AiPT!: Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Publishing and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort was game to return to X-Men Monday and discuss how the “From the Ashes” era came together, answer X-Fans’ pressing questions, drop some character teases, and more.
AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Tom! First, X-Men is a franchise with over 60 years of history, hundreds of characters, and a passionate fanbase transcending comics. So I’m curious — once you accepted the reins of the X-Men at Marvel… what did you do next? Where do you even start?
Brevoort: [...] Then I went hunting for people to make these books. And casting wasn’t me alone — I should mention my office team: Annalise Bissa and Martin Biro, who worked with me on Avengers stuff before this. And Annalise goes back to working on the Krakoa books at the beginning of that era. Then the wider team is editor Darren Shan and his assistant Noah Sharma, who came over with me from the Avengers world where they had been doing Invincible Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and a bunch of things. And then Mark Basso and his assistant Drew Baumgartner stayed on in the X-Office where they had been doing Wolverine and X-Force and are now doing Wolverine and X-Force.
AIPT: Before we get into some X-Fan questions, I’ve been wondering about something. I’ve been an X-Fan for most of my life, and five of those years have been spent writing X-Men Monday and sorting through countless fan questions. In that time, I’ve received a crash course in the many things that matter to this fandom — from the minuscule to the significant. So, since you’ve been working on the X-line, is there anything you’ve learned via X-Fan interactions that’s surprised you?
Brevoort: [...] I saw there were a lot of people who were really invested in Betsy Braddock being Captain Britain, and there were a lot of people who were really invested in Betsy Braddock not being Captain Britain. So that’s a divide where it’s going to be difficult to make everybody happy.
“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.
19 comments:
Really pleased with Tom's answer. It's the first time a Marvel creative acknowledges that we don't like Betsy as CB.
Who's interessed in her being cp?
The same 5 CB Twitter accounts that blast tweets about her being CB all day long lol
I would just look at it logically then.
Did she have more successful books as CB or as Betsy Braddock/Psylocke?
Then work from there.
I may have missed something here, but as CB, does Betsy have the super-strength of CB like Brian did (I see that she can fly...)? Or does she just wear the costume and carry a psi-sword?
"I may have missed something here, but as CB, does Betsy have the super-strength of CB like Brian did (I see that she can fly...)? Or does she just wear the costume and carry a psi-sword?"
Good question. And it's hard to answer it, because if I remember correctly, Brian's super-strength wasn't phenomenal (like, say, Thor's or Hulk's), so even if Betsy somehow doesn't get additional super-strength as CB, her telekinesis would already work as a means to enhance her strength (just like it allows her to fly).
Anyway, the "lot of people who were really invested in Betsy Braddock being Captain Britain" are probably TH's very vocal fandom, indeed. But it's nice that at least Brevoort acknowledges that there are many people who don't like Betsy being Captain Britain, too. Personally, I like her both as Captain Britain and as Psylocke (or whatever superheroine identity she'll have from now on), so as long as she gets decently written and drawn, that's enough to make me happy.
@Fsaker I believe Tini said it gave Betsy more agility and flight.
Though she already had that kinda with tk.
"I may have missed something here, but as CB, does Betsy have the super-strength of CB like Brian did (I see that she can fly...)? Or does she just wear the costume and carry a psi-sword?"
Marvel website says that she has: Telekinesis, Psionics, Telepathy, Precognition, Mind Control, Martial Artist, Superhuman Strength, Flight and Force Field.
TH said that her CB powers are more or less like Brian's were, having much more strength and durability than a common human. But we've already seen her break a gun with her bare hands, jump from the lighthouse and land intact and being hit in the back by a sword attack and not suffer any injuries.
Thanks for clarifying @Fsaker, @X-man, and @HOXOR
It's me. He's talking about me.
I mean, i'm a huge fan of 80s CB and 80's Betsy (Excalibur and Betsy herself were my very favorites when i was a young teenager and beyond), so her being CB is great. But to be honest, as long as she's not a ninja in a spandex leotard, i'm happy. (Yes, i'm still bitter that ever happened. They literally made my favorite character unrecognizable for decades.)
Whatever anyone thinks of TH and her success or not with her Betsy arcs, i respected her love of 80s CB, and her dedication in trying to bring that back. (I've talked to her personally, one-on-one. Her enthusiasm and care for the character was obvious.) So i don't have the animosity others do. I wonder if she hadn't handled Betsy in that time period if we'd even have anything to discuss at all anymore. Would Betsy even be a c-lister with an upcoming bigger role?
But anyway, yeah, i'm one of those, the ones cheering for more BBCB.
"saw there were a lot of people who were really invested in Betsy Braddock being Captain Britain,"
⬆️
⬆️Here Brevoort mentions the Twitter bots serving Marvel to hype a disaster.
"and there were a lot of people who were really invested in Betsy Braddock not being Captain Britain."
⬆️
⬆️Here Brevoort mentions real life people and fans of Betsy hating Marvel's guts for taking Psylocke from Betsy and donning her a stale mantle that is not her style.
Captain Britain is redundant a dead weight Betsy was sentenced to carry around. Betsy can do flight, agility, power tossing all by herself using her telepathy and telekinesis. She can do what Jean does with her personal signature attached flight by TK butterfly wings and meelee by psionic punching
Hi Everyone,
I dug this full interview. I love that Brevoort is way more open (without spoilers) than White has ever been. He comes off as engaging versus defensive like his predecessor.
Also, I really love that he acknowledges the fans who prefer Ororo with coiled hair which makes more sense based on her parents’ lineages and because it gives her hair a cloud- like aesthetic. I’m hoping his intimation proves to be consistent wit the Dautermann redesign of her hair. It’s a nice strop away from the way she was initially designed in the 70s to make her more “palatable” to Eurocentric tastes.
I am also really excited to see what his team does with Elizabeth, Forge, Bobby, John, and Money. And I pray that Roberto/Beto is also accounted for with big plans. I feel like Roberto may be part of X-Factor. Specifically, using his vast wealth to give mutants good PR. We’ll see.
@FifthDream, I too first started reading during Mutant Massacre and instantly connected with Elizabeth. And while I enjoyed the 3-part Acts of Vengeance storyline, I recall as a kid immediately feeling off when the character continued to be in yellowface directly following that arc. The child me was unaware of the term, “yellowface,” but I knew it didn’t sit right culturally and I also found the increasingly overt over sexualization of the character by subsequent writers and pencilers to feel very uncomfortable and way off-character. I did not enjoy TH’a writing at all (including behaviors that also seemed off-character for Bets and many other characters), but I did appreciate her deep cuts and nods to some pretty good storytelling of days past.
I’m looking forward to From The Ashes the more I learn. And I still am a proponent of mutant sovereignty if it ever returns in a different iteration.
Also, maybe this era will show writers like Simone really respecting the character of Kwannon and fully fleshing her out beyond being 90s Psylocke revisited. Her new uniform is a great first step.
Look, you can say that their are legions of people who are invested in Betsy being CB, but that does not bare out in the numbers. Because if it that were the case, Howard would still be writing their book because the sales would have demanded it. In other words, if there are legions of pro Bestsy as CB, why did the books not sell? Why did they not support the thing they said they loved? The books were an utter embarrassing financial failure. Numbers dont lie.
I think, Brevoort knows this, and he is being diplomatic so as not to inflame the community that wants this.
Betsy is not Captain Britain. She was garbage product for comics as Captain Britain and I'm happy it is gone from her.
@Banquo40 that was pretty much my thoughts as well above.
Betsy has been a hero for years without needing to be CB, they just need a story where she finally realizes it imho.
@Tobias Chatti She's still Captain Britain!
This is what the writer just said about her character:
"I know you guys are wary and it's understandable.
All I can promise you is we will not be falling into stereotype and that I will not be using bisexuality as a shield to deflect some idiot's dislike of lesbians.
I am doing my best to write people. Just two people who are in love and having the save the world every five minutes.
I like Betsy more and more as I write her more and more and I really liked her already.
The Captain Britain thing was a wrinkle I never saw coming as a fan and, frankly, to me, is a much weirder deal than her being with Rachel now. I've given serious thought as to how, if and when the CB aspect of Betsy's life will come into play. I have a sneaking suspicion you will enjoy how we play it (even if you DON'T like her as Captain Britain).
I always play the cards I'm dealt by editorial but I play to win.
I never thought I'd ever be on any X book and the fact that it's THIS one with THIS story and THIS team?
Cake, baby. All cake."
(https://community.cbr.com/showthread.php?169820-Betsy-Braddock-The-Focused-Totality-of-Appreciation-2024/page75)
That just confirms CB is/was an aspect of her life which it has been & that it comes into play somehow, but doesn't confirm if she still is indeed CB.
Just says he thinks we will enjoy how they play it.
He's definitely imho being intentionally vague.
Not confirming anything.
That's how I read it at least. Jmho!
Post a Comment