Oddly my first introduction to this British creation of Marvel Comics was through it's imported American editions in the form of Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man and only now as an ageing fan that I have started to read his adventures as they originally appeared.
This Summer Special was the second of just two that appeared in 1979 and 1980 and contains just one Captain Britain adventure, Knight of the Hawk where a gift from the Captain himself to a seemingly kindly old academic turns nasty.
The story wouldn't have been out of place in British comics where toys were quite often used by villains (and heroes) to do their deeds. Nevertheless this quite mad professor thinks he can save the environment with one armed robotic hawk.
There's also a tale of the Black Knight from his own comic in 1951 plus Doctor Strange and the Knight team up in another British based adventure. Entertaining enough for a rainy day or a holiday but not exactly the stuff of legend. Which is a pity.
Launched as a weekly comic in October 1976 Captain Britain didn't take off as anticipated and lasted just 39 issues. There were numerous attempts to use the character in Daredevils, a monthly Captain Britain and as a co-feature in Spider-Man Weekly.
Captain Britain was created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe who were hugely successful with other projects. The character did have plenty of promise but as a UK title it was never to be.
The good captains success would not come until the US based parent company launched Excalibur, but that's for another day.
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