For Queen, country...and Otherworld!

 

The first version on the Captain Britain Omnibus was released on the 21st October 2021, a fine collection of of the good Captain's adventure, but it was missing some of the pre Excalibur stories thus making it feel slightly incomplete. Fan didn't have to wait too long for the second edition to be released with it bulging new Alan Davis cover that contained the rather more all encompassing history of Mr Braddock, from his humble beginnings in Captain Britain Weekly to his guest appearances in The New Mutants Annual #2 (October 1986) and The Uncanny X-Men Annual #11 (1987), this version hit the shelves in April 2022. Omnibus editions are heavy, expensive and extravagant, only for fanatic followers. However if you can live with the weight they offer a cheaper option than buying over priced back issues. They give a historic insight into their chosen subject with behind the scenes articles, extra covers, posters, artist sketches and so much more. Personally I have a cherished complete run of the original comics so is there really a reason to buy this edition? Damn right there is! I found lots of new story versions and extras I've never seen before making it an absolute treasure trove not to be missed.

I first encountered the lion of Britain was on the back cover of Super Spider-man and the Titans #203 in a Merry Marvel Christmas pin up by George Mina in 1976. I was intrigued by this new hero standing front and centre. As a six year old I hadn't begun my comic collecting life and would have to wait 'till I was older to collect his first weekly exploits as back issues. 

No the first time I passed over my pocket money for any patriotic comic goodies was for the Captain Britain Summer Special from 1980, enticed by its stunning cover with the central image of our hero flying into action by Pablo Marcos, a college of contents by the knife and glue of Dez Skinn and Paul Neary. The back cover also left an impression on me, I probably learned to draw from that poster of Captain's Britain and America by The King, Jack Kirby. Inside was filled with reprints of Captain Britain  from his weekly and British produced Black Knight stories that guest star the captain from Hulk Comic. New articles about the Knight and CB lit the bonfire of my interest, these can be found in the Omnibus.

Lets start at the beginning of the Omnibus, the original weekly comic proclaimed that it was in full colour, this wasn't completely true, only the Captain Britain strip was,(the Fantastic Four strip had to settle for black and white while the end Nick Fury strip gained colour) although due to an editorial mistake the last page of CB strip was in black and white with a text line offering the reader to colour it in as a bonus feature! Chris Claremont wrote and Herb Trimpe drew this tale which kind of felt rush and out of order in some ways, but completely intriguing  in other ways because of how it starts with the action and goes back to his origin. The early tale where re-edited and fully coloured with new splash pages for the US comic Marvel Tales (131-133) in 1981. These stories are also printed in the Omnibus and give another insight into the Captains origin. Claremont lasted 10 issues, but they weren't earth shattering. Just enough to set out Brian Braddocks background and make the first appearance of his sister Betsy, the future X-Man Psylock. Gary Friedrich took over the writing chores and Trimpe continued to give a fair account of an action hero strip.

Things really improved when John Buscema and Tom Palmer took over as artists with issue 24, but at the price of colour. Buscema's artwork shines in monochrome with subtle shading giving more character to the strip, although I wonder if coloured version might have been a nice touch with this Omnibus? Possibly not as I really can't fail these strips. Writers and artists come and go, Larry Lieber,  Len Wein and Jim Lawrence took up the typewriter with Ron Wilson and Pablo Marcos on art duties. Stories raise and fall in quality but still there are some gem moments.

Colour briefly returns to the Omnibus with the Chris Claremont and John Byrne classic Marvel Team-Up #65. I originally read this in black and white in another much treasured Captain Britain Summer Special from 1981, it was first premiered in the UK in Super Spider-man and Captain Britain after CB finished his original run, strangely enough never making it to the cover of those issues. Byrne's redrawing of the Captain's origin, feels like the definitive version, improving on Trimpe with Claremont getting another go at getting it right. This story also makes the debut of Arcade and sets up, at least off page the next chapter of Braddocks life story. 

Dez Skinn ramps up the Marvel Revolution with the Black Knight strip that appears in the heavily packed British created content of Hulk Comic, were a mysterious stranger turns out to be Brian Braddock. Steve Parkhouse writes an Arthurian tale that firmly embeds the Captains history in an Otherworld, beautifully drawn by John Stokes and Paul Neary. Here we get to see Captain Britain die for the first time! Again I wonder if these tales should be re-coloured for this edition but once again the detailed beauty of the black and white artwork might get lost so I'm happy they kept the originals. 

Time for a rebirth! The Captain gains a new costume and his most associated artist- Alan Davis, in a new comic, Marvel Super-Heroes #377. Dave Thorpe takes Brian back down to earth with this dark 80's Britain modern setting. A mixture of 1984, The Avengers TV series, Alice in Wonderland and Thatchers Britain, where all is not well in this political Orwellian world. This is Davis' first professional work, but already it looks like the work of an artist we know and love. Originally it was printed in black and white but this Omnibus chooses to print the coloured version from X-Men Archives. Davis' work is stunning in black and white, its also stunning in colour so why not print the colour version. Things were things were bleak and twisted. Things were about to get more crooked and warped!

With issue 387 of Marvel Super-heroes a new writer picked up the typewriter and changed the comic world as I knew it. You won't find his name in the credits of this Omnibus or many of his other works. Mostly credited as the original writer, or complete deleted from any credits due to his personal request. But his name is Alan Moore. And he is the greatest writer of comic fiction ever! Well possibly, well maybe, well...well I really love his stuff! Within two issues he has twisted reality to breaking point while laying clues for the future and finally killing off our hero in a Fury. But Alan Moore is like an insane angry child who kicks over his toys and puzzles in a play room, then calmly sits down and rebuilds them to make them better. I've always known what Alan Moore was and how he wrote but I could never but it into a simple word or phrase, however while listening to the never iron anything podcast I heard Tony Esmond call him "The Great Adaptor!" That perfectly sums up the man. I'm stealing that! Moore does the work, he really looks into the character past and works him out. He takes all the small parts of the characters backstory and creates a bigger and better picture. You don't realise he's doing it until the climax has been reached. In issue 388, the last issue to feature a Captain Britain strip before it continued in The Daredevils #1, Moore wrote an article titled "A short history of Britain." in which he waxed lyrical about Captain Britain's  history though the Marvel comics. It was insightful and would have made a smashing inclusion in this Omnibus, but I guess he wouldn't allow them to reprint it, which is a shame but fair enough. I'm just glad I've read it in that mag. 

Moore cherry picked from every previous version of Captain Britain. Merlin and Lady Roma from the very beginning, Mastermind, Betsy and Jamie from those early issues. After seeing her gang we finally got to meet Vixen. We got more of S.T.R.I.K.E. and the Slaymaster. He reintroduced the Special Executive from old Doctor Who weekly back up stories. The Crazy Gang, Mad Jim Jaspers and the crooked worlds Captain UK made an important return. All old but new and engaging. Magic is science in the Marvel Universe was Moores idea, numbering earths was Moores too,  everyday normal becomes nightmares that's  all thanks to Moore. He adapts tales and characters while others just copy. 

All good things come to an end and so Alan Moore finish his time with the Captain. It's not a sad time 'cause all the while another Alan has been taking notes as he delivers the amazing artwork. Alan Davis steps up and in truth you don't see the joint. Taught by the master "Bad moon rising" and "Tea and sympathy" are seamless as what came before. The strip had gone from Marvel Super-Heroes to The Daredevils and onto The Mighty World of Marvel (Vol 2), now it was time for Captain Britain to get his own comic again. With the help of Jamie DeLano, Alan Davis produces 14 issues of the new monthly. All strong, interesting and enjoyably mature tales. The character had completely grown up and the Moore/Davis version really got it right. Later American writers never fully understood him. If you really love the character don't look anywhere else, this is as good as it gets and this edition has got it all.

The Omnibus also includes a spin off back up strip "The Cherubin", a text story by a young fellow by the name of Grant Morrison and two Mastermind specification scans (fact files to me and you) from the monthly. From Marvel USA the previously mentioned New Mutant and X-Men annuals stories, the first two of many Chris Claremont/Alan Davis/Captain Britain collaborations. Finally the compilation ends with various edits of stories, behind the scene artwork, posters and covers. 

It's only missing "Contest of Champions" and a Captain America story from his comic issues 305-306. The Cap A. issues may have been included in the 2021 version of this Omnibus but removed to make room for more relative content in the 2022 edition. They both don't add to the saga so it's no big loss.

It's complete, it's wonderful, it's an Omni-verse-al Omnibus, it's a must have for a true red, white and blue Captain Britain fan. It just looks so god damn cool sitting on my bookcase, in it's trendy jacket. And my copy is mine all mine! And no I'm not going Mad as Old Jim Jaspers, it's money well spent and I absolutely love it!

Make Mine Marvel!

The steep and thorny path, or the primrose way?

To create your own worlds or to improve someone else's version? That is the question! Whether 'tis nobler in the minds of the viewer to reshape another's creation?

I play with those questions when I compare characters, stories and comic strip creators. But those questions came back to my geek mind recently, after I got involved in a twitter conversation started by Erik Larsen (@ErikJLarsen), who posted this question, 

 "Who would you list as singular visionaries whose characters should never be touched by successive creators?"

Many tweeters replied with answers; Garth Ennis-Preacher; Alan Moore-Watchmen; Jack Kirby-New Gods; Steve Gerber-Howard the Duck and also Erik Larsen-Savage Dragon, but to that single question there wasn't many tweets for a creator who's creations fitted that bill. Yes many came close, but not completely. 

I throw in my suggestion of Stan Lee's Silver Surfer, only to be, quite rightly, pointed out by Mr. Larsen that the cosmic one was a creation of Jack Kirby while working with Stan. In truth it was the way the Silver Surfer was written that I felt should never be tampered with, as in the first Silver Surfer series. So I jokingly pushed my case forward with this tweet, 

 "@ErikJLarsen Very valid point. Can I change it to Lee & Kirby on Silver Surfer (with a little input from John Buscema) or is that cheating?" 

His reply was, 

 "@The_BeeSting Cheating." 

Well that's me put in my place. He's right of course!

One of the tweets to his question was retweeted by Erik, from @Louiestowell it read,

 "@ErikJLarsen no such animal. Great characters have potential to live beyond their creator." 

He later posts another question from @gibsoncomics which read, 

 "@ErikJLarsen I'm almost a little more curious about people who have done better versions of certain characters than their original creators." 

To this Erik replied that he thought almost everybody's Batman was better than Bob Kane's. I don't think I'll find many to disagree with that statement. 

The question of "better versions that the original," is one with which I played with many times too. The original creators ideas can be truly brilliant, but let another master of the artform take it and run with it, this can become spectacular. Away from the comic world take the play Hamlet. Written by the wordsmith genius William Shakespeare somewhere between 1599 and 1602, so I'm lead to believe. Still played today, it's the bench mark for a quality actor. But why try if you can't really improve on it? Make Hamlet a lesbian freedom fighter in the year 2599 and it just becomes another pale copy. Sir Laurence Olivier is said to have performered the definitive version of the Prince of Denmark. When David Tennant took a break from Doctor Who to try his hand at the roll made immortal by the late knight, many scoffed, but he received rave reviews. Like in Doctor Who itself, the actor who becomes the Doctor has to be the same but different. This take skill to find the new in the old, Peter Capaldi has that skill in plenty. For an actor any iconic roll is the test of greatness. I would say it would be easier to start with a blank page and create something interesting, than be given something that been seen a million times and make it interesting. But where is the challenge in that? 

 

Back to comics, I love Stan and Jacks original X-Men, they where a truly original idea in 1963, but the closest they got to being the definitive version was the Sentinels/Bolivar Trask storyline in issues 14-16. But for many it wasn't until Chris Claremont/John Byrne worked together that the MasterMold for the X-Men was created. (Alright some may say Wein/Claremont/Cockrum, and yes Thomas/Adams where also brilliant.) Claremont/Byrne have an amazing talent for moving characters on a level, their versions of Iron-Fist, Ms. Marvel and Spider-man improve on the originals. But even characters that they create can be improved on. Claremont with Herb Trimpe created Captain Britain for Marvel UK in 1976, but for me Alans Moore and Davis got the character just right! Even when Claremont and Davis teamed up to give us Excalibur it wasn't going to rival the Moore/Davis version, even as great as it was.

Alan Moore can do both, create wonderful new characters and revitalise something from the past, Marvelman is just such an example of the old, (Yes it is Marvelman not Miracleman!) while with David Lloyd V for Vendetta is possibly the most perfect complete piece of graphic work ever! Even though DC had to finish the story off in their colour editions, it has to be read in its original form, the black and white strip in Warriors, to be really appreciated. No one else is going to improve on it, even though I do enjoy the film version, which was only given the blessing of Lloyd not Moore. 

 

Conan the Barbarian is great with Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith but even better with Thomas/ John Buscema, although Robert E. Howard was the visionary that cemented the character in an entire world of wonder and adventure. I can't see DareDevil without Frank Millers vision, nor Wolverine with out that Claremont/Miller mini series. Captain Marvel has to be Sterlin, Nick Fury for me with his agents of Steranko. But let's thank the visionaries that created the charactors; Stan Lee/Bill Everett; Len Wein/John Romita Sr/Herb Trimpe; Stan Lee/Gene Colan and Stan Lee/Jack Kirby. Heroes all! 

I'll finish off with a tweet I posted to @ErikJLarsen. 

 "True. But I like to think that Lee & Kirby created characters that where gifts to creators that followed as well as the world." 

Whether the "steep and thorny" or the "primrose path" I thank all creators for filling my free time with their wonderful gifts. 

“Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads
And recks not his own read.” 

William Shakespeare "Hamlet" Act I Scene III

Make Mine Marvel.