X-Force #21 Preview

Cover by: Clayton Crain
Writer: Craig Kyle & Chris Yost
Pencils: Clayton Crain
Inks: Clayton Crain
Colored by: Clayton Crain
Lettered by: VC's Cory Petit

The Story: Necrosha continues here! The resurrected dead lay siege to the X-Men's headquarters, and the fight to survive the Black Queen's vengeance begins. But while Warpath and Wolverine realize what's happening, they may be too late to stop it. Because Selene is already well on her way to achieving ultimate power half a world away. And as the rest of the X-Men fight mutants back from the dead, Wolfsbane struggles to survive a very different threat. Plus! The long awaited return of the Vanisher. Part Two (of Six)

In Stores: November 11, 2009

Psylocke #1 Spoilers

Spoilers: In Utopia, Psylocke and Dazzler help the New X-Men to defeat Sack. Alison then convinces Betsy to check on her former dead body. Dr. Nemesis confirms the corpse is indeed real, and Psylocke decides to travel to Japan to re-enter it in its proper resting place. Wolverine goes along with Betsy and both get aboard the X-Jet. Meanwhile, Betsy reflects on her life and feels frustrated because she didn't feel any connection to her former body. For her, all that's left are memories from another life because she can't really feel them. The Japanese police orders Psylocke to land immediately for the X-Men are not welcome in the country. Betsy uses her telepathy on the sergeant in order to leave her alone. She also telepathically makes them take the coffin to the graveyard under a heavy police escort. At the cemetery, a swarm of Hand ninjas attack Psylocke, and a deadly battle is ensued. Betsy soon realizes they're not trying to kill her, that they're just after the body. However, it's too late, as one of the Ninjas completely destroys the corpse, turning it into dust. He tells Psylocke that Matsu'o sent his regards. Betsy feels like the last link to her former life is now gone and commits herself to kill Matsu'o.

Uncanny X-Men #517 Preview Pages

Teases: Psylocke & Gals On The Run

PopCultureShock.com has another colored page from Psylocke #1, on sale tomorrow! Fantastic, right?

Also, our Italian friend nicce has sent us this exclusive scan from X-Men: Gals On The Run by Chris Claremont and Milo Manara. The graphic novel was released in Italy and will go on sale next year in the United Stated. Check it out.

X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #2 Preview

Cover by: Adi Granov

Writer: Jeff Parker
Pencils: Carlo Pagulayan
Inks: Jason Paz
Colored by: Wilfredo Quintana
Lettered by: VC's Joe Caramagna

The Story: The brawl under San Francisco just gets bigger as more mutants arrive to face the Atlas Foundation! Then things take a turn for the weird as the original five X-Men face off with the 1950's Agents of Atlas! All the strangest heroes make for the strangest battle...

In Stores: November 4, 2009

Psylocke #1 Preview

Cover by: David Finch

Writer: Christopher Yost
Pencils: Harvey Tolibao
Inks: Paul Neary
Colored by: Brian Reber
Lettered by: VC's Joe Sabino

The Story: Psylocke has returned to the X-Men! Following the defeat of Madelyne Pryor and her Sisterhood, Psylocke travels to Japan to re-inter her former body in its proper resting place. But when a swarm of Hand ninjas attack Psylocke and do the unspeakable under orders from Matsu’o—the assassin originally responsible for transplanting Psylocke’s mind into the body of an Asian ninja—Psylocke determines that Matsu’o is one loose end that can no longer be left unresolved. It’s a tale of carnage and revenge, brought to you by superstars Chris Yost (X-Force) and Harvey Tolibao (Avengers: The Initiative)!

In Stores: November 4, 2009

Profiles in Comics: Chris Yost, Marvel, DC, Animation

Newsarama: You’ve written many miniseries for Marvel, and coming up you have a Psylocke miniseries. Can you tell us about your thoughts on the character, and the place you see for her in the X-titles and the Marvel U?

Chris Yost: Psylocke was one of the X-Men that I was there for, on the ground floor. I saw her join the team, fight Sabretooth, get her edge to her, the whole Siege Perilous thing... and then, transform into the Betsy we have today. I like Psylocke because she's got that edge, you're never quite sure if you can trust her to a certain extent... she bends a lot of the rules.

And poor Betsy has had a lot dumped on her. She's had to deal with so much insanity... Mojo, Crimson Dawn, being killed, rebuilt by her mad brother, being pulled into Exiles... and the whole body switch thing. Editor Daniel Ketchum and I really took our time deciding how to proceed on this, because her bio is so complicated.

And it has an affect on her. She's gone all surface, and doesn't want to deal with any of it. Is she real, fake, alive, dead... she doesn't know. But being an X-Man, that's something she knows. That's her rock.

MUA2 DLC Pack Release Date Announced

HeroHQ: The news you’ve been waiting for is here: the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 downloadable content will be available November 5th on XBOX Live (worldwide) and Playstation network in America, November 12th for Playstation Network in Europe.

The main DLC package (all-new characters, more boosts, and simulator missions) will retail for 800 Microsoft Points (XBOX) and $9.99 (PS3). Additionally, we’re making Juggernaut available as DLC (same dates) for 160 MS Points (XBOX) and $1.99 (PS3).

~

Moreover, Kalina, our favorite game producer, spills the beans on how the character roster for the DLC pack was chosen. Kalina said:

"Psylocke - C’mon, did anybody who knew me from MUA1 think I would do MUA2 and NOT have Psylocke in the game? :P It certainly helped my case that Psylocke ranked as the #2 desired female character just after Jean Grey (and Jean’s already in MUA2) and more voices than mine have also been asking for Psylocke for a long time! Her in-game model really does her justice - I was really excited to see all the posts that came right after we revealed Psylocke and showed how cool her looks and powers are. And yes, definitely needed to add some female power to the mix."

"Carnage - Carnage was a fun add to the game because he’s ALL NEW to the whole MUA franchise, and actually ranked #1 in our polls and surveys and other things among Marvel characters not previously in MUA or MUA2. He’s pretty recognizable on a mass appeal basis."

"Cable - Believe it or not, Cable is also all-new to the MUA franchise and topped the list among our most hardcore fans at Comic Con AND via surveys and posts in this very VIP community."

"Black Panther - This was actually a request from Marvel, and with an upcoming TV series that was announced and supposed to come out in 2009, we thought we’d tie in nicely with that."

"Magneto - Of course Magneto tops the list of desired characters and his gameplay is epic. We thought twice about this one because he was DLC in MUA1, but felt we did need some really big anchor character that has that mass recognition, and Magneto was the biggest, most epic, most mass character outside of the ones we already have in the game. "

Kalina also talked about other characters that were considered for the DLC pack. She stated that it doesn't mean they won't be included in the future. She said:

"Cyclops - Came really close as he did rank high on VIP and Comic Con feedback. Ultimately, we felt that he’s already in the Wii/PS2/PSP versions of the game so people can still play as him. To have Cyclops AND Psylcoke as DLC would be too much crossover, so Psylocke won out."

"Emma Frost - I like her too! And she is definitely one we can design around. She also came REALLY close simply because we like her, but in our polls and surveys (VIP community included), she surprisingly ranked really low so that knocked her out of the running. She did not even rank in the top 20 characters requested that were not previously in MUA1! So I’ll say this - we WILL be coming out with a survey to VIPs on MUA2, and if you feel that strongly about Emma Frost, be sure you fill out that survey and list her! Those surveys are the most actionable way to get feedback. Also good that I read this particular thread and know how much people want her now."

"Rogue - We struggle with this one. I’d love to get Rogue in the game and she always tops our lists, but she is really, really hard to design. How do you design a character that can have any power if she just sucks it from other characters? Not to say it’s impossible, but we haven’t figured it out yet..."

"Hawkeye and Sentry - Well Sentry’s on the NDS version for those who feel strongly about him, and Hawkeye was already DLC for MUA1. Since we were repeating Magneto, it was too much to repeat another. And there were just characters that ranked higher to be honest, but don’t count them out for “next time” if it happens."

X-Men Forever #10 Spoilers & Art

Spoilers: This is it. Psylocke's first appearance in X-Men Forever. I'm going to be honest here. I dropped Forever after issue #3, so I'm not really sure what's going on. Betsy and Brian return from England to attend Wolverine's funeral. It seems Betsy may have joined Excalibur... or not. Pencils are by Paul Smith.

X Necrosha & New Mutants #6 Spoilers

X Necrosha

X-Force: Selene's plan to ascend to godhood is about to be set in motion as her army of resurrected mutants moves into Utopia. At the X-Brig, Danger's virtual reality prison is turned off. The prisoners Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce and Empath are surprised by the arrival of the once dead Shinobi Shaw and Harry Leland. At the Med Bay, where X-23 is being treated, she and Wolverine smell the coming of the dead. Somewhere else, Emma Frost is shocked by the sight of her fallen students, the Hellions - Catseye, Jetstream, Roulette, Tarot, Beef and Bevatron. They attack her, however X-Force and Cyclops comes to Emma's rescue. After finding Wolfsbane's location (read X-Force #23) and returning to Utopia, Angel and Warpath are caught by surprise by Pyro and Berseker. At Genosha and accompanied by her Inner Circle - Wither, Eli Bard, Mortis, Blink and Senyaka - and Caliban and Thunderbird I, Selene affirms that is the place she will fulfill her destiny. She welcomes them to Necrosha.

New Mutants: Doug Ramsey aka Cypher is resurrected. Two weeks later, he leads Selene's army to break into Utopia as he's the only one able to neutralize the security. Upon accessing it, the Hellions and Doug go separate ways. Cypher reveals Selene has tasked him with the specific mission to kill someone - Magma.

X-Men Legacy: One week ago, Selene orders her minions to bring Destiny to her. The Black Queen wants to know what the future holds for her; Irene tells her she will achieve what she's set out to do. Destiny insists she needs to do something, that otherwise will end badly, however she's put back in her cell again. Somehow, Irene is able to contact Blindfond in Utopia and asks the girl to deliver a message. All by herself, Destiny believes she has made a mistake.

New Mutants #6

Spoilers: While Professor X awaits his son Legion to be stabilized, he's finally reunited with the New Mutants. They happily hang out as Cypher observes their reunion from afar, analyzing their body language and translating the real meanings of their speech. Moments later, Doug surprises Magma in her room. Cypher tricks her and beat her out. Doug shows an unconsciousness Magma to the rest of the team and affirms that was a message from Selene. Shocked, the New Mutants turn on him, but Doug's able to read their body language and predict their moves. Karma manages to possess everybody's minds, which confuses Cypher. Warlock arrives and asks the New Mutants why they are hurting Doug. The New Mutants try to explain everything to Warlock, but it's too late. Doug attacks Warlock and cuts his head off.