The thing about moving the X-Men to the Australian Outback is it gave artist Marc Silvestri an excuse to draw the various members of the team in as little clothing as possible. Both the guys and the girls. Colossus and Havok spent plenty of time parading around in bikini briefs, awakening things in people.
And yet, for Betsy Braddock, then the X-woman known as Psylocke, armor.
As a defensive strategy, it made sense. The team’s telepath needed to protect herself so she could keep everyone else in communication and scramble her foes’ minds from a safe disance. Also, she’d been through so much stuff at that point – Slaymaster, Sabretooth, “death” at the hands of the Adversary, ongoing Reaver attacks – that the extra protective layers were pretty much a necessity, and matched the cold personality she’d developed for herself in turn.
It’s perhaps ironic, then, that she doesn’t ditch the armor and start showing skin until after she leaves the Outback through the Siege Perilous … and swaps bodies with a Japanese ninja assassin for damn near 30 years. As the ’90s get underway and Jim Lee gives nearly all the other X-women full body stockings, bomber jackets, head socks and giant shoulder pads, Betsy gets a bathing suit.
Go figure.
Check out Pablo Villalobos’ variant cover for X-Men: Outback #1, out June 24, and keep scrolling for the basic deets.
W: Steve Orlando | A: Stephen Segovia | Main cover: Russell Dauterman | Variant cover: Pablo Villalobos
FROM THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK! Journey back to a time when the public believed Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Colossus, Dazzler, Havok, Psylocke and Longshot were dead. But from the shadows, these X-Men protected humanity from their Australian headquarters! But why did the team choose the Outback as their home base? How did tensions between them almost tear the team apart? And which of their old enemies threatened to expose their secret? Steve Orlando and Stephen Segovia revisit a fan-favorite era in the mighty mutants’ past!
June 24, 2026 | $4.99
Buy X-Men: Outback #1 here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
Dan Grote is the editor and publisher of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Paul Winston Wisdom. Follow him @danielpgrote.bsky.social.
