. The general audience and most writers simply have no interest in the concept of Captain Britain and Otherworld. Captain Britain has never been a strong brand. Brian spent years in limbo because nobody cares about a Captain Britain. It's pointless for Betsy to be Captain Britain and hold a position of power/leadership if nobody is interested. Wanting Betsy to remain as Captain Britain is like asking her to disappear into limbo for months. If you truly love Betsy, I'm sure you would prefer to see her as a regular member of the X-Men, making appearances every month, rather than as a supposedly important Captain Britain who vanishes half the year.
Sad but true. I was optimistic for a long time with Betsy becoming Captain Britain, but at this point I don't see this change bringing anything positive to her anymore. It could have been a good change if the Excalibur book had hit it off right from the start - but it's been years since then, and not only the CB mantle didn't elevate Betsy's status, it actually made her feel "less important". Sure, she's taking care of Otherworld and stuff, but why should readers care when Otherworld is restricted to one single author who's interested in writing about it (and whose books have zero relevance to the overall Marvel universe)?
Sadly, for those wanting Betsy to become Psylocke again, I don't see it happening now that Kwannon has taken the title. But to me, as long as Betsy becomes part of the X-Men again, Marvel could even name her "Revanche" and I'd still prefer it over the idea of her still being a Captain Britain in charge of an Otherworld that no one cares about (I mean, Magik was or is queen of Limbo and even so, people know her much better as part of the X-Men than as queen of Limbo).
If I were a new reader to Xmen and I started with HoX / PoX and didn't read Excalibur or Knights I wouldn't know Betsy at all outside of her appearances in Swords of X lol Just know there are many readers in that boat and most of them are more familiar with Kwannon as Psylocke and think little to nothing of Betsy. Thanks Jordan White!
@randybear, Exactly.
At this point, I guess all we could hope is that Betsy gets a new codename and a role that differentiates her from Kwannon and from other telepaths. Maybe she and Rachel (I don't think Marvel will separate the two of them for now, as some people could accuse them of "putting Betsy and Rachel back on the closet") could be in charge of telepathic communication and coordination or something like that, "connecting" the different X-teams when necessary or occasionally participating in field missions (and hopefully without thought bubbles of them flirting with each other or having psychic arguments; I'm not against them being a couple, but couples who work together should be professional enough to know that private matters shouldn't be discussed during work - something that Knights of X and the Captain Britain book failed to do).
Jesus Christ, FSaker, you and your prolific theories! Do you think they can afford to rebrand the ex-Psylocke by repeating that vicious circle of hammering out new ideas/projects that can't survive more than 5 issues? She's just not a successful/rich enough character to survive without her tie to the X-Men (that is, "Psylocke"). Nor does she, with or without Otherworld, generate enough interest to be used by a different writer.
As for Captain Britain, what more needs to be said. After three successive failed attempts, not even a novice writer with a functioning brain would want to undertake another shot at selling the title.
I think if another writer took Betsy and used her with her real actual personality, not being obsessed with magic storylines & have her interacting with the X-Men instead of isolating her (when Krakoa was brand new at that smh), she'd be ok.
She could be "Psylocke" with Kwannon like X-23 was Wolverine with Logan, Go by Revanche and be kinda like she was in Dissasembled mix of past & ninja Betsy, or take the Jean route and call herself just Betsy Braddock.
I definitely think no more Otherworld stories and I prefer she realized she doesn't need to be CB to make a difference and she always has been enough.
Give the mantle back to Brian imo. Like she stated before, she doesn't need it and never has.
It’s beyond me why anyone would want the name given by Mojo. That goes for Elizabeth and Kwannon both. I really don’t understand Kwannon wanting to keep Elizabeth’s slave name. It makes even less sense than Bets holding onto it.
My vote for Elizabeth’s new code name is either:
Insight or Mariposa
^It would not be unprecedented. Polaris, Phoenix, Archangel, and many more I assume, obtained their titles while under the influence of evil forces and held on to them, once they regained their senses. Athletes are constantly christened with ridiculous nicknames they never asked for, but they often embrace them, because it is a form of acknowledgement for their accomplishments.
Betsy's story didn't start in the New Mutants, and if anything, "Psylocke" was her first step in gaining independence.
And here, Thatcher thanks the Soviet journos who branded her the "Iron Lady of Britain" before even becoming Prime Minister.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAgM6YHioxI
Betsy's holding onto "Psylocke" very much makes sense, especially if you consider that she's neither by nature nor by upbringing a humble character.
Marvel has to make swift and bold decisions about Betsy and Psylocke. The resounding fans disregard for Captain Britain is evidence for the titles consecutive failures. Paired with Tini Howard's writing they were destined to fail miserably. Fooling us readers for far too long is a crime in and of itself.
Brian can lift the burden that is Captain Britain like he used to. In order to allow Betsy reunite with her X-Men family from which editorial has her cut off almost for five years.
Marvel wisely chooses the future of Kwannon. Will she continue as a Psylocke substitute of Betsy mimicking her to a tee or will she finally become an autonomous entity with unique powers and a code name that fits her Japanese identity.
Clearly the company is bleeding revenue as we speak. The Psylocke going back to its proper owner and forging a new identity for a new character won't swell the losses gush. This way the divide and arrest in the fandom will end and purpose will be found for both characters.
This comes from betsy keeping the name as a sign that she wouldn't be a slave by no one - you offer salvation but i made my own - she says that to mojo/spiral . The thing with kwannon is how she kept an uniform that she never usei.
I think the thing that needs to be retired that links Betsy and Kwannon is that thong costume. It's outdated and a relic of how women were depicted in comics in the 80's and 90's, it's time to let it go and only be seen in flashback writing. Marvel chooses to perpetuate it probably because they want the Psylocke brand to continue and with all the "confusion" about the body swap its their way of hanging on to it plus reconciling the racial issue of the body swap. Plus they made the gamble on people like us loving Betsy Braddock so much that we would follow her anywhere, even with a different code name and power set. Not a bad gamble, but because of the poor execution In doing so, I think they created two characters that are ill defined and truly confusing. For me, I was never confused about the body swap thing, people keep saying that, but the idea of body swapping is a very old idea in comics, it just went on for too long with Betsy.
So in the end, they wanted to serve their cheesecake and eat it too.
If they retired that outfit, which neither of them should wear, gave Kwannon a new code name, look and her own identity, which would make sense because why would she want to be a shadow of Betsy history anyway, it would make sense. In my opinion, having Kwannon in that outfit with the Psylocke name must truly confuse new readers.
They could then give Betsy the Psylocke name back and the body swapped Psylocke goes into history.
Banquo 40 What you say is the source of headache for fans and failing stories. They changed Daken for being racist to Akihiro and won't change Psylocke that is racist to Kwannon. Money over rights.
Y'all were so awful to Tini. I don't think anyone is going to want to do a Betsy solo series ever again.
Benny Deeds, this is exactly the sort of gaslighting you Tini Howard defenders resort to. Criticizing her work and her failures as a writer is not a personal attack on her. She should not be blinded from criticism just because she's a female writer. And mind you, Betsy fans were not the only ones unhappy with her work. Talk to any Gambit, Rogue or Catwoman fan and you'll see they share the same opinions as us.
I agree. I think Tini ultimately knew Betsy's history, but never truly knew Betsy's voice, edge, or demeanor. It is what it is.
I always said Tini would be better suited to a character like Dr Strange.
I just hope Betsy eventually gets back to the bada$$ that she's been for years in either body.
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