Psylocke: Ninja #1: An Exercise in Frustration

The X-Men’s Outback base has been raided, and the team has been scattered to the winds. With the Reavers on their heels, Betsy Braddock (Psylocke) takes what remains of the X-Men to the Siege Perilous, a multiversal gateway that will give them new lives in exchange for their memories of their present ones. With no other choice, Betsy psychically nudges her apprehensive comrades through the gateway, herself going last. She winds up in Japan with no memory of her life as Betsy Braddock or an X-Man and is taken by the deadly organization known as The Hand. Her broken psyche being implanted in the body of the assassin known as Kwannon, Betsy’s odyssey begins. 

When this book was first revealed, I was eager to read it. Alyssa Wong’s recently ended Psylocke solo series focusing on Kwannon was an entertaining read so I expected more of the same if she was returning to a revamped title, but when the solicit dropped I found all of that intrigue evaporate into the night like the titular ninja. I won’t sugarcoat it, I have no idea why this book exists in 2026. I understand that this is another “flashback” series where Marvel revisits beloved characters and eras from yesteryear, but for Psylocke there was no need for a book like that to be made because of just how problematic Betsy’s time as “Ninja Psylocke” was. 

For the five of you reading that are unaware of the complicated and controversial history of this character, allow me to give you a brief summary of 20+ years of publication history. Betsy started out as a blonde haired, blue eyed, white British woman. Because of comic shenanigans she then became a purple haired, cybernetic-eyed, white british woman. After going through the Siege Perilous in 1989, she became a purple-haired, normal eyed, Japanese woman but still had the brain of a very white British woman. This very confusing, as as very offensive, predicament was originally planned by then X-Men writer Chris Claremont as only lasting for a single story arc, but the surge in popularity of this new version of the character (who again was a WHITE British woman running around in a Japanese woman’s body) with readers, which was enhanced by a rookie Jim Lee’s artwork, caused editorial to make this the status quo for Betsy’s character for over 20 years. Betsy and Kwannon would not be put back to normal until 2018, not long before the linewide relaunch caused by Jonathan Hickman’s House of X of Powers of X books. During the Krakoan Age, Betsy would become Captain Britain while Kwannon would continue on as the Ninja Psylocke that fans had grown to love. It was a rare case of Marvel successfully having its cake and eating it too. So it’s baffling why they would release a story that would remind readers of that time where a white character was essentially performing yellow face. 

It’s this frankly, harmful and wrongheaded decision that affects my overall enjoyment of the book. Which to be honest is nothing to really write home about, at least in this opening issue. Tim Seeley does a serviceable job of emulating the Claremont-isms, but lacks some of the nuance that made those same quirks such an enduring facet of his run. The objectification of both Betsy and Kwannon is a bit off-putting, but the fact that obvious villains are doing makes it a tiny bit more bearable. 

On the artistic front, while this isn’t the strongest outing for Nico Leon, that could just be because his pencils don’t fully mesh with Dono-Sanchez Almara’s colors. All that being said, there are a couple of pages that stand out in a good way so the books is never visually boring.