Skimpy Iconic Costume. Sweet Psychic Powers. Kickass Ninja Moves. What's not to love about Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, better known as Psylocke, the katana-wielding, mind and mountain crushing mutant and one of the most popular X-Men. Almost a decade after her debut as Captain Britain's sister in Captain Britain #8 (Dec. 1976), Psylocke joined the X-Men family in New Mutants Annual #2 (Oct. 1986) and her popularity skyrocketed, even becoming recognizable by non-readers. Yet, the peak of her popularity may be yet to come as comic fans have noticed that the purple-clad ninja is a member of not one, but two X-Men titles after Regenesis(check my last blog for more information).
While appearing regularly in multiple titles isn't unheard of(Wolverine averages about six a month), Psylocke's inclusion is notable for being the sole character that appears on both sides after the X-Men's breakup. While there seems to be logical story purposes behind her double agent status, some longtime X-Men fans are wondering if the writing teams could've shone one of the spotlights on another, less used character. "I wish it was someone else, anyone else really, on Storm's team," Joseph Puccio, a Pace University student and longtime lover of all things X-Men. "There's so many background characters, why should one character take up two spots. Especially a character like her."
A character like her? What could he possibly mean? Doesn't everyone love Psylocke? Not quite. While most non-readers remark on her cool image, comic readers groan at her nonsensical and convoluted history. Starting out as the kid sister of British hero, Captain Britain, Elizabeth Braddock has been through so much body swapping, deaths, possessions, resurrections, reality hopping and power changes that she is practically unrecognizable as her original character. For example, Betsy once was a British model with slight telepathic powers that manifested as a butterfly aura. Today, she is a Japanese ninja who wields a psychic katana of telekinetic energy. While the latter is definitely her more famous depiction, it doesn't help readers connect to a character who seemingly can't keep track of her own story-lines and history any better than writers and fans can.
"Everything about her is confusing, she's the type of character who throws off new readers because of all her history," Puccio added. However, the X-Men creative team seems to think that new readers will follow Psylocke into the books because of her image and deal with her character traits later. And they may be right according to Jorge Jativa, a SUNY Buffalo student who's never read an X-Men comic in his life. "Oh, I know her from the video games. One of my favorites to play as," Jativa said. When asked if he would be interested in picking up a comic issue that featured her, Jativa said, "Sure, she always seemed cool. Always wondered what her deal was."
Hopefully, Psylocke's "deal" won't have the effect it's had on so many readers, proving that the X-Men creative team's questionable attempts to pull in new audiences may prove worthwhile.
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