Tracking the Cameo Queens: Psylocke; Real Name Betsy Braddock

This is probably the last of the official cameo queens considering everyone else following is probably debatable. For this post we have the sometimes British, sometimes Asian siren Psylocke aka Betsy Braddock.

Who, like Dazzler, is also a Cover Queen:


She also gets the distinction of being one of the heroes on the Marvel 70th anniversary frame.

Uncanny X-Men #504
# of panels: 1
# of lines: 0
# of times she uses her powers: 0
Craption: None.
She simply appears in a flashback. Wouldn’t count it if it weren’t Fraction. She also graces the cover twice, one as Brit Betsy and the other as Asian Betsy.

Uncanny X-Men #508
# of panels: 10, I count both bodies.
# of lines: 3
# of times she uses her powers: 0
Craption: None
Psylocke plus her British body make an appearance as Betsy’s consciousness is placed in her revitalized old body and she’s all like WTF?
Ok, not really, but WTF sums it up better.

Uncanny X-Men #509
# of panels: 9 counting both bodies.
# of lines: 1
# of times she uses her powers: 0
Craption: None.
Betsy just shows up to have her story explained and then get put under the mental command of the Red Queen. All in a day’s work for a cameo queen. She also gets the cover with both her bodies again just like in #504. Truly an attention whore.

Uncanny X-Men #510
# of panels: 11
# of lines: 5
# of times she uses her powers: 4
Craption: None.
Possessed Psylocke shows up to fight Wolverine, one of her old teammates. So repetitive it could be an episode of Charmed.

Uncanny X-Men #511
# of panels: 32
# of lines: 22
# of times she uses her powers: 4
Craption: Telekinetic psychic. Ninja. Back home. At last.
Betsy fights the X-Men for the Sisterhood. Dazzler fries her original body’s face off, so Psylocke offs herself to get back to the Asian one. She fights the possession is a very unoriginal, Ms. Marvel vs. Rogue way. Then she’s all better and in her Asian body. Joins the team.

Uncanny X-Men #512
# of panels: 24
# of lines: 7
# of times she uses her powers: 2
Craption: Psychic ninja. Recent addition. Out of sorts.
Psylocke’s function here is to be pretty and fight off the people attacking the X-Science Club.

Uncanny X-Men #513
# of panels: 2
# of lines: 0
# of times she uses her powers: 0
Craption: None
This issue we only get a panel of her in the background facing her and one behind her while standing next to Dazzler. Clearly, she’s taking lessons from Diva. And in true learning from the Diva she gets a FABULOUS Bianchi variant cover.

Uncanny X-Men #514
# of panels: 8
# of lines: 8
# of times she uses her powers: 0
Craption: Telepathic, telekinetic ninja. Long story.
This issue Betsy definitely got the most love out of the four official cameo queens. She's got lines, she is essentially leader of an operation to go underwater. It was difficult to tell if she was saying all the lines that had no obvious person linked to them, but from what I could tell it was her. She even got a craption, something none of the other queens managed to get.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia
# of panels: 1
# of lines: 0
# of times she uses her powers: 0
Craption: None
Psylocke’s face is barely seen in the one panel she does appear in which is when the X-Men are gathered around the TV.

X-Men Legacy #226
# of panels: 2
# of lines: 1
# of times she uses her powers: 0
Betsy appears for a line and then runs off with Kurt. She’s just too good for panel time.

Dark Avengers #8
# of panels: 5
# of lines: 3
# of times she uses her powers: 1, uses her telepathy for an underwater conversation.
Psylocke keeps her cameoing strong as she probably once again has the most valuable page time out of all the cameo queens.

Tracking the Cameo Queens: Northstar; Real Name: Jean-Paul Beaubier

For this post we follow the X-Men's resident me, an arrogant French gay man, Northstar aka Jean-Paul Beaubier.

Uncanny X-Men #508
# of panels: 12
# of lines: 15
# of times using his powers: 1
Craption: Superhuman speed, flight, and endurance. CEO and brand visionary, Team Northstar Extreme Snowsports.
Probably the appearance with the most quality, this marks Northstar rejoining the X-Men. Here Northstar introduces us to an actual boyfriend. Y’know? Not like Austen degrading him by making him pathetically lusting after hetero/closeted Iceman. That’s a mistake a gay man makes when he’s first coming out, not now. He’s cocky, sassy, and absolutely fabulous. He also essentially called out Austen from the beyond by saying he doesn’t want to be the X-Men’s gay mascot which is how Austen used him. And he mentions poutine much to my delight. I’ve only had one so far this year and I’m not entirely sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

Uncanny X-Men #509
# of panels: 15
# of lines: 26
# of times using his powers: 2
Craption: Fastest and Newest X-Man
Northstar in this issue gets caught up in a pointless interview and it’s absolutely mundane. Then later on he goes out and parties with the Queen of the Cameo Queens, Dazzler. And Pixie. Who he claims is legal to drink in Canada which must mean she fed him some bullshit or writers aged her due to Land’s purifying because Canada is 19 and Quebec is 18. I come from Northern Maine, Canadian drinking ages is required knowledge. He also nudges Scott about his problems with Emma before the Sisterhood attacks. The best part of this issue is the image below. Seriously, if there’s anything I’ve learned from Sailor Moon, Dazzler, and Angewomon when she shot her Celestial Arrow is everyone hit the deck when you see the Diva Finger.

Uncanny X-Men #510
# of panels: 1
# of lines: 0
# of times using his powers: 0
Craption: None
Following in the footsteps of his Cameo Master hag, Diva Daz, Northstar makes an obscure appearance of pure Cameotic Artistery.

Uncanny X-Men #511
# of panels: 4
# of lines: 2
# of times using his powers: 1
Craption: Speed. Flight. Light Manipulation. Doesn’t know any better.
Northstar’s only line is sort of a blatantly cutting through the BS of Wolvie and Cyclops’ mangst. Which Fraction labels as “Doesn’t know any better.” More like doesn’t give a fuck. That and he gets one more word “No.” He’s become a quick study in Daz’s Diva School of Cameo Queening.

Uncanny X-Men #514
# of panels: 6
# of lines: 1
# of times using his powers: 0
Craption: None
This issue, Northstar attempts to mimic his hag master with the cameo crotch, but fails. He quickly recovers with a pose on the motorcycle that just BEGS for Land. Later on, he, like Diva, gets a flat one line, but he manages to not even be seen saying it.

Secret Invasion X-Men #2
# of panels: 3
# of lines: 1/2
# of times using his powers: 1
Craption: In Northstar’s Post-500 debut we find him and his sister on one page using their powers. Our cameo queen doesn’t even get a full line because he’s sharing it with his sister. Maybe he was rendered speechless by the presence of his man crush, the perpetually closeted Iceman. Oh and he has an appearance in an X-Men Briefing.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia
# of panels: 4
# of lines: 1
# of times using his powers: 1
Craption: Strong. Fast. Canadian.
Northstar’s presence in this issue is showing up for the protest, but then when the riot comes he flees the scene as the closeted hicktarded men try to get on top of him. And good for him! Good fucking heavens they’re a headache, especially post-afterglow. Then he appears while Ares threatens the gays. With leather daddy attacking action. He also gets a cover appearance this issue!

X-Men Legacy #227
# of panels: 1
# of lines: 0
# of times he uses his powers: 0
Appearing alongside his hag, Jean Paul makes a brief one panel appearance.

Dark Avengers #8
# of panels: 4
# of lines: 0
# of times he uses his powers: 0
He shows up with all the other X-Men in the group gathering in the church.

Tracking the Cameo Queens: Dazzler; Real Name: Alison Blaire

The character of this post is the Quintessential Cameo Queen. She makes Cameo Queening an art form. She is also a frequent Cover Queen. She is the gay icon of the X-Men, Dazzler aka Alison Blaire. And I also happen to love referring to her as Diva.

Cover Gallery:

And now for the appearances:

Uncanny X-Men #502
# of panels: 4
# of lines: 13
# of times using her powers: Her glow is present during all of her appearance.
Craption: Sonic transducer. Totally fabulous.
Dazzler shows up to Pixie’s bedside after Pixie gets attacked at one of her concerts. She appears really ditsy and tells Pixie that when she’s healed up she can come dance in one of Daz’s shows.

Uncanny X-Men #503
# of panels: 2, but one’s just a tiny silhouette.
# of lines: She just sings.
# of times using her powers: 1, for lights affects in her show.
Craption: Sonic light transducer. Great abs.
Dazzler shows up for one page with her song carrying in the background for the rest of the issue. And I just have to add she’s wearing something god awful. I do not understand her going to pop whatsoever.

Uncanny X-Men #504
# of panels: 1
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 0
Craption: None
Normally I wouldn’t count this, but since cameo queens is based from Fraction’s Uncanny I will. Dazzler only appears in one panel showing Scott’s mindscape hotel filled with every woman he’s checked out. And Dazzler’s girls are enormous.

Uncanny X-Men #505
She just appears on the cover.

Uncanny X-Men #506
# of panels: 3
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 2
Craption: None
Dazzler only appears watching TV, then running out to help the Russian refugees. Then she is later shown to be creating a light show for one of the girls in the med area. Which is totally cheesy. But that’s what you get when you hire Dodson.

Uncanny X-Men #509
# of panels: 6
# of lines: 8
# of times using her powers: 3
Craption: None
Dazzler this time is shown giving a concert looking absolutely cheesy, this time compliments of Land. Later she is shown with fellow cameo queen, Northstar, and Pixie coming back from a night on the town. And assumably a bit inebriated. Her only real lines are saying that if Emma and Scott can’t make it, then there’s no hope for the rest of them. Which is a BS line like no other. Then she’s shown on her feet, ready to fight the Sisterhood.

Uncanny X-Men #510
# of panels: 1
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 0
Craption: None
Dazzler this issue is simply shown in one panel recovering from the Mastermind attack. And being poorly comforted by Emma.

Uncanny X-Men #511
# of panels: 14
# of lines: 28
# of times using her powers: 2
Craption: Transforms sound into light. Seven top-forty hits. Really wants to direct.
Shown running to catch the Sisterhood. Then shown in the exact same position as Emma and Karma as they confront the Sisterhood. She then confronts Psylocke while everyone else is gone and possessed Bets isn’t having it so she strikes her with her psy-knife. The much talked about totally awesome Dazzler scene happens as Dazzler zaps Psylocke with a blast that fries off half of Psylocke’s face. Psylocke then regains control enough to off herself and Dazzler goes to her side trying to wake her up. In the end, Dazzler is shown helping Psylocke up as she transferred to her Asian body and is now fine. And they have a BFF shot. The end.

Uncanny X-Men #513
# of panels: 2, but one is just her back.
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 0
Craption: None.
Dazzler is simply shown in the background as the X-Men watch Emma Frost publicly come out against the X-men. All the while, D-List Dazzler, Dagger, gets page time. Rest assured, Diva will see to it that her knockoff pays.

Uncanny X-Men #514
# of panels: 7
# of lines: 1
# of times using her powers: 1, it's just her glow.
Craption: None.
Diva ups the standards for Cameo art with the debut of Cameo crotch! Daz also ups the one line standards as when she utters her one, personality-less line she manages to get the ANTM wind in the air. This lady is the cameo queen to watch out for.

Secret Invasion: X-Men #3
# of panels: 6
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 0
Dazzler is again used as background filler.
But she also makes the cover. She’s a true cameo queen.

X-Men: Manifest Destiny #5
# of panels: 26
# of lines: She gets a third of the issue to herself. Not counting it.
# of times using her powers: 3 along with her glow.
This is a nice story about how Dazzler set on hard times on London so she set off to san Fransisco. She confronts an unruly passengers who is also a singer. He commands her to sing a song by taking someone hostage, so she complies and he ends up singing with her which gives her the power to laser his face. But not like face-frying Psylocke laser. In the end she’s offered a gig with a nightclub. This is meant to bridge the gap between what she’s been up to since we last saw her and her first appearance in Uncanny. Probably more speaking lines here than all her other parts combined. Also, she got this cover.

X-Men: Worlds Apart #4
# of panels: 1
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 0
Dazzler’s appearance this issue is a one-panel scene stealer that even overshadows the mini-series’ lead character, Storm. She just lies there unconscious. Brilliant use of character!

X-Infernus #4
# of panels: 2
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 1
Dazzler is background filler in the Danger Room ending scene. True cameo queening.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia
# of panels: 3
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 2
Making cameo queening an art, Ms. Diva extraordinaire makes three separate panel appearances this issue with no lines, but all eyes on her. First she appears at the protest with her gays. Then she watches the news with the X-Men with Colossus putting his arms on her shoulder. Sexual tension indeed! Lastly, Dazzler stands with her gays as leather daddy, Ares, threatens them. All the while Cyclops mentions that the scary part is that one day Ares will have to be taken down. I can think of no better opponent than Dazzler, cameo queen, with the power to generate light or zap you into a Marvel Zombie. This time around Diva did not make the cover because she stepped aside to let fellow cameo queens Northstar and Psylocke have a taste of cover space.

X-Men Legacy #226
# of panels: 1?
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 0
My site says that Dazzler appeared here, but I can’t spot her anywhere. It’s possible some idiots got her confused with Ariel. Who’s more like a drag impersonator trying to Dazzler. Utopia is truly the gayest crossover ever and I love every minute that it’s being homo.

X-Men Legacy #227
# of panels: 2
# of lines: 0
# of times using her powers: 1, it's just her glow.
The Mistress of Momentary Manifestations only showed for quick cameo this issue.

Dark Avengers #8
# of panels: 3
# of lines: 1
# of times using her powers: 0
Diva magic as Dazzler comes in for her monthly line.

Also, she appears in Dark X-Men Exodus with Dark Beast trying to cover up the Diva within. Not to worry, children, Diva will show him what it takes to be an icon. She may even add in a “Why can’t you give me the respect that I‘m entitled to!?!” a la Mommie Dearest.

Tracking the Cameo Queens: Karma; Real Name: Xi'an Coy Manh

Welcome to the beginning of my new series of posts: Tracking the Cameo Queens. As you may know, since Matt Fraction's introduction at Uncanny x-Men #500 we've seen some old faces return. But as you may also know, they only appear briefly and generally do very little besides stir a little excitement for the fan bases of these characters.
This series is dedicated to keeping track of the appearances of the cameo queens. The criteria for a cameo queen appearance is for it to be an appearance that happens after Uncanny X-Men #500, both in release dates and in-universe meaning no First Class appearances or any sort of flashbacks as well as it has to be in the 616 universe. It also has to be a genuine appearance, so it can't be something like Illyana looking at a picture of the New Mutants and Karma just happens to be there.
The criteria for what is a cameo queen is basically the character has appearances in Fraction's Uncanny X-Men with limited panel time and it helps if the character is LGBT friendly. So far I plan to do a cameo queen following of Karma, Dazzler, Northstar, Psylocke, and most likely the Stepford Cuckoos. You the reader are more than welcome to correct me when I miss an appearance or you can suggest a character you feel is a cameo queen. These posts will be updated when a cameo queen makes a new appearance. Also, if anyone knows a code to get the text to wraparound an image on the right side for blogspot please feel free to share.

Anyway, our first cameo queen is Karma, aka Xi'an Coy Manh, who also doubles as queen of the headbands (which is her tag in this blog):

Uncanny X-Men #501
# of panels: 4
# of lines: Singing a song off her music player, so not counting it.
# of times using her powers: power signature at end of the issue.
Craption: Psionic mind-posession. Likes girls.
In this issue, Karma only appears at the end as a woman walking on the street who’s singing along with her music when she’s all of a sudden attacked but revealed to have been the bait to lure out the Hellfire cult.

Uncanny X-Men #502
# of panels: 5
# of lines: 7
# of time using her powers: Twice, but the first time is unsuccessful.
Craption: Psionic mind possession. Living bait.
This issue Karma is seen on the first page with her own panel as part of the active roster and also shown only on the first page of the opening battle scene. She discovers her powers can’t work on the Hellfire Cult so she simply leaves. Later on she’s called in to perform some sort of interrogation using some acupuncture thing. Which is useless, Emma could’ve just snatched the information out of the guy’s head. She’s seen exiting looking absolutely Land-ified with huge boobs, perfect face with long hair.

Uncanny X-Men #503
# of panels: 5
# of lines: 5
# of time using her powers: 0
Craption: Mind Posessor. Recreational Beer Enthusiast.
Karma this time only appears in the opening bar scene with Dani Moonstar and Cannonball. All she says is she likes beer and she agrees that a normal life sounds nice. Shown to be again, Land-ified.

Uncanny X-Men #504
# of panels: 4
# of lines: 9
# of time using her powers: 0
Craption: None.
Karma this time only appears on the last page of this issue to alert Scott and Emma to the release of the footage from Cooperstown, Alaska; the site of Hope Summers being born which caused a massive fight. She also asks what Emma and Scott are doing and when Emma replies that they were talking Karma stupidly mentions that their lips weren’t moving. This is from a psychic power. To a woman with psychic powers. WTF Fraction? Also, the way she’s drawn/acts seems to be more appropriate for Jubilee than her.

Uncanny X-Men #508
# of panels: 1
# of lines: Does NNNNNGGGGGGGKKKKKK-- count as a line?
# of time using her powers: 0
Craption: Psychic posession. Wasn’t crazy for the wrap-up of Battlestar.
This appearance was only one panel during the psychic attack, but had a lot more interesting things than any of her previous Uncanny appearances. First, we see her de-Landed which is made complete with her headband and full pajames. Then she’s shown in bed with another woman who’s naked. Probably the most risqué scene I’ve seen with lesbians in comic books, I have to give props to Fraction for that.

Uncanny X-Men #511
# of panels: 2
# of lines: 0
# of time using her powers: 0
Craption: Psychic posession. Underestimated and ignored a lot.
Karma this time appears briefly for two panels, one of them being Land-ified so that she’s duplicating Emma’s stance. She’s not even shown at the end of the battle with the rest of her team. Her craption is funny considering this was one of her least valuable appearances and most of her Uncanny appearances lack substance like no other.

Uncanny X-Men #514
# of panels: 4
# of lines: 0
# of times she uses her powers: 0
Craption: None

This is an appearance that I find questionable. Nowhere in the issue does it say that this Asian woman is Karma. And Dodson's women basically look the same. BUT what we can do is say, who's a part of Fraction's cast that is Asian and a woman: Betsy, Hisako and Karma. Betsy's been shown already, so we're down to two. Hisako's hair is generally longer AND this woman is being shown with two other cameo queens. So I assume this to be Karma with this being her most obscure appearance ever.

X-men: Manifest Destiny #1
# of panels: 41-ish
# of lines: Her third of the issue is almost all her, I’m not counting that one.
# of time using her powers: 5, the first time is for an extended period and the third and fourth are in a flashback.
Likely Karma’s most quality appearance during her time as a cameo queen. She basically gets a third of the issue and it’s generally Emma showing her that her control over her power is slipping. Then it’s a flashback and regret over Kitty’s death. Her little siblings tick her off, she lashes out and then she apologizes. That’s the REALLY short summary of it. Also, suppose it’s required of me to note that Karma looks extra frumpalicious this appearance.

X-Men Worlds Apart #4
# of panels: 7
# of lines: 7
# of time using her powers: 0
Karma’s appearance here is basically to show that she’s absolutely terrified of being taken over by Shadow King. Then Ororo fights a Shadow King-influenced team, noting that she takes out the telepath, Karma, first.

X-Infernus #2
# of panels: 5
# of lines: 3
# of time using her powers: 0
Karma’s appearance is limited to being surprised to see Illyana, helping the knocked down Kurt up, and serving as background filler in a meeting.

X-Infernus #4
# of panels: 3
# of lines: 1
# of time using her powers: 0
Karma is part of the team in the Danger Room that encounter the returning team at the end of the issue.

New Mutants #1
# of panels: 10
# of lines: 8
# of time using her powers: Essentially using her powers for the duration of her opening appearance.
This issue makes Karma’s first cover appearance since cameo queendom, in group shot. However, she’s not included in the non-wraparound group cover. Karma’s only speaking appearance is at the beginning of the issue where she wanders around the mindscape of Legion and essentially tries to talk to Marci. She’s later shown to be found unconscious.

New Mutants #2
# of panels: 28
# of lines: Too many to count, plus she’s sometimes shown talking through Legion.
# of time using her powers: Hard to say. She’s trapped on a psychic field in this appearance, but she does unconsciously attack Roberto once.
This appearance is definitely a quality one, she’s shown running through Legion’s mindscape with Marci away from Legion‘s other personalities. She gets possession of the doll which enables her to talk through Legion to her teammates and then she ends up getting conquered by the other personalities after trying to hide from them and also fighting them.

New Mutants #3
# of panels: 4
# of lines: 0
# of time using her powers: 0
This issue, Karma’s unconscious body is only shown.
That and her predicament is discussed.

New Mutants #4-Present
Considering Karma is a part of the main cast for this book, I'm going to stop updating on her New Mutants appearances since it's way too time-consuming. All other appearances will be noted though.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia one-shot
# of panels: 5
# of lines: 4
# of time using her powers: 1
Craption: None.
Shown at protest concerning Prop X which erupts into a battle that is halted by Moonstone. That’s it.

Dark Avengers #8
# of panels: 1
# of lines: 0
# of times she uses her powers: 0
Brief appearance with all the other X-Peeps in the church.