Betsy Braddock: The Focused Totality of Appreciation 2024

[JB]

Unlimited X-Men/Infinity comics is basically the trash bin for comics that are not fit for print. Usually by mediocre artists and writers would otherwise wouldn't be able to work in the industry. It's more like a welfare service where they can keep non-standard writers employed without having to actually take a hit by printing their unsellable books.

You're making this up in your head. Often newer writers and artists get a chance with Unlimited and graduate to books. The current Unlimited arc we're talking about is written by Steve Foxe and Steve Orlando. You know, the guys who have written an X-Men Annual, Marauders, Scarlet Witch, Dark X-Men, Dead X-Men, Spider-Woman, the X-Men '97 companion comic and soon Heir of Apocalypse. The point of Unlimited is to offer a digital alternative format, since the future of all things is digital. Don't forget that the first X-Men Unlimited arc was written by Jonathan Hickman. In fact when asked by a reader if they were doing enough by only having an Unlimited subscription, Hickman confirmed they're doing all they need to do because Marvel makes a lot of money with Unlimited and creators enjoy the benefits of said money. This notion that it's the trash bin of comics has no merit.

[Hakka84]

Do I think that they're pushing the LGBTQ angle partly in order to move her further away from her Psylocke days, I think there is some truth to that statement.

(...)

Rachel/Betsy is tedious and the opposite of compelling, but it's not worse than Psylocke/Dunderbird or Psylocke/Fantomess. Claremont pushed that first pair only because he would not tolerate that one of his pet characters be in a relationship with another whom he dislikes (i. e., Archangel). Remender is king and all, but I'm not overlooking his getting Elisabeth to hook up with someone who was attracting her by means of hypnotic control. That's not tedious, that's vomit-inducing.

I don't want to be the one who has to remind you all what you all probably tried hard to forget, but... Betsy and AoA!Sabertooth...
I think nothing can top that, as a negative and vomit-inducing pair for Betsy. It would be almost akin to pair Betsy to an AU Slaymaster. I mean... seriously?
Once again, Claremont's doing (I always had the impression he hated Warren, and that's why he picked Neal and Creed the two times he got his hands back on Betsy - or when he wrote Beast still not over to Vargas's role in Betsy's death despite the story being set years after X-Treme and Warren being "man, it's been years, move on!" in X-Men: The End. Thank you for confirming it wasn't just me seeing things.)

I agree with the rest of what you said. But, as a strict Warren/Betsy fan, I actually also agree with this:

I’m not the biggest fan of them together but I still think that other writers should be able to give us their interpretation of them as a couple before you all try to break them up just because you don’t like them together.

TH didn't handle the thing well, IMHO. Another writer could make them work.
(besides, I've reached a zen level on W/B, so I'm chill now)

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Unlimited is off handling its own separate problem with their own separate enemies and Dead is basically doing it's own thing as it has no interaction with anyone outside of Xavier and the whole miss could have been explained away by him in a few lines. So neither book is heavily involved when push comes to shove.

[Galen Nycroft]

You're making this up in your head. Often newer writers and artists get a chance with Unlimited and graduate to books. The current Unlimited arc we're talking about is written by Steve Foxe and Steve Orlando. You know, the guys who have written an X-Men Annual, Marauders, Scarlet Witch, Dark X-Men, Dead X-Men, Spider-Woman, the X-Men '97 companion comic and soon Heir of Apocalypse. The point of Unlimited is to offer a digital alternative format, since the future of all things is digital. Don't forget that the first X-Men Unlimited arc was written by Jonathan Hickman. In fact when asked by a reader if they were doing enough by only having an Unlimited subscription, Hickman confirmed they're doing all they need to do because Marvel makes a lot of money with Unlimited and creators enjoy the benefits of said money. This notion that it's the trash bin of comics has no merit.

No no, not the whole service, just the "Infinity Comics" brand. It's where they shove most of the bad writers and mediocre artists. If they weren't we'd be getting them on regular series that actually matter. Nothing in Infinity comics matters or has an impact on anything in the regular, printed monthly books. More like self contained miniseries that might pull in details from the regular books, but we rarely see anything that impacts the real comics. At least I haven't.

I read the recent arc and it was mediocre because Steve Foxe and Steve Orlando are C-level writers. But at least they got Betsy's voice right. She sounded like herself. The art was atrocious as is common for Infinity Comics.

[JB]

No no, not the whole service, just the "Infinity Comics" brand. It's where they shove most of the bad writers and mediocre artists. If they weren't we'd be getting them on regular series that actually matter. Nothing in Infinity comics matters or has an impact on anything in the regular, printed monthly books. More like self contained miniseries that might pull in details from the regular books, but we rarely see anything that impacts the real comics. At least I haven't.

I read the recent arc and it was mediocre because Steve Foxe and Steve Orlando are C-level writers. But at least they got Betsy's voice right. She sounded like herself. The art was atrocious as is common for Infinity Comics.

We'll agree to disagree on the quality of the Unlimited story the Steve's are doing which I think is excellent. But it's not where they shove bad writers and mediocre artists, it's used as platform for creators. Lynne Yoshii, who has done editing work and covers for Marvel, did the interiors for the Sunfire/Redroot story (which directly impacted X-Men Red in a big way.) Since then Yoshii was included in the trio of artists of Dead X-Men #3 and will be drawing the entirety of the Blood Hunt - Psylocke one-shot, a tie-in to the big Marvel event of the summer. Jason Loo has done Infinity work (Madrox stories) and then got to co-wrote Iron Man Annual #1 last year. My point is that Unlimited is not a place to shove bad writers, it's a platform.

In any case this is Betsy's thread so I'll end the above debate. And yes they did get her voice right and it's the first time in a long time that the Betsy fandom has been mostly united. This is a positive.

[Havok83]

I hate the Infinity Comics and wish Marvel were publishing Xmen Unlimited the way they had in the 90s/00s

[razzmatazz360]

I hate the Infinity Comics and wish Marvel were publishing Xmen Unlimited the way they had in the 90s/00s

Maybe Marvel will publish Marvel Infinity comics. X-men Green got printed.

[Havok83]

Maybe Marvel will publish Marvel Infinity comics. X-men Green got printed.

Doubt it. There's been like 130+ of the X-men ones and is Green the only one that got printed? Plus the Krakoa era is about to end so there is even less incentive to do so. Im. not going back to them so it doesnt matter. I just really dislike the format for reading, chopping up panels and dialogue boxes. Its unpleasant to me

[Factor]

It would be really cool if they brought Neal back. I don’t need him to be Betsy’s love interest, but it would add a nice dynamic to have her hot ex around. And he could really use some more focus and development.

[Factor]

Doubt it. There's been like 130+ of the X-men ones and is Green the only one that got printed? Plus the Krakoa era is about to end so there is even less incentive to do so. Im. not going back to them so it doesnt matter. I just really dislike the format for reading, chopping up panels and dialogue boxes. Its unpleasant to me

I agreed that the format is terrible. I wish they’d also publish it in full pages so it was better to read using tablets.
It’s bizarre because the art is created as a full page and then they cut the panels to do the vertical format. Makes no sense if they don’t intend to publish it as a full page.

[CGAR]

Yeah the art isnt always the greatest on the Unlimited X-Men side but the stories they have been producing since the Firestar / Sunfire arcs have been good to great. So even if you think they are C-list they are giving me content that I lilke currently. And it is tying in a bunch of stuff from the Krakoa era so I dont really get the critique thats if in its own little world. Unless youre talking about how accessible it is.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Well they're not fighting Orchis or saving anyone that is in other books so they're only using characters that aren't in the main books like Betsy, so off in their own little world. Once this run of Unlimited is done what if any effect will anything that happened in it really affect the main books.

[JB]

It's being enjoyed by many people and isn't that the point of comic books? Just look at the praise it gets week after week and how it's brought the Betsy fandom together in a way that hasn't happened in years.

[JB]

On the topic of the UK storyline, it's interesting to look back at Excalibur #10 when Jamie made the pocket reality formed by Betsy's mind. She had concerns of the tension eventually turning hot...



And then in a slightly different way they actually went hot.





This is why I would be okay if she then decided it's more important for her to continuing focusing on protecting mutantkind after Unlimited and putting down the CB mantle. Especially considering things are apparently only going to get worse for mutants in the new era, with everyone scattered and the X-mansion being turned into a prison.

[H-E-D]

Saying that the Infinity Comics are where Marvel puts the "bad writers and artists" is such a cynical take.
If Marvel thought they were bad, they wouldn't be hiring them to do anything.

Infinity Comics are being used for two main purposes, beyond being an incentive to subscribe to MU.
1. Auditioning / onboarding new talent. Take Preeti Chhibber, who has been writing a smattering of Infinity Comics, and is now scheduled to write the Jubilee one-shot for Blood Hunt.
2. Giving established creators the room to tell stories that don't fit into the normal publishing strategy and thus otherwise would not be published. Prior to the Infinity Comics, Marvel hadn't published an ongoing anthology since 2014 (A+X).