The Braddock Family Appreciation 2023

[Odd Rödney]

Happy New Year OR! May you have a blessed and stellar year yourself.

Thank you! Happy New Year!

That is pretty rad!

[Jwyatt]

Still not digging Captain Avalon.

I came here to post exactly that. They've done nothing to define who he is, what he can do, or what makes him different. Just a blank spot where a dynamic spot used to be.

[Knightmare]

I came here to post exactly that. They've done nothing to define who he is, what he can do, or what makes him different. Just a blank spot where a dynamic spot used to be.

Cmon we all know what he became Captain Avalon. That being said, he's the last OG Captain Britain, the only difference is he uses the sword instead of the amulet now. As for what he does now, currently nothing really.

[JB]

The last issue of Captain Britain from Marvel UK. Some time has passed and it is now Christmas Eve.



It's Dai Thomas and he asks Brian to pose as the emissary of a crime syndicate to lure out the murderer. Dai has given up on trying to rid the country of Captain Britain and is now asking for his help as the murders have been especially gruesome. Three of Thomas' officers have been killed as well and he knows he needs a superhero. "I'm scared, Braddock, and I've nowhere else to turn. Please, you've got to help me..."

[JB]

We change scenes for a moment, Linda (Captain UK) meeting with Roma at Darkmoor. Roma explains that Linda's presence in 616 is still causing a hot mess and is an anomaly, preventing 616 from fully healing from the Jaspers Warp. (Linda's world was destroyed by that world's Jaspers and she fled to 616 if you recall.) Roma takes her back to Otherworld.

Brian, agreeing to help Thomas, practices posing as a crime emissary. It's a fun, light scene and Meggan offers her assistance.




The scene switches to Braddock Manor...



In the kitchen, Jeeves/Mastermind is talking with Agent Michael. Jeeves explains that Emma the housekeeper is ill and will be dying within the next year. Agent Michael is uncaring and inconsiderate. It seems Jeeves may have developed feelings for Emma? He definitely doesn't like Michael, that's for certain.

[JB]

In Glasgow, Brian and Meggan are being driven around by Thomas making the rounds to different gang hangouts. Meggan is doing the talking and Brian is posing as her muscle. Since crime villains are being murdered, the idea is for Meggan and Brian to make a splash in the crime world and turn themselves into targets, so they threaten to eat up market share from these groups. Meggan threatens, the criminals respond with anger, Brian karate chops a table and scares them into submission. It's a hoot. 34 more hangouts to visit.



Jeeves creates a synthetic version of himself to accompany Emma on a cruise while he stays behind at the Manor. Roma has informed him that removing Linda from 616 has stopped the birth of warpie children, a sign the world is healing from Jaspers' reality warp. She tasks him with protecting and preparing the existing children for the challenges ahead. (We eventually see them again in Excalibur.)

In Otherworld, Roma informs Linda that Sat-Yr-9 is massacring her own people and that her world desperately needs a Captain Britain (Betsy killed the previous one, the alt version of Brian that attacked her.) Since Linda doesn't have a home world, Roma asks if she'd clean that one up. Linda agrees. To show her gratitude Roma offers Linda a gift. She tells Linda to think about her final moments with her husband, who was killed by the Fury. Linda hesitates but Roma insists.



Roma resurrects Linda's husband Rick as a thank you.

Thomas' plan works and a hit is put on Brian and Meggan. Turns out the hitman was using a very dangerous, lethally violent warpie to kill his targets. Brian and Meggan defeat it, saving Dai's life in the process, and the issue concludes.

[JB]

The end of the Marvel UK stories.

Claremont picks up the twins and Meggan from here and brings them to Marvel America. They make their American debut in New Mutants Annual #2 and I am forever grateful. We'll highlight a few scenes from that issue as a refresher or for anyone that hasn't read it. It's the bridge between the original Captain Britain stories and the Braddocks' introduction in the X-world. Stay tuned...

[Uncanny X-Man]

The end of the Marvel UK stories.

Claremont picks up the twins and Meggan from here and brings them to Marvel America. They make their American debut in New Mutants Annual #2 and I am forever grateful. We'll highlight a few scenes from that issue as a refresher or for anyone that hasn't read it. It's the bridge between the original Captain Britain stories and the Braddocks' introduction in the X-world. Stay tuned...

First of all, thanks so much for your recaps, scans and commentary over the past several weeks, it's been an age since I read this stories but you definitely made me want find my old Captain Britain comics again!

With regards to the Braddock's intro to American readers in New Mutants Annual 2, I can only imagine how jarring it was to get all these characters with this rich history most American readers were totally unfamiliar with suddenly front and centre on an X-Men comic!

I remember Claremont would sometimes reference Psylocke's bionic eyes and her maiming at the hand of Slaymaster and I would only get to read those stories about a decade later after Betsy had undergone a number of transformations (Asian ninja, Crimson Dawn)

[JB]

First of all, thanks so much for your recaps, scans and commentary over the past several weeks, it's been an age since I read this stories but you definitely made me want find my old Captain Britain comics again!

With regards to the Braddock's intro to American readers in New Mutants Annual 2, I can only imagine how jarring it was to get all these characters with this rich history most American readers were totally unfamiliar with suddenly front and centre on an X-Men comic!

I remember Claremont would sometimes reference Psylocke's bionic eyes and her maiming at the hand of Slaymaster and I would only get to read those stories about a decade later after Betsy had undergone a number of transformations (Asian ninja, Crimson Dawn)

I appreciate that, friend. Thank you! It’s been a lot of fun revisiting these stories and like you, I was always curious when Claremont would reference Slaymaster or when we’d get hints of Betsy’s time as Captain Britain. There was no available internet at the time so really no way of finding out what happened. But even the online recaps that came later didn’t capture the magic of the stories themselves. Reading them helps complete the whole picture.

Haha seriously. I can’t imagine how strange it must have been to be a reader of New Mutants at the time and all of sudden Betsy and Brian (this big colorful costumed hero) enter the fray. It's amazing how they would go on to be such popular characters.

[JB]

New Mutants Annual #2, written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Alan Davis, is the first time we see the twins and Meggan in the X-comics.




Unfortunately Betsy is kidnapped by Spiral on behalf of Mojo and held by him for some time. They outfit her with new bionic eyes and mind control her to star in their new popular show Wildways, to lure in and capture children.

[JB]

Unfortunately this abandoned school is a trap and Brian is confronted by illusions of his parents, which somehow transforms him into a child. A number of the New Mutants, members of the Fatboys, and Karma's younger siblings are captured and brought to the school as well. Mojo uses Betsy to age them up for his Bratpack cast because... because Mojo. The remaining New Mutants track the others to the school but chaos ensues and they're all captured except Doug and Warlock, the main heroes of this story.

Doug and Warlock encounter young, scared Brian and Doug helps him believe in himself again. Hiding on a nearby rooftop, they witness little Magma (also reduced to a child) escape and run from the Bratpack. This triggers little Brian's heroism and he rescues her while Douglock looks for Betsy, who Brian has told them is in the principal's office.

[JB]

They find her and though Warlock states he can kill her, Doug remembers what Brian told him.



In some really cute panels, little Brian (wearing his CB helmet) and little Magma continue to run from and fight off the Bratpack.

Confirmed she's indeed a victim in all of this and her powers are being used against her will to orchestrate all of this, Doug concludes that they must disconnect the brainwires inserted in Betsy's head but Warlock warns it could kill her. The only way to possibly safely accomplish this is to get themselves inside her head and restore Betsy's brain's natural programming. It's very Claremontian.

After lots of chaotic shenanigans and incredible art, Doug is able to free adult Brian from the wild carousel in Betsy's mind which is being spun by Spiral. They free the others and though Spiral tries to convince Betsy that being a slave is better for her...



Spiral continues trying to convince her that she's better off in captivity where she'll be taken care of rather than risking all the risk of normal life.



Spiral escapes and Betsy's mind is freed. She is also free from the contraption Mojo had her body in, the blast having destroyed the principal's office.

[JB]

She can't bring herself to do it and keeps her eyes. Dani finds them, the others close behind. Ever the gentleman, Warlock wraps himself around naked Betsy just in time.

[JB]

At the beginning of the story, Doug shares with Dani his doubts about what they're doing at Xavier's school, how he hates hiding that he's a mutant, afraid of the judgment or worse. But at the end of this adventure, speaking with Dani again, he's reminded that they do it because they're heroes and they need to help the children of the world. They're summoned downstairs by their teammates to join them in a game.



It warms my heart that a game of baseball is one of the first things Betsy experiences at Xavier's, with the New Mutants no less. Fast forward to just a few weeks ago and she's playing with a new generation of young mutants.

[Uncanny X-Man]

At the beginning of the story, Doug shares with Dani his doubts about what they're doing at Xavier's school, how he hates hiding that he's a mutant, afraid of the judgment or worse. But at the end of this adventure, speaking with Dani again, he's reminded that they do it because they're heroes and they need to help the children of the world. They're summoned downstairs by their teammates to join them in a game.



It warms my heart that a game of baseball is one of the first things Betsy experiences at Xavier's, with the New Mutants no less. Fast forward to just a few weeks ago and she's playing with a new generation of young mutants.

I love EVERYTHING about that NM Annual, from Alan Davis' sweet art to the introduction of Betsy and Meggan to American comics (Brian had already appeared on Marvel Team-Up at this stage IIRC), and then Betsy's friendship with the New Mutants and Douglas (neither of which had much of a development unfortunately), the introduction of the Psylocke name, a prototype Jubilee's first appearance... this issue really had it all!