PSYLOCKE vol 2 #7
“Loved and Lost”
Writer: Alyssa Wong
Artists: Vincenzo Carratù & Moisés Hidalgo
Colour artist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Editor: Darren Shan

PSYLOCKE

The creature possessing Deathdream (of whom more later) tells her that “You love to hurt people. That’s what you do.” It then gives three examples:

• “Matsu’o – the lover you killed”. This is a little puzzling. Matsu’o died in Psylocke vol 1 #4 (2010), but that story featured Betsy Braddock as Psylocke. Kwannon did try to kill Matsu’o at one point before her body swap, but she didn’t succeed (in fact, she lost the fight, which led to the body swap with Betsy).
• “Himeko – the daughter you abandoned.” Covered extensively in Fallen Angels vol 2 flashbacks, and only in the sense that she allowed the Hand to take the baby away at a time when she was heavily under their thumb.
• “Mitsuki – the friend who trusted you.” Seen in flashbacks throughout this run. Her death was shown in issue #5 and wasn’t really Kwannon’s fault at all – she was killed by Master Hayashi in order to teach Kwannon a lesson, and Kwannon does seem to impotently resist. However, the flashback in this issue has her promising not to let Hayashi hurt her, and Mitsuki replies “I’ll hold you to it.” More of Mitsuki in a bit.

SUPPORTING CAST

Devon Di Angelo. We get a flashback to Psylocke rescuing Devon from AIM, previously mentioned in issue #1. Devon claims that they initially thought Psylocke was there to kill them, but she promised to keep them safe (an apparent echo of the promise to Mitsuki in the flashback two pages earlier). Devon became devoted to Psylocke on feeling that she meant what she was saying. The whole thing is quite similar to the rescue mission from the opening scene of issue #1.

Devon acknowledges repeatedly pestering Kwannon with phone calls and, honestly, comes off as a bit of a stalker, monitoring Kwannon’s locations with their technology. Despite professing their devotion to Psylocke, they also talk about uncovering her secrets rather than rescuing her.

John Greycrow. He seems more impressed than disturbed by Devon’s tech, but then he is seemingly more concerned with the immediate issue of Psylocke’s well-being, where it may well be useful.

He refuses to pay for proper heating of his cabin on the grounds that it’s “expensive”, but doesn’t give a clear answer to Devon’s objection that he has plenty of money from his bank robberies. Presumably he could afford to live in more comfort but this sort of isolation plays into his self-image.

GUEST CAST

Deathdream. Spends the entire issue either possessed or unconscious.

Magik. Helps in the fight.

Rogue. She seems to think it should have been obvious to Psylocke that touching Deathdream could lead to trouble – which seems unfair, as Deathdream must know his powers better than she does, and he didn’t seem to expect any trouble. That said, Psylocke is playing it down when she says “All he did was touch my hand” – Deathdream specifically said he was asking her to let him in so that he could see the creature that was possessing her.

VILLAINS

Mitsuki. So… we have both the black ghost monster thing possessing Deathdream, and the Betsy/Kwannon hybrid ghost from the last two issues. It’s not clear whether they’re two manifestations of the same thing, or whether they’re linked in some way. Either way, the ghost at least claims to be Mitsuki. The black cloud thing, from the terms of its dialogue, sounds a lot like a projection of Kwannon’s self-loathing – it knows her name (which for some reason surprises her), it talks about her “broken promises” (i.e., her promise to keep Mitsuki safe) and berates her for trying to forget Matsu’o, Hideko and Mitsuki (in the latter two cases, only true in the sense that she doesn’t think about them 24/7).

The cloud thing also claims that Deathdream “doesn’t belong here with the living”, and declares an intention to take him to “a place where no one can hurt him”. The Soulsword seems to have little if any effect on the monster, so apparently it’s not magical.

This issue’s flashback shows her and Kwannon being sent on an assassination mission in a snowy forest as children. This is the first time we’ve seen them actually working as child assassins, as opposed to being trained for it. As usual, they’re trying to support one another behind Hiyashi’s back.

Mitsuki can talk to yokai, though whether this is a mystical faculty or simply a case of learning the language isn’t clear. Kwannon apparently doesn’t have this ability. According to Mitsuki, the nuppeppō that they meet claims that both of them are special, which (if true) would imply that there’s more to Mitsuki than just another child Hand assassin who didn’t live to adulthood.

Master Hayashi. He doesn’t appear, but he does send Kwannon and Mitsuki on an assassination mission in flasback. Although it’s not their advertised goal, this mission leads them to the graveyard where the Hand’s failed child assassins are buried in unmarked graves. It seems unlikely that this was unintended on Hayashi’s part.

OTHER CHARACTERS

The nupeppō. A genuine creature from Japanese folklore, dating from the 17th century; drawings from the period show something very like the creature seen here. The bit about the smell of rotten meat and the tendency to hang around graveyards (or abandoned temples) is from folklore, and they’re generally relatively friendly creatures, as seen here.