InsaneJournal

Doug Ramsey and Betsy Braddock: So Wrong yet So Right.
Greetings True Believers! In my last Doug Ramsey post I showed you his tragic end. In this post, let's visit one of his greatest triumphs. When he met, saved and perhaps won the heart of Betsy Braddock a.k.a Psylocke. Some backstory is required. At one point Betsy assumed the mantle of Captain Britain and was blinded by Slaymaster (One of her brother's old foes) She's blind but uses her telepathy to get around. In prologue (set a year in the past) she's hitting the slopes in Switzerland when she's kidnapped by Mojo and Spiral.....Enjoy!

(The art is wonderful.)










Mojo and Spiral were fucking creepy back in the day!

Mojo turns Betsy in the host of the world's most popular kid's show, "Wildways" It's beloved by all the children (Superpowered children most of all like Rahne, Sunspot and some superpowered tykes from Longshot's mini. Mojo has it in for them as well.) Meanwhile Doug is having doubts about being a New Mutant. He's unsure of his place on the team, being isolated from society at the mansion and other things. Dani gives him a pep-talk.

Brian Braddock a.k.a Captain Britain also saw the Wildways program and is scouring the globe for Betsy. He tracks down the transmission to a slum in New York but is attacked and overpowered by Slave-Betsy's psi powers. (Backed-up by Spiral's reality-warping and spells.)

The spell cast over the children takes effect and people like Sunspot and the Bratpack travel willingly into the Wildways. Sunspot is replaced by a double. The double is accidently killed by Doug and Warlock while clearing some trees. Doug goes to angst over the body when Warlock discovers something amiss...




The New Mutants go to investigate while we turn back to Mojo and Spiral messing with Betsy.




Those bionic eyes are creepy and they will haunt Betsy for years to come. Meanwhile Mojo takes the children he's seized and alters them into evil adult forms. (Rahne, Bobby, Karma's siblings and the Bratpack children.)

The New Mutants travel to the slum but they fucked by Betsy's psi powers and turn on each other and then they are attacked by the altered children. Doug and Warlock escape but watch as the New Mutants give into the lure of getting their hearts desires and are altered into adult forms. All except Magma who fights back and is instead regressed back to childhood. Then Doug finds out what happened to Brian Braddock...







Magma fights back and Doug convinces Braddock to go and rescue her. Then Doug and Warlock meet Betsy for the first time.




(It's really great how Doug and Warlock work as a team.)




BB and Magma continue fighting the Bratpack while Doug and Warlock make a dangerous and heroic decision.




Matrix/Borg time. Once again the art really works here.




Douglock's and Betsy's mind interweave and He sees what She and Mojo are doing to the kids. BB and Magma fight a losing battle. Doug tries to reason with Betsy but she attacks him with the help of Spiral. Douglock figures out how to psionically restore Betsy to her true self.

The art here is trippy, the story is cool and with a really wicked mindscape. I wish I could post it. Doug begins to rescue the trapped people. He's starting merge with Warlock intensely.



Spiral's spells and dances end but she tries one last trick to destroy everyone.




Warning! Angst and Doug/Betsy cuteness ahead!




Claremont so enjoys saying it without saying it.




Oh these two are so cute. Check it out!




Methinks Brian might have reacted differently if he realized his twin sister was basically the meat in a alien/boy sandwich.




In this era Doug and Betsy are ALWAYS a half a bottle of wine away from doing something that might put Betsy on another federal list. It's cute because Doug is heroic and so shy. Betsy is conflicted but full of emotions and desire. It's one of Marvel's great "If Only...."'s

What do you think? Betsy/Doug, OTP??? I liked them a lot better then Doug/Kitty or Doug/Rahne. Doug also beats the pants off of Warren, Neal or any of Betsy's other men.

The last lines of the Annual are, "It's hard to be a hero but, occasionally well worth the price." That is Doug Ramsey in a nutshell.

(It's 16 scans. The annual was giant-sized and 48 pages long. So I think I'm good.)