Uncanny X-Men #213 pg#3

A personal triumph getting a page from the PSYLOCKE (issue titled) Uncanny X-Men #213. I recall the mini triumph, in many years past, when I finally was able to afford and get this comic in store.

My deep love for X-MEN led me on the path to discover her many complicated characters. One of my all time favorites being Betsy Braddock (aka PSYLOCKE). This is the issue she finally fully connects with the X-Men and eventually joins the team. It’s an early full appearance in the Uncanny X-Men series (sharing same release date as Uncanny X-Men Annual #10, January of 1987, just after her brief appearance in #211 and larger appearance in #212).

In this momentous issue, we get to learn and see a lot about Psylocke as she tries to impress her soon to be X-Men family. We get to see her do her astonishing telepathic butterfly effect for the first time. And this page illustrates her eyes turning to butterfly and telepathically checking in on the massacred X-Men as they try and heal in their hospital ward under the X-Mansion. I love getting a glimpse in her head as she assesses how hurt they are and her interaction with Kitty Pryde as she sadly learns she might just phase away completely.

Alan Davis’s beautifully sad rendered artistry mixed with Chris Claremont’s emotive writing makes this piece an uncanny and amazing little piece of history to own. If only I could tell my younger self not only would you finally get Psylocke’s entrance into the X-Men in book form, but one day you will own a piece of the original art from this very book (which encapsulates a section of her first time doing her telepathic butterfly effect).