UPDATE: More on that Captain Britain Omnibus...

I meant to put this up last night but Emperor beat me to it on the last post I put up about this.

For those unaware Amazon have now put up a pre-order page for the Captain Britain Omnibus, with a provisional release date of April 2009 (Technically on April Fools Day, but I believe this to be genuine ;D): Captain Britain Omnibus at Amazon.

Now it's not quite what we expected, but here's the blurb:

Captain Britain By Alan Moore & Alan Davis Omnibus HC (Hardcover) - $99.99/£65.00

by Alan Davis (Artist, Author), Paul Neary (Artist, Author), Alan Moore (Author), Dave Thorpe (Author), Michael Carlin (Author), Steve Craddock (Author), Mike Collins (Author), Jamie Delano (Author), Chris Claremont (Author)

One of the Marvel Universe's most staggering sagas from two of Britain's most remarkable writers, reprinted in total for the first time!

Captain Britain fights to save a universe...and fails! But a single reality is small change in the game Merlyn's playing against Mad Jim Jaspers, who's rewriting reality so he's the center of the universe! Worlds collide, heroes and villains die, and Captain Britain's beside himself - except when he's fighting himself...to the death!

Featuring the first appearances of the metamorphic Meggan, Opal Luna Saturnyne, the Captain Britain Corps, and more! Plus: Psylocke joins the X-Men, and the X-Men join Captain Britain on a cosmic quest into the secrets of life and death! The fiendish Fury, the horrific Horde, and the malevolent Mojo are only a few of the adversaries who await within! Also guest-starring the New Mutants and Captain America!

Collects Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #377-388, The Daredevils (UK) #1-11, Captain America #305-306, Mighty World of Marvel (UK) #7-16, Captain Britain (UK) #1-14, New Mutants Annual #2, and Uncanny X-Men Annual #11.

Hardcover: 672 pages Publisher: Marvel Comics (April 1 2009)

You've got admit that's a lot of continuity.

So, the good news: This appears to collect every appearance of Brian in the Classic Alan Davis costume, right up to before Excalibur. It also includes every appearance of Psylocke with powers, before joining the X-Men (And the annuals where she does). It does appear to be collecting the Alan Moore Alan Davis stories AND the Dave Thorpe strips which lead into them (Unlike the Alan Moore Captain Britain trade) and the Jamie Delano issues get a reprinting for the first time since the 80s.

But, as always, there's also some bad news: Yes, this does mean that the early Claremont/Trimpe, Gary Friedrich stories, the Caps Britain and America vs the Red Skull, the Spidey/Cap Marvel-Team Up story, and all the Black Knight/Captain Britain stories will not be in this volume.

But not to worry. As far as I can see this deal basically allows Panini to continue doing their Captain Britain: Birth of a Legend series, without having their toes trodden on. They have already reprinted most of the above, and the Black Knight stories will be beginning in the next volume. Which is sound, because between Panini and Marvel US there is a very genuine possibility that we could have almost every issue of Cap's pre-Excalibur continuity collected in print by the end of 2009. And that would be absolutely fantastic.

Now I'll post these following links because they have been requested, but with a note attached. A couple of guys Stateside have said they've been finding it difficult to work out which Panini trade is which, on Amazon.com. Amazon is probably not the only store in America who can get you these. Feel free to shop around. But to help you out, here is which is which:

Volume One

Volume Two

Volume Three

Volume Four will doubtless be announced in the spring, as the others have been each year.

Annoying, as with the UK site, Amazon have kept the placeholder images. But you at least have the ISBN numbers, there, so I hope that's of some help.

Right, that was intended to just be a Quickie Blog to report this. There will be a larger one up in the next 48 hours, with a little Death's Head article which might interest some of you.

Speak soon

Mark
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