And the Winner Is...

Well, the Poll ended last Knight. Er... night. With 34% of the vote our first Issue-by-Issue series for summary will be:



Knights of Pendragon.

That, by the way, is Garey Erskine's cover for the upcoming Panini trade collection of Knights of Pendragon. For more information on that, from the man himself, and a few process sketches of how the cover got there you might want to take a look over HERE.

I'm actually very happy that this title won. In terms of significance to Marvel UK as a whole Knights of Pendragon represented a huge step towards the imprint years. It proved to Marvel US, and to comic readers around the world, that there really was plenty of British talent working at Marvel UK who deserved to be seen on a larger stage.

It also happens to be a pretty bloody good book, so i look forward to covering it. I shall get cracking on my first summary, and will try to have this one out within the next week, now that the house move chaos has died down and I'm a bit more settled.

In other news, following on from last week's appearance in Deadpool Team-Up this week is yet another CAP WEDNESDAY - as the team make that much hyped appearance in Age of Heroes #1...

I know what the unlettered pages seemed to suggest. But let's not get too carried away. Will Brian become an Avenger?

Well, I honestly don't dare to get my hopes up at this point.

However, Comic Book Resources have a lettered preview for one of the other stories in this anthology book HERE, which bears the Variant 'Heroic Age' Cover for this issue (Art by Mike Perkins). And it's pretty clear that only one guy is appearing on that cover...




And the solicit does say:

Eisner-winner & fan-favorite KURT BUSIEK RETURNS TO MARVEL! THE HEROIC AGE IS HERE! The Heroes are restored to their rightful place in this new era, and the world is safer for them. They defeated Osborn & his Siege on Asgard, now they have one last foe to face: the Mayor of New York -- J. Jonah Jameson!

Also, MI13 come to the US, but one of them isn't leaving--they are defecting to the AVENGERS?!

Plus Dr. Voodoo's Sorcerer Supreme duties infringe on “date night” and how much trouble can Spider-Man get into in one day? The answer: A LOT!

Just sayin'...

In other Marvel UK related news, it has also been revealed in Marvel's August solicits that Marvel UK's First Lady, Lady Jacqueline Falsworth, will be getting a Spitfire one-shot.



And it's Paul Cornell writing it.

Here's the solicit:

SPITFIRE #1

Written by PAUL CORNELL
Penciled by ELENA CASAGRANDE
Cover by JENNY FRISON

The British Invasion hits New York! While her MI13 compatriots make nice with the Yankee super sorts, Lady Jacqueline Falsworth is on the hunt for an old acquaintance...with bloody consequences for the Big Apple. With bad boy Blade at her side, the immortal speedstress must conquer her past in order to save her future!
32 PGS./One-Shot/Rated T+ ...$3.99

So i guess this was what Paul Cornell meant when he said Spitfire and Blade were going to be busy elsewhere during Age of Heroes #1...?

Anyway, that's it for now. Hopefully the schedule should be getting back to normal very soon, so keep on checking back, or checking the Twitter feed.

Speak soon

Mark
(Sword)

It's CAP WEDNESDAY - Wha-!? Huh?

No. You're not reading this incorrectly. Captain Britain & MI13 IS still cancelled. More's the pity, but we can't have everything.

However, tomorrow (Wednesday the 12th of May) is being declared a token 'CAP WEDNESDAY' by fans of the series, due to the team's guest appearance in Deadpool Team-Up #893.

It's written by fellow Brit, 2000 AD and Cla$$war writer Rob Williams, and while I'm sure that the thought of Deadpool may turn some people off seriously, put that to one side for a minute.

Rob knows what he's doing. He's a fan of 80s Captain Britain and he's not afraid to reference it! This story focusses on a weapon tech haul, recently turned up in Britain, which once belonged to Cap's one time nemesis Slaymaster. And it seems quite a few people are rather interested in seizing ownership...

Including a guy who just happens to be employing Deadpool. :)

The story shows real promise, and if you're interested in taking a prospective glance at it you can find a preview HERE!

It's always worth supporting a British creator, but this one genuinely does look a lot of fun. Plus, it's the first REAL example of of MI13 guesting outside of what was their own title. If you are a fan, if you were gutted that Marvel canned it, or even if you just love reading quirky stories set in Marvel's Britain, you MUST pick this up!

And needless to say, it all helps to remind Marvel that there is still a fanbase for this team. If those issue were to sell slightly higher than the Team-Up issues around it... well that could only be a good thing ;)

Deadpool Team-Up #893 is out on Wednesday the 12th in the USA and Thursday 13th in the UK.

ICFD Cover of the Week - 7th April 2009

Yeah, it seems like a lifetime since I last did one of these...

This week's (Laugh all you like) cover features Motormouth, in honour of her recent return to Comics in the pages of Captain Britain & MI13, and is from Overkill #5 running back all the way to June 1992.


The cover art was done by Simon Coleby. Simon is currently doing the artwork on Wildstorm's The Authority, with fellow Marvel UKers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Back in the early 90s, though, he was doing artwork spells on Warheads, Death's Head II, and did the link artwork for The Incomplete Death's Head which I was talking about not so long ago.

I'm not sure if anybody else drew Motormouth with that pony tail, now that I think about it. But it's certainly an interesting take on the character. And with a focus on those MOPED boots - very useful dimension hopping footwear that they were.

Currently, as readers of the last CB&MI13 issue will know, Harley's been hospitalised, and her partner Killpower is now imprisoned by Dracula.

Which leads us to that time of the month again. No, crass jokes, please. You know what I mean.

Tomorrow is CAP WEDNESDAY.

Wednesday 8th of April (Or Thursday 9th in the UK) is when you can get your hands on a copy of Captain Britain & MI13 #12. I can't guarantee Motormouth and Killpower are in it, but it CAN guarantee it will be good. So hunt it down.

As has become tradition, you can also acquire the latest animated forum banner I've done:


here: http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/8799/issuetwelvefinal.gif

Sorry, not had time to do a proper preview of the image this month. Things have been a little bit mental.

But before I go, I'd suggest all Death's Head II fans, if you are not already, try to track down a copy of Nova #23. The ongoing story of Evelyn Necker takes an interesting twist this issue, which readers of DHII will find eerily familiar...

Right, I'm off to get some shut-eye now.

Speak soon

Mark
(Sword)

Prepare for CAP WEDNESDAY and a helping hand with those Panini trades.

Greetings once more,

Only a fairly quick update today, as time is short. But let me first of all remind you that today is Tuesday 10th of February.

Why is that important?

Well, after all Tuesday 10th of February is one day before an even more important day as Wednesday 11th of February is CAP WEDNESDAY. And we all know what that means! In case there are any of you who don't, the folowing handy bulletpoints will hopefully help you out:



So find that $2.99 and prepare to make your way unto your local comic book store in the morning.

Or if this is already Wednesday by the time you're reading this... WELL WHAT ARE YOU READING THIS FOR!? Get away from your PC and get yourself a copy! :D

I must say, I've been greatly pleased to see so many of those banners I produced turning up in even the most obscure places on the internet. The good word about Captain Britain & MI13 has been spreading across the internet, and beyond, over the past month. A lot of positive discussion and raising of awareness of how good the book is.

At the weekend it was New York Comic Con, and I'm told that the response which Paul Cornell and the book were given during Friday's Dark Reign panel was very positive indeed. I really wish I'd been able to go over there myself. It would have been great to have met CB&MI13 artist Leonard Kirk who was also on hand, in the Artists Alley. A Leonard Kirk Captain Britain is definitely on my Cons check-list.

Unfortunately, my weekend was a little less glamorous, mostly spent berating the state of UK snow. Having my work close by 9.30 am on Friday due to being trapped in what appeared to be the Warwickshire epicentre of the Snowpocalypse I was looking forward to an easy day of relaxing at home. No such luck. My car got stuck in a snowdrift for the rest of Friday morning, literally unable to get enough grip on the white stuff to pull free. I had to make a call to AA Recovery to help pull me out.

Not the greatest start to my weekend.

But on my Saturday travels I managed to acquire a copy of the second Panini volume of Death's Head from Forbidden Planet in Coventry, for the grand total of £3.00. They're clearing out a lot of UK trades right now, and this was a deal I couldn't pass up. True enough, I do actually own most of the contents within this trade (All bar the She-Hulk and Fantastic Four issues) but frankly it's easier to have a trade copy on my book shelf than digging through long-boxes any day.

The real gem of the book trade itself, though, is the reprinting of Death's Head - The Body in Question, which was previously collected as a graphic novel and serialised in Marvel UK anthology title Strip. The story picks up directly from the very hasty end to Death's Head's first ongoing series and (as pretty much usual) is written by Simon Furman with art by Geoff Senior. It's a proper origin story for DH, where he effectively meets his father, a parasitic being named Lupex, who has no body of his own and must transfer from one host body to the next in order to survive. Death's Head discovers that he was created as a new machine based body for Lupex, which would not wear out. Of course, it's never as simple as that. Lupex is somewhat surprised to discover that somebody has programmed his body with a personality, for a start.

The artwork on that story is brilliant. And thumbing through to the story following it, She-Hulk #24 from 1990, it really does show just how far ahead Marvel UK were in terms of production quality compared to their US parent company. Here we are, two books both published in the same year, but comparing the level of airbrushed artwork used on The Body in Question to the pre-Malibu, primary coloured, world of US Marvel Comics is quite a contrast to see.





The latter isn't in anyway badly drawn. Far from it. That's early Bryan Hitch artwork assisting Peter David's story. You'll hear no complaint there. But Marvel US really were miles behind the British side of their operations in terms of finished product. It really galls me that they were so stubborn to embrace chance in the US, that Marvel UK artists working in oils were not kept in work after they closed the offices. The Body in Question stands up well enough today. A lot of Marvel's early 90s output simply doesn't.

So yes, the Panini trades are worth your money, and those guys are doing an excellent job collecting all these issues. I've actually received quite a few emails since I mentioned the Dragon's Claws trade a while back, asking for ISBN numbers to aid tracking down volumes. So for you guys, here's a helping hand:

For Death's Head Volume 1 (Collecting High Noon Tex, guest appearances in Doctor Who Magazine and Dragon's Claws, and #1-7 of his first ongoing) you need

ISBN: 978-1-905239-34-4 and here's an Amazon link: Death's Head Volume 1

For Death's Head Volume 2 (Collecting #8-10 of the first ongoing, The Body in Question, guest appearances in She Hulk #24, Fantastic Four #338, Marvel Comics Presents # 76, Doctor Who Magazine #173 and the What If...? (Death's Head I had lived) #54 ) you need

ISBN: 978-1-905239-69-6 and here's an Amazon link: Death's Head Volume 2

For the complete Dragon's Claws (Collecting Dragon's Claws #1-10 and Death's Head #2) you need

ISBN: 978-1-905239-99-3 and here's an Amazon link: Dragon's Claws

For Captain Britain Volume 1: Birth of a Legend (Collecting Captain Britain weekly #1-23) you need

ISBN: 1-905239-30-0 and here's an Amazon link: Captain Britain Volume 1

For Captain Britain Volume 2: Hero Reborn you need

ISBN: 1-905239-72-6 and here's an Amazon link: Captain Britain Volume 2

Captain Britain Volume 3: The Lion and the Spider I'm a little confused over. It was due for release back at the start of November. I'm not sure whether it actually came out, or not. When I was talking with the Panini guys at BICS last year it was still being worked on. I'll try and find out for you. The ISBN listed on Amazon was:

ISBN: 1846534011 and here's a link to an order when available page on Amazon: Captain Britain Volume 3

To my US readers my apologies that these are Amazon.co.uk links. But as long as there is a reference page there is some hope that Amazon.com can order them. Let me know how you get on. I'm very much in a bothering people kind of mood...

Until the next time, make sure you buy Captain Britain & Mi13 #10, and I'll speak to you soon.

Mark
(Sword)

Support CAP WEDNESDAY Banners

Hello again,

Straight down to business today. I've been promising people some SUPPORT CAP WEDNESDAY Banners to help spread the word about Captain Britain and MI13. Animated Banners, at that. So here, slightly belated due to discovering that Blogger doesn't seem to like me uploading animated Gifs, they are.

After discussion with people at Millarworld, Newsarama and CBR's forums I've come up with following four signature banners. They're laid out as images frame by frame here, to show you what each one looks like. If you want to use the banner in question you'll need to click on the link below each one, which will take you to where I have uploaded the image over at ImageShack for folks to collect. Each banner is available in two sizes - a clearer 500x100 banner for use on forums without limitations on size, and a smaller slightly compressed 400x80 version for use on sites like Newsarama who do have limit on the size of the file.

So, here we go:



Which can be found here:

Standard Size: Here

Or Compact Size: Here

And for those who wish to be identified as being on the other side of the Atlantic:



Located:

Standard Size: Here

Or Compact Size: Here

One specifically for Black Knight and continuity pedantry fans (I know you're out there):



Located:

Standard Size: Here

Or Compact Size: Here

And also one of Blade and Spitfire:



Which can be found:

Standard Size: Here

Or Compact Size: Here

I'm actually using that one, myself.

I'd ask you all that if you can save these to your own PCs and upload them to forums yourself where possible - Not because I'm some kind of scrooge, merely because I've no idea the bandwidth of ImageShack, and I'd hate for the signatures to suddenly start disappearing at at once.

Any thoughts and feedback is appreciated. I've already had some request for some static image banners, which I'll have a go at as well.

Remember folks CAP WEDNESDAY is in under two weeks now. Keep February 11th in your diary.

And now... the Cocktails.

Hullo again,

Some of you will remember that at New Years' I promised to post up some photos of some of our mighty Marvel UK Cocktails. It was fully my intention to have these posted up within the first week of 2009. Sadly, there were a few technical complications in getting that done. Probably Resolution #1 for 2009 should be 'Buy more reliable Tech'.

Resolution #2 should also probably be not to drink enough of said cocktails that I believe it's a really great idea to pose for a photo with my Little Black Book of Cocktails...



Yeah. You won't be seeing any more of those. There were photos taken across the evening, but the problem with road-testing all of these wondrous creations was that having started around 6pm by the time I reached 10pm I was rather ridiculously inebriated. And while I had thought it would be a great idea to document the evening in photo detail, at the time, this was clearly the expressed wishes of a drunken lunatic.

Sober Mark has right of veto.

I just thank God I didn't Blog while drunk...

Anyway, here in their many multi-coloured glories are some of the It Came From Darkmoor Marvel UK Cocktails.

First up, The Dragon's Claw:



This one actually tastes quite sweet. It's the banana Bols to blame for that. But after taking this photo we really didn't think we'd done justice in showing just how GREEN it really is. So, enter a makeshift cyclorama (That's my theatre roots showing...) and we get a clearer picture:



Now that's suitably green. I finally picked up my copy of the Dragon's Claws trade of Christmas. I'm on a real kick for that series, right now. And for Death's Head, too. Speaking of which:



One Death's Head. I'm sure you'll agree that when I said it looked like fluid directly leached from out of a cyborg, I wasn't far wrong...

And here's a shot 'As close to a Death's Head without your eyes getting wet'.



Why the hell I insisted in taking this photo, I don't know. Hannah was doing most of these (Hence the lack of quite so much blur) but this is one I insisted doing myself!

And of course one Death's Head deserves another...



And, of course, a Death's Head 3.0. For the ladies.



I've just realised that photo how difficult it is to display scale in that last one. I assure you it IS a half pint (Plastic) glass.

And now onto the Doctor Who themed Sonic Screwdriver. Han's been doing this one for a couple of years. It really is alarmingly blue:



But again this photo didn't really do it justice. So a second attempt was in order:



Alarming, huh? Almost radioactive in appearance.

Closer to the other end of the spectrum, in terms of colour, we have the Black Axe.



This one again is in a half pint, due to the amount of spirits in it. It's certainly not unpleasant. But has an initial kick to it not uncommon with the flavour of accidentally consuming some of your other half's somebody hairspray as it hangs in the air, if not mixed well.

Otherwise, it's quite sound. I'm a great believer in the use of Blavod. Contrary to popular belief it does not taste of aniseed or siumilar. It's colouring is black but it does not have any effect on the flavour, which is very much that of a clean crisp taste of vodka.

One more from the list for you:



Now this is a Dark Angel. But dear god, we made several attempts at trying to get this on camera. Basically, the dash of grenadine creates a swirly of deeper red within the orange of the WKD. But by the time we had the camera ready, it had kind of sunk in. Each time.

This was the nearest we got, in this kind of sunrise effect. You'll have to take our word for it.

These two other cocktails were not on the list:

This was Hannah's 'Skrull Invasion' as a tribute to Paul Cornell's The Guns of Avalon storyline in Captain Britain and MI13.



It was actually quite a clever and potent mix of spirits from what I recall, and took forever to get a mix which would actually appear almost entirely undetectable to the eye.

And this was Felicity's 'Tangerine'



Which I believe was buck's fizz based. The problem was, that by the time we'd reached this point of the evening the recipes for these were not jotted down in the book, but elsewhere. So I can't actually tell you with any certainty as to what was in them. I'll try to track those recipes down, and post them up another time.

So that was my New Years'. I hope you all had most excellent New Years' of your own. I know that some of you did attempt a couple of these yourselves, and were inspired to attempt your own also. Please do let me know how those went.

In other news, today is new comics day in America, and we are only hours away from its companion day in the UK. A quick reminder that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Nova #21 is out. I haven't gone on a lot about this series, I have to admit, but it genuinely is a great read. I'd very much recommend picking the book up if you aren't already. Abnett and Lanning were both very involved with Marvel UK, and the way they made the Marvel Space titles their own over the past couple of years has been great.

And while we're on the subject of books you should be picking up, I was very genuinely serious with my post from the weekend. We're two weeks off CAP WEDNESDAY, the release of Captain Britain & MI13 #10.

Pencil it in the diary. February the 11th 2009.

There's been a lot of positive talk about the book on message boards these past few days. Marvel speaking out about the title, and the promo poster that Newsarama put up last week for #10 has got a few people interested in finding out more, it seems. Which is a great start.

Spread the word, people. The more people who know about the book the better. Don't just go out there spamming message boards - nobody likes that. But strike up a conversation. Get talking about the cast, the stories, the creative team. Strike up a dialogue and make your case. One of the best things about this series has been just how close the fans seem to feel to it. I think that Paul Cornell offering his own blog up as a letters page certainly helps with that.

Pay him a visit at: http://paulcornell.blogspot.com/

I want to find you chatting out there on this here Interweb. Or who knows? You might find me.

Until the next time, folks.

Mark Out.

A call to arms - Support Captain Britain & MI13.

Good evening,

I'm writing this Blog in a bit of a daze, today. I'm sure that it won't have escaped some of your attentions that some very odd things happened yesterday with regards to Captain Britain & MI13. As it turns out there has been a bit of miscommunication between a few people at Marvel Comics, which caused a major stir in several parts of the internet yesterday. Let me cut through the confusion and just make this plain:

Captain Britain is NOT cancelled.

Do not worry.

Let me direct you to a couple of official statements, made yesterday evening after Newsarama got involved (Newsarama: Rumorkiller: Captain Britain NOT Cancelled ) and Matt Fraction echoing the same on MySpace's MyCup O' Joe, filling in this week for Marvel's Editor in chief Joe Quesada ( MyCup o’ Matt - It's about half way down along with some preview art from the next issue).

So, let that be the official word on the matter.

Actually while we're on the subject of preview material take a look at this:




Yes, you're seeing this correctly. Doctor Doom and Dracula, on the Moon, in #10 of Captain Britain & MI13. How can you not be interested in picking that up?

So, yes. This book is safe for now - But it REALLY needs your support.

I know, times are tough. A lot of folks have told me that they are trade waiting on this one. I can understand why. If we needed proof of just how many have been it's worth noting that Panini Comics printed their collection of the first 4 issues of the book this month. It's now sold out its entire print run in those brief couple of weeks it was on the shelves. They're printing more to match the demand. I know there are American readers also aching to get there hands on the trade - getting more than a little frustrated that they have to wait until March for theirs.

If you are trade waiting on Captain Britain and MI13 I'm making a plea direct to you. I know that resources may be tight right now, but I want to encourage you to consider NOT waiting. I'm not telling you NOT to buy the trade - Because I think it's great and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. But Captain Britain and MI13 needs your support in single issues. The book comes out regular as clockwork, and unlike many of Marvel's titles cost only $2.99. Please, dig deep and FIND that $2.99 (Or it's UK equivalent) and pick up a copy of #10 on February 11th, to help keep this title alive and well.

It's pretty tough for all of Marvel's second tier titles right now. It's a pretty well-known and understood truth amongst comics fans right now that if you want to read the best which Marvel Comics has to offer then you need to look away from the Avengers and X-Men titles, and towards the second tier. Captain Britain is a leading exponent of that truth, with its spiritual siblings Nova, Incredible Hercules and Guardians of the Galaxy. Unfortunately, when people are strapped for cash these are the exact kind of books which suffer the most. I wonder just how many people didn't pick up their usual copy of these ongoing titles in December, in order to afford all those $3.99 books bearing the Dark Reign banner. It's sad to see it happen, but it does. It's even worse when a fan realises they've sacrificed one of those books to pick up a title which turns out to be reprints or previews of upcoming books.

Captain Britain is safe right now, but if you want to see it survive to the other end of 2009 in this comic book climate it's going to need some help.

It's a great book, and it's never failed to gain critical acclaim. #9 was Newsarama's Best Shot of the week ( Newsarama Best Shots: Captain Britain, Prometheus, GI Joe ), Comics Daily voted Cap's return as the best Comics Moment of 2008 ( Comics Daily Awards 2008 : Best Moment ) and Comic Book Resources voted it as #10 in their top 100 Comic Books of 2008 ( Best 100 Comics of 2008, Part V ). But more people need to know how good it is. With all the new titles launching this spring, and all those other tie-in books, we here at It Came from Darkmoor want to make sure that it never gets lost in the crowd.

Yesterday was pretty crazy. But if it showed us one really great thing it's that the concept of this book not being around any more sparked a response in the fanboy community. People at Millarworld and Newsarama were talking about campaigns to make Marvel change their mind, dozen and dozens of posters were voicing their contempt at such a move, banners were being made for forums. For one day a fanbase came out and made a big deal about a book they loved. And that was something great to see. Let's not lose that spirit. Let's take it and spread the word.

Captain Britain & MI13 has always stuck to its release schedule without fail. The writing and art has been consistently brilliant throughout its run. Paul Cornell' s continuing stream of great ideas and strong character interaction is a joy to read, and Leonard Kirk's incredibly expressive artwork conveys every emotion, every thought process, every crazy scene and concept to the letter. It's not had a weak issue to date and it deserves far more attention than it's been getting these past few months.

On the 11th of February (or the 12th in the UK) #10 comes out. It's a new story arc, a great new jumping on point for a new reader, and this story is going to have a big effect on the cast. Look back up at that image. That's your hook. It's the Apollo lander, and Dr Doom and Dracula are plotting up there. That's just part of what this story has.

You'll see the Black Knight travelling to Wakanda, to get the real version of his sword back from the Black Panther. A sword which by its very magical nature makes men not want to let it go.

You'll see Blade the vampire hunter and Spitfire (Both of whom are a little bit vamp...) trying to work out where they stand, both with each other and within a story which is called 'Vampire State'.

You'll see Captain Britain and Pete Wisdom, drinking and getting drunk, in a pub, in a scene of "Beer and Lechery".

How can anybody not find some part of that worthy of a look in?

It Came From Darkmoor is designating Wednesday February 11th as CAP WEDNESDAY.

If you've been sitting on the fence about whether or not to get into this series this is your perfect time to give it a go. Go out to your local comic book store and ask them to put you an issue aside for you.

If you like the book then tell somebody else about it. Friends, family, work colleagues. Spread the word. Tell them why you think they'd dig it, and tell them it's out on the 11th (Or 12th in the UK) . If they're not sure then loan them a back issue or a trade. Heck, if they're not into comics go down the comic book store with them to buy a copy. Maybe you can get them into comics.

Spread the word people. Half the problem is that people don't know it's great yet.

Support Captain Britain & MI13 - Support CAP WEDNESDAY.

And for those already converted who want to hear more about the book, can I recommend the following interview Bloody Hell: Cornell on Captain Britain and podcast The Comic Addiction, Episode 79 which went up earlier in the week, with writer Paul Cornell.

And for those who are asking, yes the Cocktail pics are now off the camera, and I'll be posting them up in the week.

Goodbye for now.

Mark
(Sword)