Written by Christopher Yost
Art by Harvey Tolibao
Cover by David Finch

We’re on issue two of this series and it’s pretty damned nifty. Yost demonstrates the complete and total mastery of the X-iverse that makes him the perfect choice to help helm the books as co-group editor while Tolibao shows us just how dangerous sexy can be, and how sexy dangerous can be.

This is the story of Betsy Braddock on a mission of revenge. If you’re not familiar with Betsy’s past, boy is it a doosie, but this ish gives you the VERY abridged cliff notes version. The important stuff is this - Betsy’s consciousness and that of the assassin Kwannon were muddled up, with a little bit of each residing in each person’s body. No one knew that both still existed, and everyone assumed that the drop dead gorgeous ninja assassin that had returned to the X-Men was the one and only Elizabeth Braddock. Years later, Revanche appeared - the other half of the equation strutting about in Betsy’s original body. As the story unfolded, Revanche died of the Legacy Virus, and was eventually lain to rest. Which catches us up to present.

Last issue saw Betsy looking to lay her old self to rest, only to find Kwannon’s former lover Mastuo setting her body ablaze. Now, the violet haired psychic ninja is taking the fight to Matsuo, and apparently encountering more than her fair share of trouble along the way.

Yost is playing not only with Betsy’s past and potential future, but the close bond she had with Wolverine, who keeps popping up in the background of this story. Longtime X-Men supporting cast member Yukio also puts in an appearance in this ish, but the focus is clearly on Psylocke. She goes Metal Gear Solid on a number of thugs, little more than a shadow dealing death to those standing in her way. These are some truly impressive panels showing just where this character’s sensibilities lie. Could she be the telepath X-Force is in such dire need of? With Yost behind both books, it could be so.

Tolibao is the other player here, bringing Betsy to life with his somewhat Peter Chung-esque style. For those not in the know, that’s the man responsible for Aeon Flux’s signature look. There’s a lot of that look in this book, and it’s an exactly perfect fit. I’ll never stop raving about how drop dead, ball-meltingly sexy Tolibao’s women are, but there’s seriously not a panel in this book that isn’t absolutely gorgeous. The action is intense and impressive and merely reflecting on the art right now has me wanting to reread the issue just to see the pretty pictures again.

Wrap it all up with a stunning cover from David Finch, and this is an easy call.

Psylocke’s second issue gets a resounding 5 out of 5 sum totalities of her psychic powers