Welcome, X-Fans, to another uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!
And, I should note, this is my final interview from FAN EXPO Boston 2025. If you missed the others, do yourself a favor and check out my conversations with Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Pornsak Pichetshote (X-Men Monday #305) and Simone Di Meo (X-Men Monday #306).
As for this edition, well, if you’re a loyal X-Men Monday reader, you’ve no doubt learned which X-characters have die-hard fans who are ready to make their voices heard (in this column, at least). You see it when Jean Grey sweeps an end-of-year reader survey, when Kwannon’s fans demand a second Psylocke-focused edition of X-Men Monday, and when Betsy Braddock’s fans bombard Conductor of X Tom Brevoort with questions about their favorite Captain Britain in X-Men Monday #300. So, when I saw that writer Tini Howard, of Excalibur, Knights of X, and Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain fame, would be tabling at the convention, it was a no-brainer. Of course, I’m not going to pass up a chance to spotlight Betsy for some of X-Fandom’s nicest, most passionate folks.
Plus, despite interviewing her countless times for this column, I’ve only met Tini once before in person at New York Comic Con 2019 — and at the time, Tini had lost her voice! So an actual in-person interview, where we could actually converse, was long overdue. Read on to see what Tini has to say about Betsy and her girlfriend Rachel Summers, Tini’s upcoming creator-owned BOOM! Studios series Marian Heretic, and more.
Tini, rocking the coolest shirt. Courtesy of Chris Hassan
AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Tini! First, I’m curious. You spent multiple years writing Betsy Braddock. Being so creatively close to a character, do you ever find yourself thinking about Betsy or new situations to put her in, even if you’re not writing her anymore? Or is that room in your brain boarded up for good?
Tini Howard: It’s somewhere in between, right? It’s not locked away, but I don’t actively think of her because my creative energies go toward other projects. With that said, there are a lot of things I can feel in other projects that are muscles I developed writing Betsy.
My new book, Marian Heretic, has a lot of that dramatic female yearning and fighting, and those are definitely muscles I developed while writing Captain Britain.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: It’s tough to keep a relationship going in the X-Office — but Betsy and Rachel Summers have endured (for now). What’s your reaction to seeing how much that relationship means to so many readers, as well as seeing it still going after all you and your X-Office collaborators had to do to make it a reality?
Tini: It’s really meaningful. It’s obviously very important to the community of queer comic fans, which I have been and remain a member of.
I remember the feeling of reading X-Factor Investigations for first time and being like, “Oh my God, they let Rictor and Shatterstar kiss,” and moments like that were my blueprint for what I wanted to give fans — one of those moments where you flip the page and your jaw drops and the thing you wanted to happen happened. So that meant a lot to me to create that.
It’s a rare day when you feel like you get to give the people who have been there for you as fans a present back. That’s what it felt like.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: Was getting the two characters together something you knew you wanted to do when planning Excalibur, or did it come about naturally with all the X-Slack brainstorming and hijinks?
Tini: It came up naturally. Betsy was someone who had so many dramatic relationships in the past, and that was something I had to consider with her — and the X-Men are always better when there’s romance. But I think the discomfort around being in her own body might have prevented her from comfortably returning to old partners — we see a bit of that self-consciousness in the alternate-universe issue where she’s with Warren. A lot of the genesis of “Retsy” (as the fans call it) came out of conversations with Leah Williams — she was writing Rachel in X-Factor, we talked a lot about what it would be like, those moments where they crossed over and visited, and from that, the relationship just developed and made sense.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Rachel has always had a relationship with Captain Britain. When I fell in love with Rachel was in Excalibur, as Captain Britain’s bestie. It felt natural to have her show up, even back in the beginning of Excalibur — any way she could help Captain Britain, she wants to. And the relationship developed really naturally after that.
AIPT: Sadly for their fans, Betsy and Rachel are in publishing limbo right now. As someone who got to know them pretty well, why are these two characters so awesome?
Tini: Krakoa was a time of self-discovery for a lot of mutant characters, and in the real world, a time of self-discovery in the pandemic. So I think Betsy’s journey really resonated with a lot of people. She was coming to Krakoa, not knowing what to do with her “new old” self. She was thrust into a moment where she wasn’t comfortable, but that’s her journey — not only becoming comfortable in her new role, but empowered by it. Instead of just “rejecting the call” because she isn’t and hasn’t ever been an idle character, she’s always moving forward.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
I think a lot of people resonated with that, at least that’s what I hear, and other journeys she had on Krakoa — discovering herself in her own body again, taking on a new powerful role, her journey to being out as a queer woman and being in love openly with a woman for the first time.
And that was a story that felt important to tell on Krakoa again and again. Apocalypse was living a new life on Krakoa, Rictor was afraid to come to Krakoa, thinking just showing up to a party would ruin it, which was a feeling that came from a place of personal truth for me.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
As for Rachel — I’m an Excalibur fan, I think she’s always been sexy and cool. I originally just wanted her in the book in some part because she was such a big part of the Excalibur mythos. But from there, I realized Rachel is someone who is comfortable being in a supporting role and lacks a heroic sense of ego. Part of that is nature, part of that is nurture, part of it is bad treatment she suffered in the past, and part of that is the fact that, because of publishing, she’ll always be the second most popular Phoenix bearer. Instead of the obvious choice of having her fight against that, she is Askani, she sees things others don’t — and she accepts it.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
So, I’m a roleplayer and a D&D player — rather than think of outcomes first, I went internal — Rachel had all these elements acting on her in and out of the character’s reality. Where does she go from here? Where does her journey take her? That led to Rachel reaching out to be part of Captain Britain and Excalibur’s journey and being there for Betsy. This then led to her developing her own identity again as Askani, and I think she developed that partially because of her proximity to Captain Britain, especially a new Captain Britain who at times reaches to Rachel like, “So what should Captain Britain do here?”
There’s nice poetry to Captain Britain being the guardian of all multiverses and Askani being the same in every universe. Rachel forms a point of stability, and I think she appreciates being a stable point — reliable and strong and starting to really heal from what’s happened to her.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
But I also really want to see the book where it’s Rachel’s story and Betsy is the secondary character. Somebody write that for me to read.
AIPT: It’s been quite some time since you wrote Betsy, yet here we are, talking about Betsy, in large part because her fans are so passionate about the character. Having spent so much time inside Betsy’s head, in your opinion, what is it about her that inspires this fan loyalty?
Tini: I think it’s different for different people, which is part of why her fans are so passionate. There are a lot of versions of her, and there are folks who miss their favorite. But ultimately, no matter what version of Betsy is your favorite — I think she has an edge, and she’s always evolving. Most of our favorite versions of Betsy are reacting, reclaiming, reminding you who she is — coming back from something better than before.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: We’re at FAN EXPO Boston, and you’ve been to a lot of comic conventions in recent years. What do you think? Would Betsy and Rachel enjoy being at a comic convention?
Tini: Oh, Betsy would hate it. Are you kidding me? Rachel’s a good sport, would probably have fun, would probably get a little pissed off at the crowds before remembering she can just gently make them all move. Betsy would go to San Diego if she got to sit with the celebrities. Otherwise? Not her thing. But she’d take her niece. I’d also do anything for my nieces, I get it.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: Betsy and Rachel aside, is there an aspect of your Krakoan era work you’re especially proud of that doesn’t get talked about as much?
Tini: I’m lucky in that people are really effusive and kind about my work, and I hear lovely things about all of it. But for me? I loved X-Corp, I loved building and helping to orchestrate my first big two event in X of Swords. I loved the Secret X-Men one-shot with a Jumble puzzle in it. I loved silly things like getting to name an issue “They Keep Killing Braddocks” as a reference to X-Factor’s “They Keep Killing Madrox,” I loved naming a Rictor issue after a Scissor Sisters song. Putting Gambit in a maid costume with cat ears for a panel, things like that.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: Would you say your time writing Betsy has helped shape you as a writer?
Tini: Oh yeah. Excalibur was my first ongoing comic ever, so I learned a lot. Comics are made quickly. It’s not like a movie where you’ve got three years and 30 executives to get through. You’re putting the car together while it’s driving. Then, through writing Catwoman and Harley Quinn and other ongoings, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve had a chance to work with people like Jonathan Hickman and Gerry Duggan, who were masters of this long before I was. So Krakoa was in a lot of ways the best boot camp I’ve ever had, and it changed me fundamentally as a writer in a lot of ways that feel really good.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
A lot of the muscles I developed writing Betsy, I’m using writing Marian Heretic. There’s this kind of beautiful drama and nobility to Betsy returning to the mantle of Captain Britain that I really love, and Marian is a character who also finds herself in a role she doesn’t quite believe herself in. But her story is different from Betsy’s — Betsy had to learn to trust herself in her role, while Marian, you’ll learn, is already in her role when we begin, a fighter on a precipice between a war, and she has to make a choice. Will she stay with the church she knows or go in a separate direction?
AIPT: For those who are just learning about Marian Heretic for the first time, could you share your elevator pitch for the series?
Tini: Easy. Sister Marian Heretic is a nun who hunts witches for the Holy Father Church in the sacred City of Vespers. One night, while hunting witches, the witches say to her, “Sister, you’re a lot more like us than you are like them.”
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios
A Marian Heretic is someone who believes in the divinity of the Virgin Mary — not that she was just a mortal woman, but she herself is divine and a mother goddess. It’s an old theory that has roots all the way back to the 4th century, and persists in small groups today.
Anyway, the book is a little bit theology and a little bit ’90s goth Castlevania-Bayonetta-heavy metal.
AIPT: In your newsletter, you mentioned this book was created to appeal to someone like you — so let’s expand on what that means. What type of person should pick up this comic?
Tini: Personally, I was reading and loving so many of these high-concept comics with gorgeous titles, but I think indie comics are missing those ’90s books where the name of the book is a cool person, and the person on the cover is doing cool shit inside. And, of course, a lot of our tastes have matured since then, so I wanted a book for the people who want a hell yeah, kick-ass metal-cool-nun-blood-guts-and-boobs book, but might also like to think about feminist theology and the place of women in religion.
I’m weak for a cool, gothic, horror book. I’m weak for a nunsploitation protagonist — they look so cool. I grew up Catholic, and I’m one of the people who identify as a “recovering Catholic,” but it was a huge part of my life growing up, I did all the sacraments, I thought about it a lot, so there’s a lot in this book that’s important to me. A lot of people write things that dabble in Catholic theology because it looks cool, but I also feel like it misses the mark in certain elements of what it’s like to lose your faith while loving it. I wanted something satisfying in that way. It’s all ritual, and I grew up with certain elements of that ritual that I wanted to trade on to make a really cool story.
But a big part of it is also the art. It’s Joe Jaro drawing a sick-ass nun with an incredible weapon, fighting hot witches. It looks incredible. It’s the book I’d reach for on the shelf based on looks alone. I’m trying to hook people with the book inside that’s got some really interesting thoughts on theology, our own personal relationships with God, what religion offers in terms of structure, and what it denies.
Then there’s also blood — a lot of blood and fights. I like that creepy stuff, so you should read it if you like that, too.
Courtesy of BOOM! Studios
AIPT: We have cosplayers walking all around us. I can see people cosplaying as this character.
Tini: I’ve been a cosplayer for years — that’s something where Joe sent me the original design and I said, “Oh my God, I’d cosplay this in a heartbeat.” Her big ’90s Amy-Yasbeck-in-Men-in-Tights hair just sends me. All the details of her — the Monstrance (her weapon), the height of her habit, the little spitcurl on her cheek that lets you know it’s Marian even under the habit, her unruly hair sneaking free — it says everything, doesn’t it? She’s not overdesigned or anything, Joe really nailed it in one.
AIPT: Final question: We’ve got Deadpool and Batman teaming up soon… Captain Britain/Marian Heretic… when?
Tini: There is a Protestant/Catholic joke to be made here… I’ll dodge it.
AIPT: And on that note, thanks for stopping by X-Men Monday, Tini! And I’m sure I speak for many X-Fans when I say thank you for all the Krakoan contributions!
X-Fans, obviously, Tini doesn’t have anything X-related coming up, but if Marian Heretic seems up your alley, there are two important dates to remember:
Final Order Cut-Off for Marian Heretic #1: August 25, 2025
Marian Heretic #1: On sale October 1, 2025
Also, look for more from Tini on Marian Heretic at AIPT in the days ahead!
Next X-Men Monday — August 25, 2025
In the next edition of X-Men Monday, our Age of Revelation coverage kicks off with X-Men writer Jed MacKay, who will also tackle Amazing X-Men, X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture, and X-Men: Book of Revelation!
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Until next time, X-Fans, stay eXceptional!
