Captain Britain - Siege Of Camelot!

I usually try to stay positive in my reviews of comics, knowing how difficult it was back in the day to make them. But I have to say the Captain Britian stories which lead off this second volume are really quite terrible. The writer is Jim Lawrence who seems to be sharing credit the Larry Lieber the editor. The artwork by Ron Wilson seems rushed and is quite uneven. The inking is at times absolutely crude. Pablo Marcos is responsible for some issues though I detected the work of Ricardo Villamonte on some pages. Marcos apparently was using a studio. This alternates with Fred Kida who produces inks of tepid quality. The best inking job is a solo one by Mike Esposito and too bad he wasn't tapped for more. 

These stories are from Super Spider-Man and rarely does Captain Britain get a cover notice after the first few issues. In the course of the adventures, he battles the Loch Ness Monster (turns out to be a submarine), a vampire who can also turn into a werewolf, a mad scientist who shrinks people and then threatens them with mutant creaters, and a paid assassin named Slaymaster who seems motivated to murder for vague reasons. The supporting cast disappears after the first two episodes, and we have Captain Britian in costume almost all the time as Brian Braddock seems equally forgotten. 

Much better quality is the debut of Captain Britain in these United States in the pages of Marvel Team-Up alongside the Amazing Spider-Man. The similarities between Peter Parker and Brian Braddock are noted as the two are roommates for a very short time. This is debut of Arcade's Murder World, in a dandy tale by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. 

This tale was reprinted a few times. Above the cover touts the original look of Captain Britian, a look while was on the way out. 

Captain Britain leaves Super Spider-Man and takes up residence in Hulk Comic. He doesn't have his own feature but rather shows up in the Black Knight series which ran as a back-up feature. More on this tomorrow. 

Later Captain Britain gets his own slot, using highly edited versions of the early strips by Claremont and Trimpe. 

For my part, I've always liked the look of this version of Captain Britain. Though he only really found success when he changed his look. More on that next week. 

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The Black Knight Four!

The fourth issue of Black Knight dated November, 1955 brings significant change. While Joe Maneely does the cover as usual, Fred Kida moves in as regular artist on the Black Knight stories inside while John Romita supplies the artwork for The Crusader tale.

A knight named Sir Guy Wanderell is put down for his plundering his neighbors thanks to the efforts of the Black Knight, but pleads with King Arthur that he did it to win the hand of Rosamund, the King's ward. The lie spares him the dungeons but he immediately plots to destroy the Black Knight's reputation by pretending to be him. The two "Black Knights" meet in a joust and Wanderell is soundly defeated.

The Black Knight rescues a peasant who happens to be living in the abandoned Black Castle. Later the former resident of that castle, Kevin McCaull returns and plots revenge against King Arthur for having been driven away years before. The peasant finds the Black Knight and warns him and helps him to lead a successful attack on the Black Castle despite the mighty beasts McCaull has brought with him such as lions and elephants.

"The Intruder" is a two-page text story about Richard the Lion-Heart. A suspicious man is spotted on the outskirts of Richard's camp and his men work overtime to find what they believe to be a Moslem spy from Saladin's army. A swarthy man is captured but Richard demands to speak to him alone and it is revealed that he is rather a loyal knight who has come to report the results of his spy mission in Saladin's camp. Armed with new information Richard changes his strategy and then pretends to let the intruder get the better of him while is loyal knight escapes to spy some more. 

The Crusader is forced to go in disguise into the camp of Saladin when Quincy, a loyal knight of Richard the Lion-Heart is captured along with a precious map. De Montfort, a disloyal knight sends one of his henchmen to warn Saladin of the spy in his midst, but the noble Saladin is more impressed with El Alamain's bravery than with the treachery and sets both the Crusader and Quincy free while sending the traitor to the slave galley.

King Arthur is captured by pirates in the employ of Modred and he and his party are taken aboard the pirate ship. Sir Percy escapes and becomes the Black Knight returning to Camelot and leading loyal knights to the pirate stronghold to rescue the King and Rosamund.

The loss of Joe Maneely on this series is a severe blow, despite the largely competent work of Kida here. Maneely brought something intangible to the book, some glowing effervescent sense of wonder which despite all the clear and appropriate storytelling here is missing. Romita brings some distinction to the Crusader pages, but even they fall short. 

The first Black Knight story reprinted.

One more to come.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Captain Britain - Birth Of A Legend!

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. 

Then begins a very long saga with Captain Britain confronting the Nazi menace of the Red Skull. He is helped by longtime Skull enemy Captain America who guest-stars in the next ten issues or so. Nick Fury of SHIELD is also on hand as well as some new characters from a British spy organization called STRIKE. 

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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