BIRD IS THE WORD: Psylocke Appreciation

   I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. Last time we left off with Betsy officially joining the X-Men after her first encounter with Sabertooth. Today we continue on with a new costume for Psylocke and more battles. Psylocke was initially written as a telepath with few fighting skills, so this eventually leads into Psylocke adopting body armor for a bit (at least until her fighting skills get better and her long time love for the adrenaline rush from dangerous situations start to show more).

   The X-Men battled Freedom Force and the Adversary in Dallas, and in a televised battle, sacrificed themselves to allow Forge to bind the Adversary. Roma secretly restored them to life, and gave Betsy the Siege Perilous, an extradimensional teleportation device, which they could use if they ever wanted to start new lives.

   Uncanny X-Men #250–251 (1989): The X-Men moved to the Reavers' Australian Outback base, from where they took on the Brood Boys, Genoshan Magistrates, M Squad, Mr. Jip, the Serpent Society, the Abomination, Master Mold, Nimrod, Nanny, the Orphan-Maker, Zaladane and the Savage Land Mutates. As they were about to depart the Savage Land, Betsy had a precognitive flash of the Reavers killing the team. To prevent this, she sent them through the Siege Perilous.

Next segment, new body, new skills.....

Source: http://marvel.com/universe/Psylocke

BIRD IS THE WORD: Psylocke Appreciation

   Last time we left off with Betsy being rescued from her year long captivity in Mojo's twisted world in New Mutants Annual #2 and deciding to stay at Xavier's school to learn how to master her powers.

   One thing that was unknown to her at the time was that the bionic eyes that were still implanted in her also functioned as cameras that allowed Mojo to record everything she saw. Mojo transformed the X-Men into the X-Babies to film their adventures for TV shows in Mojoverse. The New Mutants battled the X-babies until they were broken of their brainwashing and defeated Mojo. 

MUTANT MASSACRE:

   This story arc is a significant part of Betsy's life because this is where she proved herself to the X-Men leading them to invite her to officially join their team and officially adopting the codename "Psylocke".

   After the massacre of the Morlocks, Betsy was charged with helping the wounded and staying in telepathic contact with the members that were in combat with the Marauders. 

   Sabretooth invaded the mansion while the X-Men and New Mutants were away on assignments. Betsy protected the children at the mansion and was able to last long enough until Wolverine arrived to engage in one on one combat with Sabretooth. Betsy would then scan Sabretooth's mind to figure out his plans. It was her bravery in risking her life luring Sabretooth away from the Xavier Institute and the injured inside that earned her Wolverine's respect.

   See you again in a couple of weeks with more battles and a trip to Australia! Until then, I wish everyone a happy holiday!

BIRD IS THE WORD: Psylocke Appreciation

   Another short and sweet Psylocke Appreciation segment. In the last segment, we left off with Betsy taking on the role of Captain Britain and ending up getting her eyes gouged out by Slaymaster and her going to Switzerland to recuperate.

   Continuing on our journey in New Mutants Annual #2 (1986):

   In New Mutants Annual #2, Betsy was kidnapped from the Alps by Mojo, brainwashed and given cybernetic eyes. This is the issue where she is referred to as "Psylocke" for the first time. She became the star of Mojo's new show "Wildways".

   After Brian Braddock and the New Mutants rescued her, Betsy took up residence at their mutant-training academy, run by Magneto at the time in absence of Professor Charles Xavier.

   Stay tuned for the next segment where Psylocke meets Sabertooth!

BIRD IS THE WORD: Psylocke Appreciation

   We continue on in our next big event in Betsy's life. This event came in the 1986 relaunched Captain Britain series, where Betsy Braddock stood in for her brother as Captain Britain, and was rendered blind by the supervillain Slaymaster (Captain Britain, vol. 2 #12–13).

   When the crimelord Vixen secretly usurped S.T.R.I.K.E., she hired Slaymaster to eliminate the Psi-Division before they could expose this. The telepaths fled, but Slaymaster continued to pick them off. Only a handful were left when Betsy sensed Brian's return and called on his help. He defeated Slaymaster and the three surviving psi's, Betsy, Tom and Alison Double, moved into the holographically hidden Braddock Manor. In short succession, this hideout was found by the Special Executive, Captain U.K. and the Fury. As the last of these battled Brian and the Executive, Betsy foresaw a future where superhumans were imprisoned in concentration camps.

   Soon the U.K. became a fascist state ruled by the insane reality warper Sir James Jaspers, with S.T.R.I.K.E. "Beetle" squads rounding up those with powers. While Brian confronted Jaspers, the Beetles found the others' hideout. Tom died trying to buy his friends time to escape. Betsy was in Tom's mind when he died, and was captured. After being freed, she was nursed back to health by fellow camp inmate Victoria Bentley, who taught her to use her experiences to strengthen her powers.

   When Kaptain Briton, Brian's Earth-794 counterpart, tried to rape her, Betsy fried his mind, killing him. The same night, Mastermind informed the twins of their father's non-terrestrial origins, and the Resources Control Executive (R.C.X.) asked them to billet Warpies, children transformed by Jaspers' warp, at the Manor.

   One of the R.C.X. agents was Matthew, now codenamed Gabriel. Betsy overruled Brian and let R.C.X. and the Warpies move in. When Brian went overseas, Gabriel convinced Betsy to become the new Captain Britain, wearing Kaptain Briton's modified costume. Working with Captain U.K. (Linda McQuillan), the duo became public sensations, but after several months Betsy went solo. Vixen lured her into a showdown with Slaymaster, who brutally beat her, then gouged her eyes out. Brian felt her pain, flew to her rescue and killed Slaymaster. Betsy refused R.C.X.'s offer of cybernetic eyes, preferring to rely on her psychic abilities. She and Gabriel got engaged, and went to Switzerland for Betsy to recuperate.

Source: http://marvel.com/universe/Psylocke

Stay tuned in two weeks for Betsy, New Mutants, and Mojo!

BIRD IS THE WORD: Psylocke Appreciation...

BIRD IS THE WORD: 
Psylocke Appreciation
Sunday, October 6, 2013

In the next several segments, I will be mentioning significant issues in Betsy's life after her first appearance in Captain Britain #8. The first issue I would like to mention is Captain Britain #9.

Captain Britain #9 was significant in her life because that was when she was possessed by Dr. Synne, which seemed to have triggered her powers. It was also the issue that eventually led to her discovering her brother's alter ego, Captain Britain.

In this issue, Dr. Synne tried to kill Jamie, so Betsy went to go get Brian, but while she was flying them home, Synne's psychic attack caused her to crash. When she woke up, Synne's illusions made Betsy attack her brothers, seeing them as monsters. After Synne was defeated, she and Jamie were taken hostage by the Red Skull's agents. Freed by Captains America and Britain, Betsy learned that Captain Britain was her brother Brian. Possibly because of Dr. Synne's mental intrusions, Betsy began to develop precognitive powers.

To be continued in two weeks with: Captain Britain #34

JOIN THE DISCUSSION HERE AT THE CBNAH FACEBOOK GROUP OR IN THE COMMENTS..!

BIRD IS THE WORD..! Psylocke Appreciation

Family Ties

So, my next two segments are going to be rather short and sweet since I am hunkering down trying to get my costume ready for next weekend's expo.

Today I am doing a quick introduction of the Braddock siblings, the children of Sir James Braddock, member of the Captain Britain Corps and denizen of Otherworld, and Lady Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Braddock a.k.a. Psylocke was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe. She is the twin sister of Brian Braddock a.k.a. Captain Britain. Yes, you heard that right. Elizabeth was not born Eurasian. She was born a Caucasian and later made into the Eurasian woman she is today, but more on that in later segments. Her first appearance was in the UK comic book Captain Britain #8. At the time, she was working as a charter pilot. This was in the beginning when her only known power was precognition, which seemed to have been unlocked when the siblings were attacked by Dr. Synne (more on that later).

Brian Braddock a.k.a. Captain Britian was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe and originally appeared in Captain Britain Weekly. After the death of their parents, Brian took up fellowship at Darkmoor nuclear research center. When the center was attacked by The Reaver, Brian escaped on his motorcycle and tried to find help, only to end up in a near fatal accident. It was then that Merlyn and his daughter, the Omniversal Guardian, Roma appear to the badly injured Brian and gave him the chance to become the superhero Captain Britian. His superpowers are superhuman strength, speed, endurance, agility, durability, reflexes, and senses, force fields, and flight.

Jamie Braddock is the eldest of the three siblings (10 years older than them). He was created by Chris Claremont, Herb Trimpe and Fred Kida. Jamie Braddock first appears in Captain Britain #9. He wasn't known to have any powers at first. He is also the crazy one of the family (every family has to have one right? Just be thankful I didn't post his white thong pictures, lol), but I'll get to his reason for insanity in a moment. In the beginning, Jamie was a top Formula 1 racing driver and was very good at it, winning several championships. That life soon took a turn when Jamie was implicated with several illegal crimes until the arrival of the African lord, Doctor Crocodile with the help of the Witch-Woman. Tortured by Crocodile and Witch-Woman, Jamie's latent mutant ability to reshape reality around him manifested itself at the same moment that he lost grip on sanity. Jamie's powers are cosmic awareness, dimensional manipulation, enhance mutation, genetic manipulation, necromancy, reality manipulation, teleportation.

Discuss the Braddock family and Psylocke with Caroline here or the Facebook group @ facebook.com/groups/cbnah ..!