PSYLOCKE | CAPTAIN BRITAIN // like a butterfly

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

X-Men MMXI: Uncanny X-Force

• X-Force will indeed be going to the Age of Apocalypse. This trip will be connected to the first two arcs of the series. It will have huge ramifications for the Marvel Universe.

• There is somebody in the Age of Apocalypse that X-Force needs for some reason.

• Archangel is not there [in the teaser] for a reason, and it's a reason you don't expect. Remender also said that they're looking for a natural way to expand the team membership. "While there are some new members coming up, I don't think people will see it coming.

• There will be drama about AOA Nightcrawler and how these guys are seeing another version of their recently deceased friend. Ditto how Wolverine deals with AOA Jean Grey.

• As far as where in the AOA chronology this takes place, without giving anything away, it's roughly a decade following the Age of Apocalypse mini that came out in 2005.

• Mark Brooks will be kicking off the Age of Apocalypse arc with Jerome Opena batting cleanup. Esad Ribic will also continue to pitch in, as will Billy Tan and Greg Tocchini upcoming.

• The version of Apocalypse we know is dead. Rick is building on the "mythology of Apocalypse" from the Clan Akkaba to the Dark Riders to the Age of Apocalypse, etc.

• A thing that really resonates with Uncanny X-Force is that their actions do have consequences. They killed Apocalypse. He is dead. Will he ever come back? Who knows. But that happened and it mattered.

• Rick takes addressing X-Force's kills very seriously. There are ethical issues and there are consequences.

• Dark Beast plays a sizable role in the next year of X-Force.

• Fantomex is pining for Betsy, but she and Warren are very happy at the moment. however, their relationship is also very parasitic with him needing her to keep Archangel at bay. That line between love and dependence can be complicated. There's definitely something happening with Fantomex, but the real meat is the complications between Warren and Betsy. That will be big coming up.

• Rick Remender wanted to explore the duality in terms of Betsy's brothers, with shining super hero Brian and psycho villain Jamie. Betsy falls in the middle. She doesn't measure up to Brian but hasn't lost herself as much as Jamie. They play a role in defining her and I wanted to make sure they were included and dealt with.

• From what Rick Remender just said, he's definitely a big fan of Psylocke and the entire Braddock family, not to mention her complex relationships with Archangel and even Fantomex, so expect big things!

• A poll conducted during the liveblog asked "Who is your favorite current member of X-Force?" Psylocke won with 26% of the votes, followed by Fantomex (23%), Deadpool (18%), Archangel (17%) and Wolverine (16%).

Monday, February 28, 2011

Psylocke by Mark Brooks

Mark Brooks will be drawing an arc of Uncanny X-Force starting with issue #11 on sale this June.

X-Men MMXI: New Mutants

New Mutants: MMXI - Liveblog!

• Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning will take over "New Mutants" as of issue #25.

• The artist of the book will be Leandro Fernandez who also did the initial "New Mutants" teaser which hit online last week.

• "Unfinished Business" is the first arc, where the team will track down mutants who have been off the map including Nate "X-Man" Grey and Blink. Cyclops sets the New Mutants team out to nullify potential threats born from the X-Men's past.

• New Mutants is the team that deals with loose ends. They are X-Men.

• The team's roster will see some pretty significant changes by the end of the first arc.

• Nate Grey is X-Royalty that needs to be relocated. He can't just be left hanging in the wind. Nate was last seen being taken off to be hooked up to the Dark Beast's machines.

• Blink's role in the book is different because she has less past with the proper X-Men characters, which opens up new story potential.

• Dani Moonstar's relationship with Sam Guthrie will be touched, as well as introducing a real curveball romantic liason.

• Havok, Polaris and Rachel will return before MMXI is over.

• "New Mutants" #25 ships to comic shops this May from Marvel Comics.

Age of X Assessment: Chapter 1

Marvel.com: We caught up with Carey to get sort out these happenings; also, check out some exclusive preview art by Steve Kurt from Age of X’s fourth chapter, coming up in New Mutants #23 on sale March 23.

Who are the five members of the Force Warriors? How are they viewed by the rest of the X-Men?

Mike Carey: The five are Psylocke, Legion, Hellion, Stand-Off—which is to say Carmella Unuscione—and Revenant. In light of what we've just been talking about, you could compare their role to Legacy's: they're too important to risk in the thick of the fighting, because without the force walls, Fortress X can't survive. But they're much more visible than Legacy, their role is a daily and ubiquitous one, and they're not associated with death and loss. Quite the opposite: they're the face of survival and defiance, and everyone respects and even loves them.

We spoke about Namor and Storm last time, but why did you decide to pair up Frenzy with Cyclops/Basilisk and Iceman with Psylocke romantically?

Mike Carey: Iceman and Psylocke was just a "why not?" That Dick Van Dyke dialogue came to me as I was scripting, so I stuck it in. The pairing of Basilisk and Frenzy is much less random, and I think it tells you something about both of them. First, this is a Frenzy who's much closer to the heart of things than the Frenzy in regular continuity: someone who's embraced a positive role and despite her more fierce and wayward instincts, sticks to it. But also, this is a Scott Summers who is much more reckless and self-destructive. There's an edge of violence and dysfunction in the relationship which we glimpse in this issue and see again later. Although, having said that, there's a real passion, too. They sort of work. You remember that line from [the television show] “Firefly” spoken by Wash? "A lot of people don't get me and Zoe, at first..." It's like that. Your first thought is "say, what?" but I'm hoping that people will see the way they watch each other's backs and keep each other standing.

New Marvel Vs Capcom 3 DLC Poll

IMPORTANT UPDATE: If you voted please vote again as the votes have been reset!

Capcom-Unity.com has released a new poll today focusing only on the top voted/requested characters.

For Psylocke to win, do not vote for her competition which are the following characters: Squirrel Girl, Dr. Strange, Carnage, Cyclops, Gambit, Ghost Rider, Green Goblin and Ms. Marvel. You can vote for whichever Capcom characters you desire since they aren't competing with Psylocke for a DLC spot.

Vote Now!

UPDATE: On Ask Capcom Live, Snow mentioned to Sven about the survey/poll & they ARE aware of them, they're listening to your opinions, & it might have an impact on future DLC characters.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Mike Carey Talks Psylocke & Iceman and More

Mike Carey shares a few words with the readers in X-Men Legacy 245. The writer also talks about some of the new relationships in Age of X. Check it out:

Mike Carey: Writing a story like this is a bit like playing a jazz riff on an existing song. I say that as someone who's not that into jazz, so if the comparison feels a bit forced, I apologize. But what I mean is that you take familiar elements and you play variations on them, so that part of the pleasure is rediscovering those old friends - old notes, old melodies, old themes - in strange disguises.

I don't think any of the relationships that we see here - Scott Summers and Frenzy, Psylocke and Iceman, Storm and Namor - is inherently implausible. In fact, I think there's a clear logical through-line in each case. I also think that what all of the core characters become in the Age of X makes sense in terms of their essential natures. But if you disagree, come at me. Umm... I mean on a message board or at a Con, obviously, not with a lead pipe in the library.

So yeah, that was one of the themes in this opening issue: old friends in strange disguises. I hope you enjoy measuring the distances and the angles between who they are and who they were. I know you'll enjoy Clay's spectacular whole-cloth inventions of a time and a place that - for all its weirdness - is just one turn of the road away from the world we know.

That is, the world we think we know.