If there's one thing for certain, you can't keep a good hero down! And so a few years after his original weekly series ended after just 39 issues in 1977, Captain Britain returned in his own monthly title. This was an even bigger attempt to give Cap an outing since this comic was not just launched in the UK but the United States as well!
Of course Captain Britain hadn't been absent from the comics scene all this time appearing in the merged Spider-Man and Captain Britain weekly comic before had been reborn in the short-lived Daredevils comic which ran for 11 issues in 1983. Cap reappeared in the second monthly series of Mighty World of Marvel in 1984.
The main feature of course was Captain Britain scripted and drawn by Alan Davis. A very entertaining if sometimes bizarre series that is well worth a read. The other features included two reprints Absalom, Dalek Hunter and Night Raven.
There was oddly a text story, Paragon of Painthorpe Street which did not appeal to me. I want comics in my comics. Unless they are "background" features.
The final story was The Freefall Warriors by Steve Parkhouse and Jerry Paris which struck me as being very much in the 2000AD style but entertaining nonetheless.
Overall a good comic but sadly only destined to last 14 issues.
Interesting but did you know that the good Captain also guest starred in the Black Knight strip in Hulk comic that lasted from issue 1 (1st March 1979) to issue 63 (25th May 1980), even replacing the Knight as the strip title in issues 31-36. After the comic folded Merlin (with the help of Dave Thorpe, Alan Davis & Paul Neary as editor) transported the Brit to his own strip in the Pages of Marvel Superheroes monthly issue 377 (September 1981) to issue 388 (August 1982), with Alan Moore writing the last two issues, before finding a home in DareDevils. Always like read other people's opinions of Captain Britain. I like your blog.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Britain sure has had a chequered history; created as a sop for the British audience he always appeared misplaced and misunderstood at the hands of Claremont and others but as most comic fans know under the authorship of Alan Moore the good Captain reached new heights of originality and brilliant storytelling. I always feel this is because the writing was by a British writer who understood the use of surrealism in comics and tapped into many popular tropes.
ReplyDeleteI always find it disappointing that no other writer has really understood the character or made use of his quintessential "Englishness". (the kind portrayed in the original "Avengers" TV serial of the sixties or the weirdness of "The Prisoner". Such a shame because under Moore's masterful hand he was the most original and engaging hero, not just a poor copy of America's living sentinel.