Britain Prevails! Marvel UK lives here...

[Spiderfang]

I'm not sure how we'd know, to be honest.

Is Captain Britain not touted as a big name in the UK?

[OutlawGunStar]

Do you see his ongoing anywhere?
Also,I thought you asked about creators.

[The Sword is Drawn]

But it looks like Marvel forgot its UK corner alltogether.Weird considering how much they push everything they have movie rights to.
But I guess the question is would American (and Chinese) audience be interested in watching a movie about a guy dressed in Union Jack?

Well, if we're to believe Kevin Feige, the character has at least been discussed. I think you'd have to feature him in a more background role in a couple of other Marvel movies before you even considered that.

Introduce Brian Braddock, maybe Sir James. Don't have him as Captain Britain in his first appearances. Character first, then Captain later.

I honestly do not think the flag is a problem. It just needs the right script. A Captain Britain movie with a similar tone yo the Ant Man movie could work. It'll be dealing with some very silly concepts. But as long as it KNOWS they sound ridiculous, as long as Brian knows they sound ridiculous, it could work.

CB's had so many uniforms there should be one that translates to screen okay - probably his MI:13 one. Not that I think CB is going to get on the big screen, or that I'd trust any of the Marvel Architects to give the movie people the right direction.

Agreed.

We can't even get a Captain Britain strip produced in Britain, so I have no faith in a movie.

Really it is crazy with the talent we have here that we haven't got a CB comic. Just sad.

As long as there is no Marvel UK a UK originated CB strip in that kind of fashion remains unlikely. But I'm not sure there's a market for it here, either. Not post-90s. The UK comics market is now basically just access to the US Market. 2000 AD (and small press) aside there is no real content which is produced here not aimed at the US Direct Market.

Is Captain Britain not touted as a big name in the UK?

Back in the 80s, maybe. While we still had a relatively strong UK-based comics industry and the likes of Moore, Davis and Delano were working with him.

UK creators and readers will champion Brian in US comics. They want to see him succeed. But I think you've also got to understand that until the early 2000s even Superheroes were not a big sell historically in the UK.

The UK's bigger sellers in comics of the 50s through to the 90s were war comics (Battle, Commando), horror comics, Scif Fi (Judge Dredd, 2000 AD, Dan Dare) and whatever licensed property currently had comics made for it.

Even Marvel UK's bigger sellers were books for properties from things like Planet of the Apes in the 70s right through Transformers and Action Force/G.I.Joe in the 80s/Early 90s.

Superhero comics were largely seen by British comics readers as a little bit lame.

I've often thought that this was why of all of Marvel's properties it was the X-Men which made the biggest impact. Because at the root of those stories was a concept which arguably played better to Sci-Fi sensibilities than radioactive spiders or cosmic rays.

Mutants being born with powers from a genetic quirk played better with UK readers. Because that wasn't entirely implausible.

It's fair to say that when Captain Britain first launched he was not entirely well-received by readers. It was seen as Americans trying to write British comics, without having much of a clue about Britain.

Which wasn't really fair. Chris Claremont was British. He grew up here.

The lion motif on his chest was a secondary complaint. Brian was made fun of for being such a 'good egg' - a phrase which both belittled him as being an idealistic, goody-two-shoes superhero, but also made fun of the fact that the only other place you found that lion motif in 70s Britain was on the dye-stamp which was applied to British Eggs, as part of marketing campaigns going back to the 1950s.

It wasn't until Alan Moore and Alan Davis modified the character in the 80s that he started to gain some proper traction. Because those stories were much darker, played with elements of sci-fi AND fantasy, and basically shaped the character we know today.

[OutlawGunStar]

Well,from what Claremont said the whole process went pretty much like "We need a flagship character for the British market.Sort of like Captain America.How about Captain Britain?Great.Chris,you were born there,you got the job".
From his foreword to a collection of Jaime Delanos run.Also,its kinda cool Claremont was following Judge Dredd and Nemesis the Warlock at the time.

I seem to recall James Gunn said he wanted Deaths Head in GotG.So maybe in 3?

[Milk Tray Man]

Which version of Death's Head?

[OutlawGunStar]

IDK if he was that specific.I would assume the first.And the best,ofc.

[Digifiend]

As long as there is no Marvel UK a UK originated CB strip in that kind of fashion remains unlikely. But I'm not sure there's a market for it here, either. Not post-90s. The UK comics market is now basically just access to the US Market. 2000 AD (and small press) aside there is no real content which is produced here not aimed at the US Direct Market.

I wouldn't call The Beano small press.

[Spiderfang]

Do you see his ongoing anywhere?
Also,I thought you asked about creators.

Honestly I wouldn't know as I do not live in the UK, and by my wording I meant big names as in "Titles" or Characters (superheroes, etc) sorry for the confusion.

Back in the 80s, maybe. While we still had a relatively strong UK-based comics industry and the likes of Moore, Davis and Delano were working with him.

UK creators and readers will champion Brian in US comics. They want to see him succeed. But I think you've also got to understand that until the early 2000s even Superheroes were not a big sell historically in the UK.

The UK's bigger sellers in comics of the 50s through to the 90s were war comics (Battle, Commando), horror comics, Scif Fi (Judge Dredd, 2000 AD, Dan Dare) and whatever licensed property currently had comics made for it.

Even Marvel UK's bigger sellers were books for properties from things like Planet of the Apes in the 70s right through Transformers and Action Force/G.I.Joe in the 80s/Early 90s.

Superhero comics were largely seen by British comics readers as a little bit lame.

I've often thought that this was why of all of Marvel's properties it was the X-Men which made the biggest impact. Because at the root of those stories was a concept which arguably played better to Sci-Fi sensibilities than radioactive spiders or cosmic rays.

Mutants being born with powers from a genetic quirk played better with UK readers. Because that wasn't entirely implausible.

It's fair to say that when Captain Britain first launched he was not entirely well-received by readers. It was seen as Americans trying to write British comics, without having much of a clue about Britain.

Which wasn't really fair. Chris Claremont was British. He grew up here.

The lion motif on his chest was a secondary complaint. Brian was made fun of for being such a 'good egg' - a phrase which both belittled him as being an idealistic, goody-two-shoes superhero, but also made fun of the fact that the only other place you found that lion motif in 70s Britain was on the dye-stamp which was applied to British Eggs, as part of marketing campaigns going back to the 1950s.

It wasn't until Alan Moore and Alan Davis modified the character in the 80s that he started to gain some proper traction. Because those stories were much darker, played with elements of sci-fi AND fantasy, and basically shaped the character we know today.

That's interesting thanks for the information I've recently only discovered Captain Britain (as well as having re-discovered my love of Spider-Man, Venom, and the X-Men) and thought he was pretty interesting. His backstory mixes in a bit from Arthurian legend as well doesn't it, or is that a different hero?

[The Sword is Drawn]

I wouldn't call The Beano small press.

Well, yeah. The Beano is pretty much a lone survivor of the humour end of British comics. The Dandy's been gone several years. But yeah, beyond that...

That's interesting thanks for the information I've recently only discovered Captain Britain (as well as having re-discovered my love of Spider-Man, Venom, and the X-Men) and thought he was pretty interesting. His backstory mixes in a bit from Arthurian legend as well doesn't it, or is that a different hero?

Parts, yes. In a fashion. I mean technically Brian *has* wielded Excalibur before, for example. Though it's current servant is Faiza Hussain of MI13.

Otherworld in Marvel Comics is the hub of the multiverse - a place where all possible universes meet, accessed most easily through a stone circle on Darkmoor. Whereas Otherworld in Celtic/Arthurian mythology was more like the Underworld. The afterlife. Accessed by a network of Earthworks around Britain.

There is a Merlyn of course, though he is a pan dimensional being who changes his form regularly, and transforms individual into new Captains to join the Captain Britain Corps.

So there are elements of Arthurian Lore there, yes. But not strictly speaking faithful to Legend. Similarly the legend of the Green Knight became part of Marvel's Knight of Pendragon series (which Brian was briefly a member of). In that series the Green Knight is an entity from Otherworld, associated with rebirth and renewal, who chooses champions of its own to protect our world from the threat of its age old enemy The Bane.

[Panic]

Which wasn't really fair. Chris Claremont was British. He grew up here.

He didn't really. His family left the UK when he was three I believe. I don't think he remembers much of living here at all.

[Milk Tray Man]

So there are elements of Arthurian Lore there, yes. But not strictly speaking faithful to Legend. Similarly the legend of the Green Knight became part of Marvel's Knight of Pendragon series (which Brian was briefly a member of). In that series the Green Knight is an entity from Otherworld, associated with rebirth and renewal, who chooses champions of its own to protect our world from the threat of its age old enemy The Bane.

Very much liked the Black Knight series with the original uniformed Captain Britain. Although once again CB spent much of the time unconscious or dead.

[The Sword is Drawn]

He didn't really. His family left the UK when he was three I believe. I don't think he remembers much of living here at all.

He certainly had been back here, though. Admittedly visiting. Marvel probably did see him as a touchstone into that market, back in a time where the notion of hiring a British writer at distance for an American publisher was largely implausible. Back in the 70s you still had to arrange transatlantic phone calls a long way in advance.

[The Sword is Drawn]

Very much liked the Black Knight series with the original uniformed Captain Britain. Although once again CB spent much of the time unconscious or dead.

This, sadly, very much *is* Brian's lot. Get reinvented, given a direction showing plenty of promise, only for that to get dropped and never truly take shape before the next revamp.

[OutlawGunStar]

Honestly I wouldn't know as I do not live in the UK, and by my wording I meant big names as in "Titles" or Characters (superheroes, etc) sorry for the confusion.

I think Titans Batman magazine was the bestselling title for a long while.
Titan also does a lot of licensed stuff like WH40K,Elric,Forever War and so on...
As for homegrown stuff,2000AD stands as a sole survivor,more or less.Long may it reign.

[Digifiend]

Titan does Doctor Who as well, and is the UK licensee for The Simpsons (they reprint Bongo's material in the same 76 page format as the DC comics and their own Doctor Who ones).

Incidentally, the talk of last survivors, well, back in the day, there used be a Big Two here as well - Fleetway and DC Thomson. Fleetway's archive is now split across two companies. Pre-1970 characters except for Buster and Roy of the Rovers (which were still running at the time of the split) belong to Time Warner - meaning they're effectively in the hands of DC Comics! Material from 1970 and after belongs to Rebellion, 2000AD's publisher, who purchased it from Egmont last year. DC Thomson is The Beano's owner.