The X-Man Psylocke travels to Japan in hopes of re-entering her former body. In the name of her one time enemy Matsu'o Tsuryaba, the ninja clan called The Hand attacks and completely destroys her former body. Psylocke doesn't have a clue as to what motivated the attack due to them making peace. But there's one thing she is certain on; Matsu'o Tsuryaba is going to die for that. -summary
Once in awhile style over substance isn't exactly a bad thing, especially when there's this much action. Psylocke is indeed on a mission and she's out for blood in an old fashioned revenge tale. She's packing katanas, dealing out punishment with her mutant telepath abilities, and pulverizing her way through ninjas for four issues. This was one of the fastest reads I went through in some time.
When I heard Psylocke was getting her own comic I wasn't the least bit surprised. First of all, if the artwork happens to be awesome. Then that alone is going to attract a bulk of her fans. Second, next to Wolverine and Gambit, she was one of the only X-Men who had a really complicated origin. She first appeared in the U.S. in The New Mutants Annual #2 in 1986. But I believe her crowning moment was when she was officially made into an X-Man, displaying courage in an uphill battle against Sabretooth in X-Men #213. Later, her life would become very complicated when her mind was switched into another body. In any case, she would go on to become the most popular of the female X-Men.
The story is written by Chris Yost, who co-wrote several X-Force stories. For the most part, I found some of his stories interesting, but I wasn't expecting much from this for some reason. Still, I was rather amazed by how much I enjoyed this one. Normally, I'm not crazy about stories that mainly uses action to push the plot, but the action panels in this are too cool to over look. The artwork was done by Harvey Tolibao, and it's obvious he had a ball putting this together. The action is incredible with lots of sword play and martial arts. Psylocke looks good in everything that she does with some nice poses. I could imagine this graphic novel selling because of the cover art alone. In terms of fan service, one may think in a book starring Psylocke, that it would be all cheeky action. This was actually one of my worries coming into it. Fortunately, the overly sexy style canon to the character isn't too over-exposed. There are some butt and crouch shots here and there, but I really don't think it overshadows the action and story. This is one area that could have easily gotten way out of control and for some, that probably would've been a good thing.
Many other characters make appearances here. Admittedly, the story can seem a bit too incoherent with all of these different faces popping up for unknown reasons. But give it time, everything comes to light and makes perfect sense by the end, and long time X-Men fans will see a very vicious side to one of their favorite characters, this is a meanstreak that I don't believe was ever revealed before this point. Those with very good long term memories will quickly remember this forgotten "promise", and I'm sure it will shock a few.
The only problem that I can think of is that the book seems heavily favored to fans of the main character, and those who have been following the X-Men series. Those who have read X-Men: Sisterhood will have a better understanding on the whole re-entering the body deal. However, I still think the book can be enjoyed by almost everyone due to the incredible artwork and action, but I mainly think guys will get a lot more out of this one. I can see several becoming fans of the character rather quickly.
As an added bonus, the graphic novel contains a three issue story that was written by the legendary Chris Claremont. The story happens to take place during The Uncanny X-Men #'s 256-258. This is Psylocke's origin story, and it takes place when she was found and brainwashed by the Hand to be their assassin. This story features Wolverine and Jubilee, and it also has several action packed moments with some excellent artwork by Jim Lee. Overall, I highly recommend this story to diehard X-Men fans. If you're the type who needs a bit more substance with your style, then this may not be for you. The book is 168 pages.
Pros:
-Stylish, nice plot twist, excellent artwork
Cons:
-Too straight forward, nothing but action for the most part
