By Marc Strom
Betsy Braddock returns to Japan in the four-issue X-MEN: PSYLOCKE limited series debuting this October and written by Chris Yost. The series will follow
Psylocke as she seeks to place her former body in its final resting place following the events of the recent "Sisterhood" story arc in UNCANNY X-MEN.
As Yost sees it, while recent events for Betsy would seem rather extraordinary to most, for her it comes off as relatively normal.
"Betsy's been through a lot in her life, and it's been flat out
crazy," Yost reminds. "
Mojo, fake eyes, the Siege Perilous,
Revanche, the Crimson Dawn, power swapping, dying, being recreated by her mad brother, dimension hopping
nuts. So being pulled from another dimension as a test subject for
Cyclops' dead wife to try and
inhabit
Jean Grey's body? Just another day in the office—or so you might think. But there's certainly something she's not dealing with, a loss she thought she made her peace with a long time ago: Her own identity. So much insanity has come down on her, she really has to question who she is. Is this what her life is now? Anyone else would go mad."
As Yost listed, throughout her history Psylocke has played a number of roles. But in all that time, a number of things have never changed at the core of her character.
"Psylocke's constant is her toughness," the writer relates. "Her spirit. Anyone else at some point would say to heck with it all, I'm out. But Betsy keeps on fighting. She's a hero through and through, and now that's literally all she has. That's her only identity: X-Man. She used to be a real person, but now she's been taken apart and reassembled so many times."
Yost promises to pick things up shortly after the "Sisterhood" arc, calling it "a direct sequel" to that storyline.
"It's the story of Psylocke and her body," elaborates Yost. "Putting it to rest. But surprise! Things get complicated."
Many of those complications stem from the return of Matsu'o, who originally placed Psylocke's mind in a different body.
"Kwannon, better known now as the Japanese body of Elisabeth Braddock, was the crime lord Matsu'o's lover," recounts Yost. "Ill-fated lover. She dies, and he and Psylocke made their peace. But the situation has changed now. And he's back in Psylocke's life, but for a radically different reason."
Finally, Yost promises fans both old and new will have a hard time turning this limited series down:
"If you like sexy powerful women kicking ninja butt with psychic powers and a sword—and who doesn't—buckle up. This book is for you. And her final adversary is a doozy."
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