L_LawIiet
So ... what's Captain Britain about?
It's about promising the reader things, giving them the opposite and making them love it.
Where it promises comedy it breaks your heart and where it promises high drama it has you cackling like a witchy hag on nitrous oxide. It's sneaky... a book about the British Intelligence and Superhero communities in which...it turns out they get on rather well, act like adults and complement each other pretty effectively. The UK equivalent of
Civil War happens in this book over the course of two polite conversations that you have to read twice to notice consituted a debate.
It's like...the aspect of #10 they promoted - "Doom and Dracula on the Moon!" - well, that happened, but you might expect a scene like that to play out either as charming Silver Age Whimsey or as awesome clash of legendary egos. But instead... they end up having a conversation about Islamaphobia.
And you somehow end up nodding along going, "Yes. Yes this is perfect. Yes,
of course Vlad Tepes would hate Muslims. Why has everyone else who's ever written him been so stupid as to not play that up? Yes. Yes, of course Doom would be having none of this. yes, this all fits so perfectly with the themes of the book. Yes, Yes, that's exactly what he'd think about vampires. Yes, Yes. This is perfect. Perfect."
As for what it's
about about... Well, Cornell say he's determined that it's never going to be "That British book" but "That supernatural spy book with superheroes", but an awful lot of what jumps out at me from it does seem to be about 'Britishness' and efforts to create an inclusive, post-colonial version of patriotism. Which we just don't
have over here - on a list of things the Union Jack symbolises, it symbolises the far right much more than it does the actual country.
And Captain Britain's a gesture towards putting that right, as Cornell's trying to turn him into our Captain America. Which he's
never been...the character first became important when Alan Moore wrote him, and used him as a weapon to undermine and deconstruct the whole idea of 'hero'. Then when Claremont, Davies and Ellis used him for
Excalibur then the point of him was just that he Wasn't American, they were 'the Other' and those writers used that to explore that difference. This is the first time that someone's tried to write a 'Captain Britain' while working out what that might mean as a
thing in itself.
And it seems to mean BIG PROPER SUPERHEROICS, but with a little twist of cynicism, distinct and separate from the BIG PROPER SUPERHEROICS but sat round a table with it, having a pint. A little like if they let Warren Ellis write one out of every eight panels of
All-Star Superman.
Lets see...what else should I say...Oh yes!
Premise!
MI-13 is the branch of the British Intelligence Services which deals with supernatural/sci-fi/superhero stuff. You may know MI-5 from
Spooks and MI6 from
James Bond, and we're operating here more in that 'oak panneled rooms in Whitehall' way of seeing the intelligence community than the 'helicarriers' way. All British superheroes fall under its aegis, and a particular team forms while defending Britain from the Skrulls. Then
something happens as the cost for victory, which guarantees the team will be kept very, very busy.
The bestest place to start with it is probably the
Wisdom trade that came out under MAX, but the
Secret Invasion trade that starts the series proper does nicely too. As does just jumping on at #10, the most recent issue.
Yeah, I've heard good things about that...we'll I've heard that Hannibal Tabu didn't like it, which normally means a comic's good. The mini's just ended hasn't it? Do we have an idea how long til the trade?
It's swings and roundabouts.
3nodding
Lunaris Wolf
Pretty much if you're only reading
Uncanny, it's like Scott is keeping a secret from you.
That works well! I'm more than a little bit
affiliated with Emma, so it makes sense that my reading should put us in the same boat.
L_LawIiet
Ms. Marvel is ending in the same way "The Incredible Hulk" ended, the numbering and title will continue, but Moonstone is taking over as Ms. Marvel.
Hmm...but then Daken's taking over the
Wolverine book for
Dark Reign, isn't he?
I'm not sure I expect all these things to be permanent.
Right. I'm now off until Wednesday. When I return I expect this place to be a lively and wriggly concertration of brilliant energy and at least three in-jokes to have been established. On your marks...go!
