The Braddock Family Appreciation 2022

[KylunFan]

Great to see you, KylunFan. Bringing the family back together is one of my favorite things about Howard's run too.



Absolutely. I'm fresh off of reading the omnibus and I highly recommend reading the early issues. They're short so you'll breeze through a bunch of them at a time, and they paint a nice picture of Brian as he's finding his feet as a new superhero. Plus you'll meet Betsy and Jamie for the first time, and they enter with a bang. Let us know what you think!"

Thanks for the recommendations. I found the early Claremont issues pretty fun. It all felt very bronze age Spider-Man but with Peter Parker recast as a Posh, Southern English bloke.

Kate Fraser in particular felt like a classic 'Claremazon' and I'm suprised she never shows up in Claremont's Excalibur run.

The Captain America/ Red Skull storyline was a proper mess though. Looking forward to getting up to the Otherworld black knight issues.

[JB]

Thanks for the recommendations. I found the early Claremont issues pretty fun. It all felt very bronze age Spider-Man but with Peter Parker recast as a Posh, Southern English bloke.

Kate Fraser in particular felt like a classic 'Claremazon' and I'm suprised she never shows up in Claremont's Excalibur run.

The Captain America/ Red Skull storyline was a proper mess though. Looking forward to getting up to the Otherworld black knight issues.

You're very welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed the Claremont issues. I love how dramatic and over the top they are. The villains, especially Hurricane, were pretty brutal. It's a fun ride.

I agree about Fraser, she was a great contrast to Dai Thomas. I believe Claremont used her in a few other stories around that time but never again it seems. Would be cool if she popped back up.

That Cap story is way too long! I like how it started and how they got to know each other, the junior superhero and the veteran. But it dragged on.

Sidenote: I hope we get to see more of Kylun in the future. If Saturnyne has finally gotten over Brian (ha!) maybe Kylun rescuing her in that splash page will blossom into something.

[JB]

As the Special Executive discuss what they should do and how involved they should become, Zeitgeist wants to know who will be paying them to participate. "We're only here until Saturnyne pays us the money we're due. This isn't our fight. No more credit, Wardog."
Cobweb responds that it is their fight, that something's going on with the world that will affect them all. Despite her powers though, she can't "see" anything. Betsy on the other hand...

[JB]

It was persistent. It traveled from one earth to another to find them. It succeeded. Stay tuned...

[Panic]

Waiting for the End of the World and The Sound and the Fury are my favourite chapters in Moore's Captain Britain run. I mean, the whole run is great, but I remember getting The Daredevils #9 and being blown away, not having managed to get my hands on the magazine since #6. Stuff had obviously happened in issues 7 and 8 and just everything was coming together - Linda McQuillan had finally met up with Brian and the gang, the Special Executive were on the good guys' side, Jaspers was in power and gaining momentum, Merlyn and Roma were playing chess with our heroes for the fate of the Omniverse, and they were doing that whilst in a hot-tub (!), plus we had guest appearances from Peter Gyrich and Sebastian Shaw from the big American comics The Avengers and The X-Men, and to top it all... the Fury!

Then I got The Daredevils #10. I think The Sound and the Fury might be the best the saga gets, it's just amazing how much quality is on those 12 (well 13 if you count that big "VAAARRR!" black page at the end) pages. Maybe I just feel that way because this was the last issue I was to see of Moore's Captain Britain for what must have been close to ten years (there were no comic shops around at that time in the UK that I could easily get to, and even when I got to some they didn't stock British Marvel comics - I wasn't to know how the Jaspers Warp ended until I found a bunch of back issues at a London comics convention sometime in the 90's, and that was absolutely a hallelujah moment for me), but I still feel this is perhaps the pinnacle of the Moore/Davis magic.

[JB]

Oh wow, I can't imagine having to wait that long to see how the story ended! It really goes to show how good we have it now with access to most books digitally and via online stores. And you're right in that so much happened so fast that missing one issue can make you feel like you missed half a movie. A testament to Moore's work.

This whole part of the story is such a trip and it's incredibly brutal. I feel as if we don't see protagonists go through these rapid-fire struggles these days, one after the other. It again makes me proud of the Braddock family with how much they endured but kept pushing forward, well before they even hit the X-world. I love how Betsy won't have any of what Tom is saying about running for the hills.

[Uncanny X-Man]

It was persistent. It traveled from one earth to another to find them. It succeeded. Stay tuned...

OMG how brilliant is that last page? Still gives me the creeps just looking at it.

[JB]

OMG how brilliant is that last page? Still gives me the creeps just looking at it.

Terrifying. Linda running through the woods alone is chilling and then the nightmare she's feared for so long actually becoming real? Woo.

The climax of this arc is a masterclass in horror. I'm going to post a few select panels to give people the gist of it but as you know, it's something that really needs to be experienced in full.

[JB]

The next two issues covered are the climax of the arc. Moore and Davis do excellent work with the panel layouts, helping cement this as a horror classic. The creative angles make it tricky to post without uploading full pages so I'll do my best to do it justice with the summary.

Linda has ran off into the woods, leaving Brian and Saturnyne on the porch discussing her and everything that's happened. As Wardog and Zeitgeist continue to argue about what actions to take, Cobweb starts to have a horrifying episode as she detects the Fury. Merlin and Roma look over their chessboard and are shocked to see a figure of the Fury appear.



Linda's scream gets their attention. The Fury was not part of Merlin's plan and he intervenes, saving Linda's life in the nick of time.



It slams Brian into the ground before he can even realize what it is. As he starts to get back up, he's face to face with the monster that killed him on Earth-238. His shock and fright is felt by Betsy and paralyzes her. Wardog halts the argument with Zeitgeist and enters the fight along with others of the Special Executive.



He is maimed. Legion is killed. Cobweb, going through a convulsive break, tries to see the future but it's warped, everything impacted by Jaspers' powers. She references his turning of the white wine to red. Merlin's hands burn as his game is now out of his control and Cobweb sees that if they lose, the whole universe will fall into chaos.

[JB]

Brian watches as the Fury cuts down the others, Betsy unable to stand. He can't believe it's alive after Mandragon destroyed its universe. Cobweb begs Zeitgeist to help the others as her condition worsens. Oxo is killed. Fascination appears to put a small dent in the Fury but is knocked to the ground and stomped. It turns its attention to Brian and pummels him. Seconds before killing Brian...



... finally! Zeitgeist actually confuses it and the Fury is unable to detect him in his phased state. This gives the survivors the moment they need to attack as one.



Their combined powers crack open the very ground beneath the Fury, Brian and Fascination taking full advantage.

[JB]

Saturnyne knows he's right and suggests they leave the Manor before it eventually resurfaces. Brian reluctantly agrees and proposes they travel to London together to hopefully sort things out with Jaspers. He doesn't want Linda to go with them though - she's supposed to be Captain UK and she did nothing to help them. But Saturnyne will have none of this as Linda is completely hysterical and won't leave her by herself. He knows she's right.

Zeitgeist rips into Wardog telling him it's his fault that their teammates are dead or injured, that they never should have gotten involved and that he's leaving. Wardog agrees as he has a responsibility to his people. He tells Brian that he can no longer help.



Special Executive teleports away. Brian, Betsy, Tom, Saturnyne, Linda, and Alison must face what's next on their own.

Betsy fans, we're getting closer to the point where Betsy can no longer take being defenseless. Her powers thus far have been used for precognition when it comes to her brother, light mind reading, and psi-links. She'll start using them offensively sooner than later... she won't have a choice.

This concludes the run in the "Daredevils" book. When the story continues in the "Mighty World of Marvel" book, our heroes are in London and things have gotten much, much worse.

Next week... Enter: Meggan.

[Panic]

I appreciate Saturnyne shielding Brian's eyes. Their combined powers crack open the very ground beneath the Fury, Brian and Fascination taking full advantage.

The dubious colouring is throwing you off. If you look it again, you'll see that it is Brian shielding his own eyes.

Saturnyne knows he's right and suggests they leave the Manor before it eventually resurfaces. Brian reluctantly agrees and proposes they travel to London together to hopefully sort things out with Jaspers. He doesn't want Linda to go with them though - she's supposed to be Captain UK and she did nothing to help them. But Saturnyne will have none of this as Linda is completely hysterical and won't leave her by herself. He knows she's right.

I don't think Brian is saying that Linda shouldn't come with them, he's just asking what should be done about her as she has lapsed into an almost catatonic state.

It's interesting to note that from the beginning of But They never Really Die Alan Davis makes a change to the way he draws the Fury, making it more organic-looking with not so much tech showing. I assume he's simply pressed for time.

[JB]

The dubious colouring is throwing you off. If you look it again, you'll see that it is Brian shielding his own eyes.



I don't think Brian is saying that Linda shouldn't come with them, he's just asking what should be done about her as she has lapsed into an almost catatonic state.

It's interesting to note that from the beginning of But They never Really Die Alan Davis makes a change to the way he draws the Fury, making it more organic-looking with not so much tech showing. I assume he's simply pressed for time.

You're absolutely right, he's covering his own eyes now that I look at it more closely. I'll pretend she's doing it in my headcannon. And I guess when Saturnyne says Linda needs treatment and he responds with "why should she get special treatment? She didn't even help us fight that thing", I took it as bringing her along will only complicate things. But yeah your interpretation makes sense too.

The Fury is wildly scary and the fact that it keeps coming back, even more so.

[Panic]

The Fury is a great creation. I understand that Claremont had planned to use it in his X-Men work, but when he realised there was a problem with Moore owning the rights, he created Nimrod instead (or so I've heard).

[JB]

The Fury is a great creation. I understand that Claremont had planned to use it in his X-Men work, but when he realised there was a problem with Moore owning the rights, he created Nimrod instead (or so I've heard).

That's very interesting and if that's the case, he just tweaked Nimrod slightly to target mutants rather than supers.

I have to go back and read it because it's been a long time but he wrote a story in Uncanny with a Fury and Davis did the art. I don't remember where/when this Fury came from and it took Rachel, with the combined powers of the team, trapping it in a vortex/singularity something or other to defeat it. I plan on revisiting that story over the holidays.

https://uncannyxmen.net/comics/issue...1st-series-447