Really?? Odd. If there's one thing I don't think I could every describe Wisdom as 'generic' might well be it. It'd be like calling Nick Fury generic. Both fulfil very similar roles within their areas of work, in very similar ways. But you wouldn't fine hang folks looking down on Nick Fury.
One of the things which most interests me about the Brian Braddock/Pete Wisdom dynamic is that (and I'm not sure that as many US readers realise this) both characters hail from the same area. Both come from Essex, a County in the south-east of England. But are from very different backgrounds. In some weird fashion they actually balance each other out, as characters, when placed on the same team.
It Came From Darkmoor...
A Blog dedicated to the British corner of the Marvel Universe.
Twitter: @theswordisdrawn
I don't really deserve the thanks - lots of others did most of the hard work. I wasn't in charge of the research, but I do know the man who was, and he's very into trying to making collections as complete as possible, so I made sure he was aware of stuff like the amended origin recaps. And some (but by no means a majority) of the pages were scanned from my copies of the original issues, though the art guys then did a lot of work restoring them to as pristine a condition as possible.
Hopefully more missing Marvel UK collections could be added in the future - if Rev War leads to a boost.
I still live in hope of a proper Night Raven collection (including the prose stories too). But given those involved, and the fact that he hasn't appeared in panel in such a long long time, I doubt that likely at any time soon.
I'm actually quite surprised that nobody has attempted to feature Night Raven more in the wider Marvel Universe . Great character. And he has been made to fit as part of the wider MU. I guess he's just a littke too obscure.
It Came From Darkmoor...
A Blog dedicated to the British corner of the Marvel Universe.
Twitter: @theswordisdrawn
That's one of the reasons I like those 2 CB OHCs - their "completist" nature. So thanks to you we have those recap pages. Btw, who is the diamond of a guy who makes those great complete collections? That is if you can share this info.
It is quite amazing we got these 2 OHCs considering that CB is not that popular with Marvel US readers. Do you think we will see any future OHCs collecting CB's appearances after the Omnibus along with the MI13 issues and/or Revolutionary War? I was pretty disappointed neither of these got the OHC treatment.
Given the number of issues for collection I was disappointed with no Hardcover collection of Captain Britain & MI13. It would have been an easy, all in one volume. It's not like the series wasn't critically acclaimed. Unfortunately, not to be. So far, at least.
It Came From Darkmoor...
A Blog dedicated to the British corner of the Marvel Universe.
Twitter: @theswordisdrawn
It's purely down to sales. There was a Hulk: From the UK Vaults collection released recently, including all the UK Hulk material prior to Panini taking over from Marvel UK, including ultra-rare stuff like the first UK Hulk tale from Smash!, a story which predates the founding of Marvel UK. But I fear that it didn't sell well, so the odds of getting other collections is reduced. Stuff from the later Marvel UK era, the time of Knights of Pendragon, etc, maybe, but older stuff like the Nick Fury, Ant-Man and Night Raven material in Hulk Weekly? Or the original UK Spider-Man stories featuring Thunderclap, Assassin-8, Seth Youngblood, Bluebird, etc? Not likely to be collected any time soon.
I'd love to see Night Raven return. He's a natural for tales in the 1930s (team up with Dominic Fortune anyone?), or for modern tales. The only era he shouldn't be around for, and ironically the only one he has been shown in more recently, is WWII, when he was an amnesiac derelict.
A gent called Jeph York handled much of the research, though he in turn couldn't have done it without the willingness of editor Jeff Youngquist, who didn't want to compromise and put out anything less than the best possible collections.
That's something I couldn't say - it'll be down to sales.
If anyone likes those Black Knight strips from Hulk Comic, I'd also recommend checking out Steve Parkhouse's Spiral Path, which was serialized in Warrior alongside Marvelman, V for Vendetta, and Laser Eraser and Pressbutton. It's very much in the same vein-- in fact, Dez Skinn intended it to replicate the style of the Black Knight strip-- but more sophisticated. Parkhouse is the main artist, but there's also work by John Ridgway and John Bolton. (Bolton's work is gorgeous as expected. I wish he stayed using pen and ink.)
THE THIRD ERA OF CAPTAIN BRITAIN.
Note - For the purposes of this thread i'm dividing Brian's Marvel UK life into 3 parts. The third (which i'll also sub divide) is the longest spanning MARVEL SUPERHEROES 377, Sept 1981 to CAPTAIN BRITAIN (volume 2) 14, Feb 1986. After this period, Cap enters the main US Marvel universe so the next era might be called THE EXCALIBUR PERIOD (during which time Brian appeared in the growing Marvel UK line, most prominently Knights of Pendragon) but thats still a while off.
So back to MSH 377. Another 16 months have passed since Merlin and Arthur sent Cap and his new sidekick the elf Jackdaw back from Otherworld and now we see him arrive back in England ... but is it the England he knows?
Aside: It might surprise a few of you that Cap's revival in MSH was written by one Dave Thorpe and not Alan Moore who took over a short time later and in fact some concepts that people who are generally aware of as part of Moore's run, were in fact created by Thorpe.
Thorpe's run is in black and white with art by Alan Davis. His style is a mix of wild concepts and social realism - Moore dumped the latter and the strip went from a curiousity to greatness.
In MSH 377, as Cap and Jackdaw tumble through the void, Brian's costume inexplicably changes in the second panel and as we'll find out later, his powers were upgraded at the same time (as was his physique). They crash into a bank vault to find its being robbed by THE CRAZY GANG (The Crazy Gang were a big part of CB and then early Excalibur but in this iteration they have the regular members plus two magicians called The Conjurers and an anthromorphic character called Dormouse) led by MAD JIM JASPERS (Yes. created by Thorpe not Moore!) Cap fights the Gang and in doing so discovers his new abilities. Powers formally residing in his star sceptre and now in him/his costume.
The Crazies escape and on the last page Cap discovers a poster on the wall ... BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY!
The police see Cap and Jackdaw and fire on them (UK police have NO guns!) and they run - the next few bits find Brian seeing how grim this alternate London is, then there is a pointless fight with 'The Junkheap that Walked Like a Man,' and the paramilitary STATUS CREW try to take Cap down, declaring that costumed heroes have been outlawed.
It appears the junk was animated by some kind of radioactive waste liquid and Cap meets a mutated rat in a suit called Algernon who offers him tea/waste concoction. His tet a tet with Algernon is observed on a screen by an employee of a woman called HER WHYNESS who is in conference with her AVANT GUARD (identical men in pinstripe suits, bowler hats and carrying umbrellas). They are discussing something called THE PUSH.
This issue is Marvel Superheroes 380, Dec 1981 which i mention as its significant due to the fact that Her Whyness is in fact Saturnine, a very significant Captain Britain and later Excalibur character and this is her first appearance. The issue ends with Brian being devolved into a monkey.
MSH 381 - We find out that this earth banned heroes in the 60's. Saturnine explains to a captured Jackdaw that she was sent to this earth by the Dimensional Development Court - there is a programme for a set of earths to achieve peace and enlightenment by the year 2000 but the earth they're on is retrograde and will retard the progress of the entire series of earths hence THE PUSH. This involves using the liquid mentioned above to evolve everybody.
Meanwhile monkey Cap has liquid roll towards him and re-evolves claiming to feel more powerful than ever. After a slight confrontation, Saturnine explains things to Cap but then the Status Crew attack
MSH 382 - A super hero purge of 'ten years ago' is mentioned and the SC use an old device on Brian to analyse his power set. Captain Britain's power is identified as being of arcane origin and his amplified strength, flight and force field powers are boosted by micro circuitry woven into his costume which amplifies his brainwaves.
Simply put the more he believes in his powers, the more they work but disrupt his concentration and you have his achilles heel. So they do so, breaking out a sonic weapon. Cap is overcome.
MSH 383 - Cap throws some of the liquid at a few of the Status Crew, instantly giving them consciences - some break down and cry when they think about how they've been enforcers of tyranny. During the lull, our heroes escape and Cap ends up taking a little girl for a flight to show her there is still magic in the world. Curiously in the last panel Merlin and Arthur observe and Arthur makes reference to this earth being the one the forces of Necromon have their tightest hold on! As Necromon is dead and i don't think referenced again, this remark might be more philisophical than literal.
The next three issues are not good - first Cap rescues a boy from a neighbourhood gang. Apparently Thorpe wanted to tell a story about a boy who becomes friends with a girl he met on holiday and when they go home they realise they are on opposite sides of the Irish Catholic/Protestant troubles. Editorial neutered it down until whats left is a lame story about rival streets hating each other. Then there's a break which shows us that Cap and Jackdaw were taken by some sort of aliens when they were between dimensions as seen in MSH 377 Panel 2 - there is a fight and they wreck the alien ship and are sent back into the dimensional void with no memory of anything - dire.
MSH 386 returns us to the street rivalry story - Cap intervenes and gets everyone drinking tea with the liquid in so they lose their hate. Again a waste except for the final page which is the first ALAN MOORE.
MSH 386, June 1982. Last page - Saturnine declares THE PUSH has been 95% successful and everyone toasts with champagne. Their joy is short lived as Mad Jim Jaspers begins to warp reality!!
At this point we are on the verge of the Alan Moore era - next issue is his first full one and from now on the CB strips are in colour.
I'll pause here to reiterate TWO important points. This section, bad as some of the Thorpe stuff was, also introduces lots of stuff that Alan Moore uses AND ... We are about to enter the period where CAPTAIN BRITAIN achieved GREATNESS!
Last edited by PhantomReporter; 07-02-2014 at 11:11 AM.
A little off topic, but I don't see any other threads for it...did any of you guys see the most recent issue of Avengers World? Dane Whitman returns as the Black Knight in charge of a team called Euro Force. Pretty interesting group, if you ask me, although sadly no sign of Brian or the other MI13 characters. But there seems to be one or two standouts among the group.
Just curious to see what others thought.