I was very pleasantly surprised with this mini. Chris Yost provided a nice, compact story that resolved some dangling plot threads and gave some closure to the character of Betsy Braddock while moving her forward. The Psylocke vs. Wolverine fight was a great throwback to earlier times. Tolibao really impressed me with his art, which recalled to me the best of the edgy ’90s (a decade which I do not hate). Aspects of his style remind me a BIT of an early Carlos Pacheco. All in all, you’d think that this would just be another disposable X-Men mini-series. But it was actually good, especially if you’re any sort of a Betsy Braddock fan (we’re out there!). The penciller and the current incarnation of the title character are definitely on my radar now.

The original storyline in which Psylocke received her Asian body also included a fight between her and Wolvie: she kicked his ass back then–in a very awesome way–and it was still nice to see the evenly-matched skirmish that Yost scripted here. Some readers might have an issue with Betsy and Logan’s motivations and respective drives for violent revenge on Matsu’o–but I don’t. The hostility is very personal. “But good guys don’t kill! But good guys don’t torture!” Yost addresses these rejoinders, particularly in the bookends of the mini-series. The point is, Wolverine and Psylocke are not squeaky clean. They’ve both been assassins. They’ve been through a lot; they’ve learned a lot; they understand how awful violence can be, but for better or worse their souls have gone beyond the pale a few too many times. They’re not comfortable about killing, but they’re able to grit their teeth and do it if it needs to be done in order to bring restitution when certain types of criminals such as Matsu’o are involved. The guy screwed with people’s lives, loves and identities. There actually isn’t THAT much violence in this mini–but Yost orchestrates things so that you as a reader feel the weight of every cut.

In closing, I liked Jason Aaron’s “Get Mystique!” Wolverine story alright, but we all know he sort of chickened out at the end. That storyline didn’t quite deliver what it promised. But what Psylocke had the…er…balls to do at the end of this mini was fulfilling to see. We all hear about what great strong female characters Storm and Emma Frost have been. It’s good to see a writer bring out some of Betsy Braddock’s depth and formidability as well, for the first time in a long time.