Psylocke #5: Pinned Down in a Museum of Death

On a literal level this issue shows how Kwannon finds herself pinned down (like a literal butterfly) on display in a twisted museum display of the Taxonomist and how she eventually deals with her foe. I love that the creative team have used the butterfly motif to marvelous dramatic effect every issue of this first arc, bending and twisting it’s symbolism with each issue. The physical confrontation is well handled by the art team but it’s what’s going on with Kwannon on a mental and emotional level that lifts the entire issue to another level. Alyssa Wong shows the mettle of our deadly psychic butterfly but also shows the strength of her emotional depth and self awareness as she dishes out a lesson in emotional intelligence to a foe that has chosen to take the trauma they have experienced and weaponize it by making others suffer in the service of their own selfish whims.

While we learn the Taxonomist’s history and the how and why he wishes to have Kwannon in his twisted museum of preservation, I feel that he’s incidental in the scheme of what the creative team are doing here. This is very much Kwannon’s journey and her victory over the Taxonomist in the physical realm which is marvelously brought to life by the artists, the taxonomist is a stepping stone for Kwannon on her internal journey to reconcile who she was, who she is and who she wants to be and the creative team handle this superbly dangling the consequences in front of us with those last very disturbing pages reveal that all is really not well on a psychic level with our psychic butterfly despite her rather emphatic win…

Vincenzo Carratu and Moises Hidalgo split art duties on this issue and I’m very impressed with how complimentary the two styles of the respective artists are to each other. It took several read through’s to isolate exactly where the one switches to the other and this is made even less noticeable by Fer Sufuentes-Sujo’s great coloring of the entire issue. The art team get to do a bit of everything this issue starting with close up expressive paneling of Kwannon’s face and her emotional state, pinned down to a pullback splash of the room where she’s the living center piece of the grotesque display the taxonomist has created. When she eventually does break free in a hell yeah moment, the art team does get to show of that wonderful dynamic action that’s characterized Kwannon in combat this whole series before slowing it down for some interpersonal character moments and then hitting us with the horrifying reveal at the end. It’s flawless composition from everyone, including letterer Ariana Maher and cover artist Mahmud Asrar, start to finish.