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Live
from the U.K. . . .:
Captain Britain
Marvel Comics Trade Paperback
Review
by : Corey
Henson
Writer: Alan Moore
Artist: Alan Davis
More
info : www.marvel.com
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A more
cynical soul than I - if there is such a thing - would likely
think the only reason Marvel published the recent Captain
Britain trade was to make some quick jack off of Alan Moore's
name. After all, not even the most hardened Marvel Zombies
were holding their breaths in the hopes these twenty-year
old British comics, starring a character currently residing
alongside Longshot and Rocket Racoon in proverbial comic book
limbo, would once again see the light of day.
While
I'm sure good old-fashioned capitalism had a little something
to do with it, the truth is, these old chestnuts are worthy
of dusting off and being given to the masses. Originally published
in the early eighties in Marvel UK's Captain Britain comics,
and reprinted a few years ago here in the States in the short-lived
X-Men Archives, these stories feature some very early - and
very rough - work by Alan Moore and Alan Davis. Perhaps you've
heard of them.
The
story picks up towards the end of Captain Britain's adventure
in an alternate reality version of London. I think Moore was
taking over for a previous writer, but don't sweat it, you
won't get lost. In this reality, all of England's super heroes
- including Miracleman, in a quick cameo - have been killed
by the Fury, a silent and spooky cyborg in the employ of Mad
Jim Jaspers, a reality-bending mutant in a really tacky suit.
The good Captain tries to destroy the Fury, but fails miserably,
and is incinerated as a result. No worries, as the folks who
sent him to that reality - Merlin (yes, THAT Merlin) and his
daughter, Roma (from the underrated "Fall of the Mutants"
story in Uncanny X-Men) - are watching. They bring him back
to life, and deposit him back in his native reality, where
everything is swell.
The
Captain then goes on to have a few adventures, and runs into
a couple of familiar characters, like his sister Elizabeth
(a.k.a. the future X-Man, Psylocke, back when she was a white
woman with a purple Peggy Bundy coif) and Saturnyne (seen
a few years later in Excalibur). Eventually, the Fury pops
up in this reality as well, and all the events that led to
the destruction of the alternate England begin occurring in
this reality, giving Captain Britain a second shot at saving
the world.
As
I said before, the two Alans are a little rough here. Davis'
art isn't as polished and beautiful as his current work, but
it's still very good. And Moore's script reads an awful lot
like Chris Claremont's work. In fact, this story bears a very
strong resemblance to two of Claremont's more famous X-Men
tales, the Proteus storyline and the groundbreaking "Days
of Future Past." But it's very interesting to compare this
to what Moore and Davis are doing now, and see how far they've
come in the past twenty years. Overall, this may not be the
high point of either creators' career, and it may only appeal
to die hard fans of either, but it's definitely worth checking
out.
Corey
Henson is one of the fine folks at ADV Films. Check 'em out
at www.advfilms.com.
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