Could someone please explain the last X-Men to me?

[ShaunN]

Dear Friends,

HI! I apologize for, perhaps, missing the obvious, but I don't understand the newest issue of "Uncanny X-Men" (I think it was #509). Specifically, I don't understand what the Red Queen is doing with Psylocke. I suspect that there are things about Psylocke that I don't understand (I have not followed X-Men in years) but here is the source of my confusion:

Last issue, the Queen and her minions retrieved "Kwannen"'s body. Apparently, Kwannen is the Asian women into whose body Betsy Braddock's mind was transferred years ago. They bring out another women, who is dressed exactly like the Asian Psylocke (and I assumed was the Asian Psylocke) and transfer something from her into the corpse of Kwannen. Kwannen is reanimated. Now, in this newest issue, the Queen is talking about (apparently) transferring Betsy Braddock's mind into Kwannen's body, after having retrieved Betsy's mind from some other interdimensional place. She is also talking about controlling Psylocke, whose body now contains the power but not the personality of Braddock. All of this is apparently a test of this procedure and, obviously, all of this is leading to the Red Queen transferring her mind into Jean Grey's corpse.(We discover in this issue that the RQ exists as a psychic form, a ghost, but not physically).

I simply don't get the Psylocke situation. Who is the captured woman who the RQ and her minions use to power and rejuvenate Kwannen's body? Is that Betsy? If so, why did she have a body? What was transferred from that body - Betsy's mind, leaving behind her powers?

I'd be grateful if someone can explain this to me.

Thanks,

Shaun

[Michael P]

I'm pretty sure the only one who can explain this to you is Matt Fraction.

[Sean Walsh]

Reading Psylocke and Kwannon/Revanche's Wikis made my brain bleed. Please call 9-1-1......

The only thing I can comment on is the "interdimensional" aspect. That's in reference to her time recently in EXILES/ NEW EXILES. She disappeared from Earth-616 (Marvel Earth) and ended up in the company of the dimension-jumping Exiles team. With that title's recent revival, Psylocke is nowhere to be found - Red Queen retrieving her explains why and where she is now.



....I think. :confused:

[scout1279]

I would love to help you, but I couldn't read this story arc because of the hideous Greg Land art. It's just too horrible.

Also, I have found that when it comes to Psyloche, it's best to not try and understand. She's just too confusing. That and her thong are why I never liked her.

[Alan Lynch]

Wait, they've brought Kwannon back into it? And Psylocke is no longer banished to wherever the Exiles are these days? Egads!

[ShaunN]

Reading Psylocke and Kwannon/Revanche's Wikis made my brain bleed. Please call 9-1-1......

The only thing I can comment on is the "interdimensional" aspect. That's in reference to her time recently in EXILES/ NEW EXILES. She disappeared from Earth-616 (Marvel Earth) and ended up in the company of the dimension-jumping Exiles team. With that title's recent revival, Psylocke is nowhere to be found - Red Queen retrieving her explains why and where she is now.



....I think. :confused:

Dear Sean,

OK, thanks a lot. I'd forgotten about the Exiles thing. But I'm still confused: if I've got this right, the Psylocke with the Exiles had Betsy's mind and powers and, I thought, Kwannon's body. But, apparently, this was not the case, since Kwannon was in a grave in Japan. So, whose body was Betsy possessing when she was with the Exiles?

At any rate, it sounds like the RQ grabs Betsy/Psylocke and brings her back to earth. Apparently, she transfers Betsy's mind into Kwannon's corpse, rejuvenating Kwannon's body, but leaves Betsy's powers in the body her mind just vacated. Apparently, it's a test of her ability to transfer minds into corpses, which she will do with herself and Jean's body, one of the only bodies on earth proven to be able to contain psychic power as great as the RQ's. Also, the RQ is a clone of Jean, right?

OK, this almost makes sense now, except I still don't get whose body Betsy was possessing when she was with the Exiles.

Again, any insight appreciated. I will check out wikipedia to see if it makes any more sense.

Thanks,

Shaun

[ShaunN]

Dear Friends,

OK, here is the wikipedia explanation of X-Men. After reading the whole section on Psylocke, I think I understand. Here is what Wiki says (boy, these things get updated fast!)

Somehow, Psylocke is kidnapped by Madelyne Pryor's Sisterhood, and in a graveyard in Tokyo they also manage to steal Betsy's original body (which Kwannon had died in) from it. Back in San Francisco, the Sisterhood perform a ritual of sorts with both bodies, resulting in Betsy's original body being brought back to life.[80] After the ritual, the Red Queen confirms that the Sisterhood put Psylocke back in her original body. Madelyne also reveals she had found Betsy travelling between parallel worlds, therefore she cast a spell to bring the latter home. The Red Queen then brainwashes Psylocke, who is now under her control, and adds that what they did to Betsy was a test, because they will be doing it again to someone else

So, the original body is the one they are calling "Kwannon", but it's actually Betsy Braddock's body.

Shaun

[scout1279]

Shaun, I think where you are confused is that while Psylocke was in habiting Kwannon's former body, Kwannon was likewise inhabiting the former body of Psylocke. That's why Kwannon had a corpse that could be buried in Japan.

I have no idea who the Red Queen is. I don't remember her having a connection to Jean before. Madeline Pryor was a Jean clone, but Matt Fraction said in a recent interview that the Red Queen was the Red Queen and not Madeline Pryor.

It's all very confusing and makes my brain ache.

Edit: you posted your Wikipedia stuff while I was Wikapedia-ing the Red Queen. Anyway, still confusing.

[Sean Walsh]

Yeah. The Betsy Braddock who went off to hang with the Exiles was in Kwannon's (hot Asian) body, while Kwannon was in Betsy's original (not as hot but still pretty British) body; Revanche was the name she chose to use while in Betsy's body.

When Kwannon died of the Legacy Virus, they buried her & Betsy's original body - now that body has been exhumed and the minds have been put back in their proper bodies. So hot Asian Psylocke is Kwannon, while British Psylocke (aka Revanche) is Betsy Braddock.

What puzzles me even more is that J. Scott Campbell's cover for the next issue of USM has the hot Psylocke. I guess that's Kwannon back in her original body, being used as a weapon by the Red Queen.


I think.


Guh, brain bleeding again.....!

[MartinRedmond]

Psylocke was bodyswapped with another woman who ended up dying. Red Queen restored Psylocke into her original body, which was rejuvenated by the witch named Spiral. It's pretty simple and it was explained clearly in the issue itself.

[ShaunN]

Dear Martin,

I did not understand it because they kept referring to the body as "Kwannon", which seemed to me the Asian name. I was unclear on how Asian Psylocke was having her mind transferred back to Asian Psylocke's body. Now that I'm clear on all the body swaps and the fact that they were calling Betsy Braddock's original body "Kwannon", it makes some sense.

Shaun

[the4thpip]

Oh god, they revisited a Fabian Nicieza story that came about because he did not read the essential issues of the Lady Mandarin story where it is clearly shown that the Asian Psylocke is the same body as the British one post plastic surgery?

Why would they do that? Even Fabian admitted it was a mistake and the story has been ignored for good reason!

[MartinRedmond]

Dear Martin,

I did not understand it because they kept referring to the body as "Kwannon"

Shaun

I didn't notice that, I understand why you were confused now. The storyline feels a bit like there's important scenes missing from the story.

Oh god, they revisited a Fabian Nicieza story that came about because he did not read the essential issues of the Lady Mandarin story where it is clearly shown that the Asian Psylocke is the same body as the British one post plastic surgery?

Why would they do that? Even Fabian admitted it was a mistake and the story has been ignored for good reason!

This is probably crazy talk, but it seems like they're trying to pander a little to message boards and Kwannon got discussed alot lately. But it's possible it's not cause of that.

[Sean Walsh]

Psylocke was bodyswapped with another woman who ended up dying. Red Queen restored Psylocke into her original body, which was rejuvenated by the witch named Spiral. It's pretty simple and it was explained clearly in the issue itself.

Oh sure, Martin, just take all our frenzied rambling and make sense of it why don't you?! :wink: :tongue:

[scout1279]

I didn't notice that, I understand why you were confused now. The storyline feels a bit like there's important scenes missing from the story.
It's probably because Land isn't very good at conveying a story.

[Pink Bat Maxine]

I would love to help you, but I couldn't read this story arc because of the hideous Greg Land art. It's just too horrible.

Also, I have found that when it comes to Psyloche, it's best to not try and understand. She's just too confusing. That and her thong are why I never liked her.

But it's porn-o-riffic!

[Aspield]

I have to admit, I have been enjoying Fraction's stuff until this issue. I was left dissatisfied, and feeling like I missed key parts of the issue (which I sometimes do in my manic page-turning fanboy frenzy).
But no such luck. I think I read it all, and still came up half-empty. :confused:

[bfrank]

I'm not seeing what's so hard to understand.


Betts was English. Sp and The hand switched her Kwannon. Kwannon is now Asian lady in British body, Betts is the reverse. Kwannon dies. Stuff happens to Betts. he ends up with the Exiles. Red (goblin) Queen finds her. Sp does her dance again, and the sisterhood puts betts in her original body.....

Why would the Red (goblin) queen do this? Practice. She's a ghost and she wants the sisterhood to put her in Jean's body because Maddie's was destroyed.....It's all pretty clear in the issue......

[the4thpip]

I'm not seeing what's so hard to understand.


Betts was English. Sp and The hand switched her Kwannon. Kwannon is now Asian lady in British body, Betts is the reverse. .....

It's just that this is a story that has been ignored for years because it contradicted on-panel facts from the Lady Mandarin story by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee where Betsy received the Asian features.

When Logan first sees her, he yells: "That face! Betsy?"

And that is the issue that Fabian Nicieza admits he had not read when he came up with the Kwannon retcon, so they quickly killed her off and never mentioned her again. Until now, it seems.

[Flying Saucers Over Oz]

One could make a case that Wolverine, with his heightened senses, was confused because he could tell it was Betsy, but in the 'wrong' body.

One could, if one wanted to.

I don't.

[Flying Saucers Over Oz]

And really, can ANYONE explain ANY issue of X-MEN?

[the4thpip]

One could make a case that Wolverine, with his heightened senses, was confused because he could tell it was Betsy, but in the 'wrong' body.

One could, if one wanted to.

I don't.

"That face! It's the face Betsy always makes when I fart!"

[Tobias March]

And really, can ANYONE explain ANY issue of X-MEN?

Spent yesterday re-reading X-Men issues from before Claremont's departure. X-tinction Agenda. War-Skrulls. Muir Island/Shadow King saga. Do you know what is interesting about each of these stories....

They're all about X-Men fighting X-Men! It's the same bloody plot each time, with a slight variation (okay sometimes the X-Men aren't mind-controlled, they've been replaced by techno-organic and/or alien shape-shifters, but still!)

Yet traditionalists would have you believe the departure of CC was equivalent to the death of Bismarck and the chaos left in his wake as a result.

I have always felt nothing but sympathy for Fabes and Lobdell having to wade through all that back-story and lost story threads. Kwannon and Betsy...yikes, I mean I think any one of us would slip up too.

Maybe he dosed off after having to read 'My psychic knife is the sum totality of my blah blah blah' too many times.

[MartinRedmond]

Spent yesterday re-reading X-Men issues from before Claremont's departure. X-tinction Agenda. War-Skrulls. Muir Island/Shadow King saga. Do you know what is interesting about each of these stories....

They're all about X-Men fighting X-Men! It's the same bloody plot each time, with a slight variation (okay sometimes the X-Men aren't mind-controlled, they've been replaced by techno-organic and/or alien shape-shifters, but still!)

Yet traditionalists would have you believe the departure of CC was equivalent to the death of Bismarck and the chaos left in his wake as a result.

I have always felt nothing but sympathy for Fabes and Lobdell having to wade through all that back-story and lost story threads. Kwannon and Betsy...yikes, I mean I think any one of us would slip up too.

Maybe he dosed off after having to read 'My psychic knife is the sum totality of my blah blah blah' too many times.


Especially since she only ever used that line in 3 issues total.:rolleyes:

[Sean Walsh]

And really, can ANYONE explain ANY issue of X-MEN?

They're mutants.







......18 years after reading my first X-Men issue, that's the one thing I'm definitely pretty sure of.

[Tobias March]

Especially since she only ever used that line in 3 issues total.:rolleyes:

Gee I guess I caught all three in one reading session then. That's consecutive issues.

[Tobias March]

They're mutants.







......18 years after reading my first X-Men issue, that's the one thing I'm definitely pretty sure of.

Except for Longshot....and Warlock....Loeb shoe-horned in some retcon which may have mutified Shatterstar, but I'm not sure if anyone else acknowledges it.....

[Michael P]

Spent yesterday re-reading X-Men issues from before Claremont's departure. X-tinction Agenda. War-Skrulls. Muir Island/Shadow King saga. Do you know what is interesting about each of these stories....

They're all about X-Men fighting X-Men! It's the same bloody plot each time, with a slight variation (okay sometimes the X-Men aren't mind-controlled, they've been replaced by techno-organic and/or alien shape-shifters, but still!)

Yet traditionalists would have you believe the departure of CC was equivalent to the death of Bismarck and the chaos left in his wake as a result.

I have always felt nothing but sympathy for Fabes and Lobdell having to wade through all that back-story and lost story threads. Kwannon and Betsy...yikes, I mean I think any one of us would slip up too.

Maybe he dosed off after having to read 'My psychic knife is the sum totality of my blah blah blah' too many times.

For my money, the whole interregnum between the Australian period and X-Men #1 was Claremont officially losing the plot and having no idea what he was doing anymore. And he was spinning his wheels for some time before that.

[bfrank]

It's just that this is a story that has been ignored for years because it contradicted on-panel facts from the Lady Mandarin story by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee where Betsy received the Asian features.



that makes it hard to understand? ok.....

[Aspield]

Gee I guess I caught all three in one reading session then. That's consecutive issues.

Maybe it was 3 times in ONE issue.

Although I swear that she said it multiple times. Especially post-Asian reconstruction.

[Flying Saucers Over Oz]

I once mailed Chris Claremont a quarter. I thought I'd give him one, not that he asked.