PSYLOCKE | CAPTAIN BRITAIN // like a butterfly

Monday, June 3, 2013

Welcome to the X-Men: Psylocke

Marvel.com: The X-Men franchise's latest mutation takes the action and drama that fans have come to expect from the team and multiplies it exponentially. X-MEN, the new Brian Wood and artist Olivier Coipel, stars six of the biggest characters in the X-Universe bound together by duty, fate and friendship to form a heavy-hitting fighting force.

series from writer

Fittingly for a book simply called X-MEN, the women that comprise the team represent time-tested, fan favorite characters with rich personalities. Wood skillfully brought the group dynamics germane to close knit teams to life while writing the previous X-MEN series last year.

X-MEN #1 finds Psylocke in an emotionally turbulent place. She's spent the last few years on Wolverine's black ops hit squad in UNCANNY X-FORCE, where she rebooted the love of her life after Archangel's ascension to an Apocalypse-level evil, thus leaving Warren Worthington a clean slate with no memory of their time together. More recently, her extreme attitude caused her to be removed as a teacher at the Jean Grey School.

We spoke to Brian Wood to find out if the psychic ninja's status quo will find balance in X-MEN.

Marvel.com: You previously wrote Psylocke in X-MEN last year. Are you approaching the character differently this time around, considering the struggles she's overcome in UNCANNY X-FORCE?

Brian Wood: A little, perhaps not as much as people might expect. Psylocke's primary role on this team is that of muscle, but in a very different way. My editor [Jeanine Schaefer] has unofficially tagged her "the point person" in the tactical sense of the phrase. She reprises her role, from my X-MEN run last year, as Storm's sort of second-in-command and confidant. She's emotionally distant because she's tabling her recent past experiences in UNCANNY X-FORCE, but she can't keep a lid on that 24/7, so we'll start to see some of the bad [expletive] coming to the surface as we move forward.

On a lighter note, I'm expanding her arsenal of weaponry. I like the idea of her using actual weapons like her psychic katana, as opposed to mental projections, and I've already given her a longbow in the first issue. I'd like to keep that up, so she has a full arsenal of medieval gear to use. Magik shouldn't be the only one who gets to swing around a massive sword.

Marvel.com: Psylocke has a pretty complex history. What key elements of her past do you think shape her the most?

Brian Wood: I like to think of her as a soldier above everything else. I'm looking for an extremely dry sense of humor to give her—not quite black and not at all sarcastic, but really cutting and brutally delivered at times. It's all part and parcel with her past dramas, a coping mechanism or a façade of sorts, but one that meshes perfectly with her role on the team.

Marvel.com: Psylocke's been so wrapped up in the seedier side of things lately, does she really trust anyone?

Brian Wood: I like to think she trusts her teammates here, but maybe with conditions.

Marvel.com: Considering that Jubilee's first big hero adventure was alongside Psylocke and Wolverine, does Betsy feel any affection towards Jubilee, specifically spurred on by the situation she’s approaching the X-Men with?

Brian Wood: The primary reason this whole team comes together is because they all have affections for Jubilee. This is why I've said in the past that, while Jubilee isn't the leader of the team, she is its focus. To use a phrase my wife likes: Jubilee is the glue.

Marvel.com: With Rachel Grey around, Psylocke isn't the only telepath on this team. Does this free her up to use her other skill sets more? And which do you think the character enjoys more?

Brian Wood: Man, how do you make that choice? Also, I think she deploys each power set in different ways and according to the situation. Since she and Rachel both share telepathy, they tend to gravitate towards each other in my scripts; they share scenes, they work as a unit at times. In #1, I have this extended interrogation session and so the two women can basically strategize in real time via telepathy without tipping off the prisoner. It's just one example.

But sure, it does mean that Psylocke can be free to just wade into physical battle if Rachel's there.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

X-Men #2 Advanced Preview

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Uncanny X-Force #5 Art

Uncanny X-Force #6 - Wolverine costume variant by Carlo Pagulayan

Uncanny X-Force #5 Spoilers

Adicionar legenda

Spoilers: Psylocke and Storm take a trip to Bishop's mind. Betsy finds out someone in the future took control and brought him back to the present and now is destroying his mind to cover his/her tracks. Bishop's memories show that in the future he was killed by a monster and later resurrected by the Order. Bishop was made a member and trained to become a hunter of Revenants, psychic creatures who possess humans. The Order members dedicate their lives to protect humanity from such dark specters. While in Bishop's mind, Storm takes the opportunity to "kill" Bishop's memory of his obsession with Hope, hoping to have her friend back. The girls learn that after being attacked by the Demon Bear, Bishop met the Great White Owl, an immortal revenant. The Owl took possession of Bishop and then brought him back to the present. Betsy realizes it is the Demon Bear that is destroying Bishop's mind but feels the creature isn't malicious, just wounded and mad with rage by a lance in his back. Betsy pulls the lance from the Bear's back

On the physical plane, Puck who was supposed to look after Pyslocke and Storm's unconscious bodies got drunk with Spiral. Cluster took the opportunity to kidnap Betsy.

X-Men #1 Art

X-Men #1 Spoilers

Spoilers: Before this planet came to be, there were two siblings. The male banished the female to the cosmos, while he would inherit primordial Earth. In the present, the female piggybacks on a series of small meters towards Earth seeking revenge. The male: John Sublime follows her trace. Three weeks later in Bulgaria, Jubilee decides to return to the X-Men bringing an orphan baby with her. At the Jean Grey School, Storm and Rachel break up an argument between Bling! and Mercury. Rogue and Kitty warn them that Jubilee has called telling she’s being followed by someone. Sublime who’s been following her finds out Jubilee is heading to the school. Storm, Rogue and Kitty decide to intercept Jubilee’s train and investigate. Sublime arrives at the school and is promptly threatened by Rachel and Psylocke. Sublime claims he has come to ask for their help. Meanwhile, Jubilee explains to the X-Men that she rescued the baby from an explosion and has been taking care of him ever since. Without anyone realizing, the baby touches a speaker which ends up disrupting the train controls, killing the drivers. Rogue takes matters into her hands and manages to save all passengers before the train could run into another. At the school, Sublime explains that his sister has come to infect and dominate this world and hopes that the X-Men help him to stop her. Arkea is her name she’s more likely to possess machines. Psylocke attest the veracity in his words. Jubilee and the baby arrive at the school. Arkea who was possessing the baby transfers herself via electronics to Omega Sentinel and awakes.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

X-Position: Rick Remender

CBR: In this week's X-Position, Rick Remender tackles all the issues from more reactions to Charles Xavier's death, the powers of Emin and Uriel -- the Apocalypse Twins, plans for the upcoming "Infinity" event and more.

I feel like at its core, "The Dark Angel Saga" was Psylocke's journey to take. Between Archangel's twins running around and the Avengers finding out about X-Force's involvement with it, will we see the lovely miss Braddock giving her input anytime soon?

Rick Remender: The Twins' focus is on hating Wolverine, the person who led X-Force to kill the child Apocalypse as well as Archangel, their father. They see him as the number 1 target and the man who has to pay for these crimes. So at this stage there will be no Betsy in the story. But that could change moving forward, who knows?