The later 70's were a time of chaos and creation at Marvel Comics. Stan Lee had pulled away from his firm control of the outfit and new editors-in-chief seem to show up every few months. But good stuff came from this heady brew. New superheroes such as Nova, the Human Rocket, Iron Fist the Living Weapon, Moon Knight, and 3-D Man. We ever were treated to WWII adventures of the Invaders which was often set in England and had two new English born superheroes named Spitfire and Union Jack. So a new modern superhero set in Britain was exciting news and made more so because I'd never get to see the character save in guest-star appearances. The stories created for Captain Britian were for a British audience first and foremost.
Stan turns to his brother Larry Lieber to head up the project. Lieber had himself just returned from a tenure as editor at the incandescent Atas-Seaboard company which tried in vain to offer competion to Marvel. Lieber designed the character and also supplied many of the covers of the run along with Herb Timpe and Ron Wilson. Frank Giacoia inked many of those efforts. Wilson who would eventually take over the interiors from Trimpe did most of the covers.
The first two issues of Captain Britain give us the origin (mostly) of our new hero. Brian Braddock, a young student is caught up in a raid on a laboratory by Joshua Stragg, also known as the Reaver. He is confronted by Merlin the Magician and given a choice between a sword in a stone and a magic amulet and he chooses the latter, not being a warlike chap. He is given the powers of Captain Britain and takes the fight to Stragg who uses the power of the sword. This debut was written by Chris Claremont, an angliophile who was born in Britain and set many stories there. The muscular art is handled by Herb Trimpe with inks by Fred Kida. Sadly the latter is a proven pro, but his work on Trimpe undermines much that is good about Herb's work.
Next Captain Britain had to take on the deadly supervillain Hurricane. Being new at the gig, Brian makes a lot of mistakes in these early outings. He doesn't even understand his powers completely and has to learn on the job, a job that kills. We are introduced to a supporting cast which include a romantic interest and a rival in the tried-and-true Spider-Man mode. A policeman named Dai Thomas hates superheroes in general and Captain Britian in particular and pursues him throughout the series.
We visit Braddock Manor and meet his brother Jamie and his sister Betsy. At the same time Captain Britain is forced to battle a hypnotic villain named Doctor Synne. Gary Friedrich takes over the writing chores with the eleventh issue. At this point it's necessary to mention that I found the pacing of the stories unusual. These are long continued stories, mostly because the lead feature is only eight pages long or thereabouts. British comics of course were weekly offerings but for a guy used to monthly bouts these stories seem fragmented.
The full color episodes end with the twenty-third issue, so Captain Britain and his allies must battle the menace of the Red Skull in glorious black and white. Herb Trimpe says farewell and "Big" John Buscema steps in to fill his shoes with his usual dexterity and aplomb. Fred Kida shares the inking chores with Tom Palmer, one of Buscema's best inkers.
Finally, the Red Skull is defeated, just in time for the harried Brian Braddock to face the new menace of Lord Hawk. It turns out that Hawk is a put-upon former teacher who had a yen for falconry. Brian built a robot hawk for him and the crazy bastard weaponized and used it in his struggles to end pollution among other things.
In the thirty-first issue Ron Wilson assumes the interior art chores helped by Bob Budiansky as well as Fred Kida. They wrap up the Lord Hawk story just in time for Brian to get injured. He is whisked away by STRIKE and while unconscious is visited once again by Merlin who tells him more about his origins.
Pablo Marcos joins the art team as Captain Britain is caught up in a battle in another universe helping Merlin and his daughter Roma. The best thing for him is that Merlin gives him a better more effective battle staff called the Star Scepter. It allows Cap to fly for fifteen-minute intervals.
The series run ends with this new more powerful Captain Britain battle the Highwayman and his boss the Manipulator. They are using mind-control to take over the Queen of England during her Silver Jubilee. After a single-issue script by Len Wein, Friedrich leaves the series.
The Captain Britain feature then becomes a back-up in Super Spider-Man behind Marvel's wall-crawling juggernaut character. The story with Basil Crushstone the Manipulator comes to a head when the Captain must stop the Royal Navy from attacking a bogus African nation of Umbazi in order to reinstall him as dictator. I must mention that Jim Lawrence has taken on the writing chores with help from plotter Bob Budiansky. Pablo Marcos has joined the art team.
Captain Britain's adventures will continue in Super Spider-Man, but more on that next week when I crack open the second volume.
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Captain Britain #1 was published on October 6th 1976 but Marvel UK had been teasing its' readers for months beforehand about the new British superhero that was coming. For a while they would only say that his initials were C.B. which made me hope that he wouldn't be called Captain Britain because that sounded rather corny even to me as a naive 10 year-old. But I was still excited about the new superhero when he finally arrived and I had all 39 original issues but nowadays I only have fond memories of the first 13 published from October 6th to December 29th 1976.
ReplyDeleteThe earliest issues really have that Marvel magic for sure. The art gets diluted by too many hands as the series rolls along.
DeleteCaptain Britain never quit worked for me, perhaps because I was 16 when it came out and was getting a bit fed up with superheroes. I bought most if the CB comics but mostly for the Steranko SHIELD reprints. The early tales were fun but I preferred John Buscemas art when he took it over, CB looked more lke a "real" superhero to me under big Johns pen. I did however like the Alan Moore and Alan Davis CB comics !
ReplyDeleteI was pleasantly surprised to find so much Big John artwork on this series, as I didn't know he'd done any. Some of the Alan Davis stuff is scheduled for later this month.
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