A Captain Britain title will be part of Secret Wars. But not the Captain you might expect...

So, I've been keeping tabs on all things Secret Wars, as they've been developing, over the past month. Mostly because I've been living in hope of some kind of evidence that Captain Britain, or any other UK connected character, would be making an appearance amongst the maelstrom of Marvel properties being smashed together, at the this: the End of the Marvel Universe.

And hyperbole aside, it really does still look like that is genuinely what is occurring. No feint. No fakery. A full reboot is still very much on the cards.

Up until this week however, things weren't really looking up in that regard.

As most of you are probably aware now Marvel will be cancelling almost the entirety of their publishing line before Secret Wars begins (33 books in total). Some titles will be getting a "Last Days" storyline as they prepare for the end.

Which certainly, at this point, leaves Brian Braddock's status as a bit of an unknown quantity. I mean, for most of the last year he has been an Avenger, part of the new Illuminati on Hickman's New Avengers, alongside Iron Man, Reed Richards, The Beast, Doctor Strange, Namor, Black Bolt and the Black Panther, as they have tried desperately to work out a way of stopping the multiverse disintegrating. We now know much more of what has been causing that to happen, too.

Last month we also discovered what had befallen Brian, in losing his eye, and seemingly the rest of the Captain Britain Corps.

In New Avengers #30 it was revealed that this group called the 'Ivory Kings' (who are apparently tied to The Beyonders, the race responsible for the original 1980s 'Secret Wars') who have at least in part been responsible for some of what has damaged the structure of the Multiverse, were being investigated by the Captain Britain Corps.

Largely because they had started killing other Captains.

It was explained that after capturing one of them Saturnyne attempted to draw them out for a confrontation, by turning one of their own into a beacon.

It did not go well.

Now bear in mind that Captain Britain Corps are more or less legion. Sure Marvel have done a good job at wiping them out every 2-3 years over this past decade, so maybe the numbers are not quite as infinite as once they were. 

But as of right now? They're all dead. 

No matter how many Captains there were, there were far more Ivory Kings who turned up in Otherworld to take them on. It was a massacre.

The Corps, it's Captains, its structure. All dead.

All bar Brian.

Well, okay. That's not entirely true.

Spider UK has also survived it seems. If your reading the Spidey books right now, you'll know this.

But that is exactly what has happened. Brian was cast away by Saturnyne, before her own presumed demise, and has with him the secrets of the Starlight Citadel (and presumably how to recreate it, after the reboot). 

As far as he knows is the last Captain alive. 

And he lost an eye in the process.

It really sucks to Brian, right now.

A lot.

But as we know, New Avengers is getting cancelled when Secret Wars starts, alongside Jonathan Hickman's other Avengers title - 'Avengers'. 

Marvel have teased this image, which I believe will be the final cover for both books divided across their covers:

Excellent artwork from the always marvelous Jim Cheung, there.

It pictures the final lineups for both titles in the foreground, and the first lineups for each title ghosted in the background.

Yes. Lovely artwork, but a real sense of finality.

Beyond this? We just don't know what will happen. And that is also part of the fun, of course. But I know that it's been niggling a few people that we haven't seen any direct evidence of Brian in Secret Wars teaser material.

You would presume that as part of the Illuminati Brian will appear in the main Secret Wars series (also being penned by Hickman). But nothing is a given. I'll patiently wait and see.

Many of the tie-in limited series for the Secret Wars event have now been unveiled. Marvel are separating these out into two unique brands:

Battleworld and War Zones.

Please do check those two checklists out. Some of the books listed do genuinely sound like pretty good fun. Out of continuity, self-contained stories. But some interesting ideas and mash-ups going on.

They don't though, further the direct subject matter of this Blog. But it's oksy. This week, finally, something Secret Wars related did.

It's not what I expected, at all. But boy, do I think it will be a pleasant surprise for many long time followers of the blog.

Let me first say that it *isn't* the new All-New All-Different Avengers team (debuting through this year's Marvel Free Comic Book Day offering) which Marvel have been teasing for the past couple of months. They finally started to unveil the cast of that, this week and unfortunately no Marvel UK character is connected to it.

But don't get me wrong. I will be buying into this team. it's such a damned interesting lineup not to. Pretty much all of the major creative changes for older characters and some newly introduced characters of the past few years, all in one place.

The Falcon as Captain America, the mystery woman who is currently Thor, the new Ms Marvel. A revived Vision.

Even despite the mild irritation of the new Nova being on board cannot sour the transition of Miles 'Ultimate Spider-man' Morales from the Ultimate Universe to mainstream Marvel. I want to see Miles succeed. I've read the guy since his debut, I've no intention of stopping now.

It is however, admittedly, another potential avenue closed for the purposes of this blog.

So it's a good job marvel announced a Secret Wars Captain Britain series isn't it?

Introducing Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders, by 2000 AD stalwart Al Ewing, and with art from definitive Captain Britain artist (and Marvel UK legend, frankly) Alan Davis.

A two issue limited series which pretty much came out of nowhere.

And yes, that is Faiza Hussain, wielding Excalibur, in the middle of that cover.

The book is, effectively, a gestalt title which merges Al Ewing's Mighty Avengers cast with elements of Captain Britain. Faiza will be joined by She-Hulk, Kid Rescue, White Tiger and Hobie Brown, as Ewing explores two of his past projects in one.

But where is Captain Britain, I hear you ask?

That's where it gets a bit complicated. Because as with many of these Secret Wars titles this one has come about purely by universes smashing together and merging.

How many of you read Al Ewing's Age of Ultron issue of Avengers Assemble?

I know it was almost 2 years ago now, but if you didn't (and can find a copy) you absolutely should. This issue, set in London, featured Brian, Faiza and the some new students from the Braddock Academy facing the hordes of Ultron alongside Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers).

Reading this story back in 2013 I'd genuinely hoped that Marvel would let Al Ewing have a proper crack at writing a Captain Britain or Marvel UK team book. Because the tone and general vibe of this book gave me that level of confidence that he could deliver.

And given that he actually killed Brian and Carol off, fighting Ultron back, and I still had plenty time for it, that should go some way to indicating the level of praise allocated here.

It was an Age of Ultron book, though. As with most of the tie-in stories, the tale was set in one of the many timelines which were then overwritten, through multiple attempts at time travel, in trying to stop Ultron taking control of Earth. Not, however, before Brian (knowing that he was going off to die) passed the title and role of 'Captain Britain' on to Faiza Hussain, to carry on in his stead, after his passing.

Seriously.

It's rare for somebody to actually write Brian in a way I find convincing, too. 

So yes, for the briefest of time, Faiza *was* Captain Britain. And god knows if Excalibur chose her, no man can really question her of being worthy of that title! But, ultimately, it is considered only to have happened in what became an alternate Universe.

But this is Secret Wars. And if all those alternate universe are crashing into each other, and merging together, all bets are off.

Captain Faiza gets to be, once more.

So yes, sorry, if you were looking for Brian Braddock as Captain Britain here... your probably out of luck. The title Captain here is Faiza.

But if you enjoyed that story, and if you were a fan of Captain Britain & MI13, this book looks well worth some of your time. And with a creative team of Ewing and Davis? Come on. This book just screams to be a must-read for all fans of British Marvel.

Going forward of course?

Brian Braddock

Captain Faiza

Spider UK

If you're going to restart the Captain Britain Corps once All-New Marvel kicks off? That's not a bad place to start...

Until the next time.

Mark (Sword)

How just two words in a Guardians of the Galaxy preview angered SO many people this week.

I have long since started to believe that there is a perverse kind of balance in the profile of Marvel's Captain Britain. For every bit of positive exposure he receives, it only seems a matter of time before it gets balanced out with something... well, something a little bit crappy.

For every strong characterisation like that of Alan Moore or Jamie Delano run, you then get things like Brian the angry drunk of early Excalibur. For every positive reinforcing of the character, like that of Captain Britain & MI13, you then get a pretty brutal and unwarranted character assassination in the form Uncanny X-Force or Secret Avengers. 

A few weeks back we got to see a fairly positive Captain Britain appearance, in the form of his new role as Head master of Braddock Academy, in Avengers Arena. 

I should have known something like this was on the horizon... :)

Guardians of the Galaxy #2 isn't even out yet. But it certainly seems to have made a lot of people angry.

A preview for the issue went up last night, and quickly started prompting responses like these:

Pretty clear displeasure, I'm sure you'll agree. Wondering what prompted that kind of response? 

Well, at the end of the previous issue an alien race (The Badoon) had begun invading London.

Yes. London.

So as you can imagine some folks were actually hoping for an appearance by Captain Britain. Or MI13. Or Union Jack. Or students from Braddock Academy. Any number of British Marvel characters, really, though especially those local to London. 

I on the other hand was a little more cautious. I mean on paper it might make sense, but I've come never to expect such things from the modern Marvel. When headline characters visit non-US cities in Marvel comics these days the likelihood of their local heroes, who Marvel has had in continuity for years, making an re-appearance is incredibly slim. If they happen it's a pleasant surprise, but I certainly don't take it as a given, by a long shot.

That said, even I wasn't quite expecting... well, this:

Yeah. That was Tony Stark. Iron Man. Telling all those new to Marvel readers which the Marvel NOW program aims to acquire, that Captain Britain isn't any good.

A pretty blunt statement. Some might argue an out of character statement, also.

Maybe there's been a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction, but I think you can see why some folks were a little upset.

It is kind of odd. I mean Iron Man and Captain Britain have both been Avengers, both been Knights of Pendragon together. You'd think there would be a little more respect, there. It seems even odder when you consider that Captain Britain was one of the heroes which Iron Man hand-picked from Marvel's timeline, to help save his ass in The Iron Age limited series from a year or so back. 

If he was so rubbish, why specifically choose Captain Britain from all the other possible heroes?

I actually find it slightly more irritating that Marvel editorial seems to have once again forgotten (or possibly chosen to ignore, I suppose) that there *is* a London-based superhero initiative. 

In the form of MI13. 

The government backed team which operates through the British version of the American Superhero Registration Act.

You know, the one which Tony Stark had a hand in *writing*!?

Really.

As this blog kind of serves to point out on a regular basis, Marvel's Britain actually does have a lot of resident heroes. Many of whom held their own series, at one point or another. Now maybe Brian Michael Bendis isn't aware of that, but given that MI13 themselves have been making Marvel appearances very recently, in the pages of Gambit (and soon to appear in those of X-Men Legacy too, I understand) you'd think that somebody might have pointed that out. 

I would also have thought that maybe Mr Bendis would have learnt something about how easy it is to end up rubbing Marvel's non-US readers the wrong way. Canadian readers were practically baying for his blood when he killed off Alpha Flight in a one-panel death, a few years back. A dramatically viable and shocking death, one could argue. But nevertheless, the blunt instant offing of characters whose books they'd been buying for years is something which upset those readers greatly. And was always going to. I think that when your favourite characters actually appear so infrequently these days you do tend to be a little protective over others using them for shock value, or as the butt of a quick joke. Readers often do take it very personally, and while some might argue that's more down to a sense of perspective failure on their part sometimes, you do have to ask - is it really necessarily to bad mouth a smaller property in order to make a larger one look better?

It reminds me very much of the whole furore over when Joss Whedon had Wolverine refer to New Excalibur as "Excalisuck" a few years back, on his Astonishing X-Men run. It was a joke. Clearly a joke. Basically, Whedon had Wolverine tell young mutant Armor that if she screwed up they'd stick her on some obscure offshoot team. Like 'Excalisuck or something'. Clearly a statement for comic effect, but one which a lot of readers *did* take as a personal slight.

At that time a fair number of Excalibur fans online had rather vocally been blaming the extensive delays to the faux Hellfire Club story in Whedon's Astonishing run as being responsible for editorial asking Chris Claremont to make some pretty large changes to the direction of New Excalibur - namely removing the London Hellfire Club (which he had been publicising since before the book began) as New Excalibur's Big Bad, so as not to give away that the Hellfire Club characters in Whedon's story weren't real. I think most people had already guessed that they weren't a couple of issues in, but because of delays Astonishing X-Men was only coming out every 2-3 months. And  people were getting antsy, I guess. It was a perfectly plausible story, I guess, but there was certainly no way of knowing if it was true. This didn't stop a lot of folks posting it online as gospel, of course, apportioning a fair slice of blame in Whedon direction, on several different comics sites.

When that 'Excalisuck' comment turned up in panel, I would certainly hope that it was pure unlucky coincidence. But that self-same group of fans didn't, and wouldn't, see it that way. As far as they were concerned this was Whedon responding directly to them. A direct and personal middle finger directed back at them. And while that remains unlikely, and any threats of 'boycotts' were never going to effect (what certainly was at the time) a Sales Giant like Astonishing X-Men, it was perhaps a little bit stupid to allow derisory comments made in a larger title to be made about any other book in your current publishing catalog. By that time New Excalibur had started to slide in terms of monthly sales. I'm not claiming that comment was responsible for its demise. But it was hardly doing it an favours. Joke or no.

So, yes, whether intended or not some folks will always read a joke as a personal slight.

Nevertheless, I can't help but think, that in the case of Guardians of the Galaxy #2 this was a bit of an unhelpful move. It's already been receiving a fair bit of criticism from long time readers, and I really don't think it needed something like this adding into the equation.

For the uninitiated Guardians of the Galaxy was an obscure late 60s Marvel property, left largely forgotten until a few years back when it was relaunched by Marvel UK stalwarts Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Back  in 2006 (while Marvel were still being a bit more adventurous, and trying much more to expand their universe of titles rather than consolidate) they decided to take their Cosmic/Space characters out of mothballs and throw them into a big multi-series event named 'Annihilation'. It was a huge success, with the standout series being Abnett and Lanning's 'Nova'. This began somewhat of a Cosmic Title Renaissance at Marvel, with these multi-book Events taking place each year. Somewhere along the line it was decided that some of these characters who featured regularly in the events together might function well in a book of their own.

So was (re-)born Guardians of the Galaxy. Separate to the original team (which had been based in the 31st Century) but true to the original concept. It used the recently revived Star-Lord (who had been an incredible success in his new aesthetic from the 'Annihilation: Conquest' event), sometime Nova love interest (and adopted daughter of Thanos) Gamora, space mage Adam Warlock, former Avenger Moondragon, Thanos-obsessed bruiser Drax the Destroyer, the towering living tree Groot and gun-toting, talking raccoon, Rocket Raccoon.

They weren't the most coordinated of teams. They weren't the best of teams. But they tried to do a job, living out at the edge of space, in the floating giant head of dead Celestial. 

With a telepathic Russian space dog named 'Cosmo'. 

Yeah. Really.

It was all a little off-beat, but that was the point.

The book lasted 25 issues, and gained a very dedicated though cult level following - many of whom were long-term Abnett and Lanning fans, going right back to their days at Marvel UK.

Look at that image for a minute. That's a pretty distinctive aesthetic. Star-Lord with the helmet and face plate, sword-wielding Gamora like a sword & sorcery warrior in space, Rocket in the standard 'Guardians' uniform. Visually it all worked very well together. It was always a little bit tongue in cheek, it had a very distinctive vibe to it, but it worked.

Even the most ardent fans were more than a little bit surprised when it was announced that Marvel Studios were going to make a movie out of it. A little concerned about it too. In this Avengers-centric movie world were they going to meddle with that aesthetic? Were they going to change the characters involved? Luckily for them, both in terms of concept art and casting rumours, so far the movie seems very much to be matching up with Abnett and Lanning's vision of the team.

Which is actually why the new relaunch of Guardians of the Galaxy seems even more odd to many. It's only an issue (and a set-up #0) old, but right from the earliest publicity material it was fair to say that the Guardians faithful were getting a little restless.

A very different aesthetic, I'm sure you'll agree. Gone are the uniforms, replaced by what the online consensus seems to feel is a wholesale ripping-off of the armour style of the videogame Mass Effect. As a fan of said game I will state that it *isn't* the same, but do also concede a certain amount of similarity.

Gamora has swapped warrior robes and swords for the same body armour, and assault rifles. She's also being referred to a lot in publicity material as 'Thanos' Daughter'. Which is slightly misleading, bit tells a little of where this is likely to be focusing. A lot of people are complaining about this particular change of look. Gamora wore what she wore because it suited her fighting style. I can certainly understand it. It's a certainly a bit of an odd choice. If she's now dropping swords for guns permanently that really is disappointing.

Despite the movie very much going with concept art of a helmet and face-plated Star-Lord the new Guardians series has opted for crossing this same armour with the brightly coloured, slightly campy 70s costume for the character. This too has been met with a fair bit of hostility. You can get a clearer picture from the panels up-post. I can sympathize. 

And of course there's the addition of Iron Man. I can actually understand the logic of his being here; for Tony Stark to be exploring space frontiers. I was actually quite interested to see where they went with the character. Perhaps a little less after reading this preview. :) But many longer term fans see this too as the clear homogenizing of the Guardians into the Avengers brand. And that's something which they simply cannot stand, and viewpoint they will not budge from.

Now generally speaking I have been a Brian Michael Bendis fan for quite a long while. From Powers to Daredevil, Alias to New Avengers. Between him and Mark Millar I had a reason to come back to Marvel in the early 2000s, after a long break. Without them I probably wouldn't have. I'm also currently loving his All-New X-Men - Finally putting some order back into a line of books which just hadn't been working for several years. 

But Guardians of the Galaxy, so far? I've not been blown away. I've tried talking myself out of all the complaints above, of the 'Galaxy's Avengers' tag that gets banded about, and the fact that a lot of people just seem to find it really fashionable to criticize Bendis at any opportunity. But I can't help but think that this time a lot of what is being criticized is legitimate. The Guardians weren't great heroes. They were a patchwork team of bit-part players, thrown together, and quirky as hell. What we have in this new incarnation is quickly becoming something very different. Now they're the best at what they do, sons and daughters of Kings and rulers, changing fighting styles, visual styles so dramtically from what they were. 

Is it just me, or are they losing a little bit of their charm?

It's not just me, of course. I read forums. I know this. And microcosm within the buying public though forums are I'm clearly not alone. For many folks Guardians of the Galaxy will always BE Abnett and Lanning. That fanbase was already kinda being eroded by certain creative decisions. Badmouthing the corner of the Marvel Universe that many of these same readers first encountered Abnett and Lanning in just works as another grudge for them to bare. A somewhat counter-productive move all round.

I'll be honest, I personally think that there has been an overreaction to this one 'Joke'. But at the same point Guardians of the Galaxy is a part of Marvel NOW. The entire point of Marvel NOW is that it's an opportunity to introduce new readers (especially those who have been watching Marvel properties in other mediums) to Marvel comics, getting in at the start of a new comic series. 

The guy who's never read a Marvel comic before has also likely never heard of Captain Britain before. All he knows about the character now is that Iron Man (the guy he HAS heard of before) thinks that the guy's not worth bothering with.

Ask yourself this: Is that guy now MORE or LESS likely to pick up a future title featuring Captain Britain, as a result of what they have read?

I fully accept that I am personally part of a fandom (be that Captain Britain or Marvel UK in general) which I'm sure Marvel do not see as being a huge or significant part of their business. Nor, more than likely, would the die-hard fans of Abnet and Lanning's take on Guardians of the Galaxy be. But my point is this:

Surely if a fandom forms around ANY property you own should that not be something you are happy about?If a set of people independently decide to show appreciation and enthusiasm for something which you have produced, no matter how large a response, no matter how small, should it ever be considered sensible or even acceptable for another part of your business to belittle that enthusiasm, to try and put down the property which interests them? That just seems to me to be a really shabby way to treat folks.

Joke or not if you want to try and score points against people maybe you should be working harder at targeting the opposition, rather than counter-productively targeting the people who actually buy your products.

Because sooner or later, they might just decide it's time they stopped doing that. 

MI13 fans might want to cast an eye towards Gambit...

While Captain Britain has been making a fair few regular appearances over the past year (Whether those have been a good or a bad thing I'll leave up to you, the reader, to decide...) the rest of MI13 - the current agency responsible for investigating all things superhuman, supernatural and extraterrestrial in Marvel's Britain - have been somewhat absent of late.

Not any more.

This week sees the release of Gambit #5, from the latest ongoing solo series for the X-Men's resident thief and confidence trickster. It sports this rather lovely Terry Dodson cover:

And while, at this stage, the actual UK involvement is limited to the final few pages of the issue it's what those pages deliver which interests me.

One Pete Wisdom, and MI13.

This is the book's second arc, written by James Asmus and with art from Diogenes Neves. Asmus has promised that both Pete Wisdom and Faiza 'Excalibur' Hussain are both going to be quite involved in this arc, largely because it centres in quite specifically on a certain Sword which Faiza happens to be the current owner of...

I've enjoyed Asmus' previous work at Marvel. He took over Generation Hope (from Kieron Gillen) as part of the big X-Men: Regenesis line wide relaunch, last year, and was doing some really great work with that book. Slightly different roster, interesting new direction, one my few X-Men highlights of the last couple of years.

So *naturally* Marvel went and cancelled it. Idiots.

But given that I like Asmus' writing style, that he seems to have a handle on Gambit (Which is actually harder than some might think), and with his using Faiza for the first time since Captain Britain & MI13 ended, I am sold.

Somewhat ironically, the last Gambit arc was also drawn by Captain Britain & MI13 artist, Leonard Kirk. Small world...

Gambit #5 is out today (Wednesday 14th November) from all the usual places you can purchase comics.

Tom Brevoort toying with possibility of pairing CB&MI13 in a 2-in-1 Book?

You guys know who Tom Brevoort is, right? VP Executive Editor at Marvel?

Well, a week ago I mentioned how he answered a question about Captain Britain's Avengers début over at the T&A column at CBR.

A helpful reader drew my attention to his Formspring account earlier today. Formspring, for those unaware, is a site which allows the kind of interaction of Twitter, but in a framework allowing larger questions to be asked.

Amongst the many recent questions there was this one, from two days back:

Okay, so this doesn't actually spell out that CB&MI13 might make the cut, so to speak, but it certainly sounds like Mr Brevoort is thinking about the idea of a split book.

And with 4 titles out of Marvel's stable in the last year to have been axed by #5, for not reaching Marvel's thresholds for continuation, it certainly seems like a novel way of keeping smaller properties going.

And compared to some Captain Britain & MI13's run now looks like a huge success in comparison.

If it were to share a book with a recently culled Marvel property who would folks like to see it be?

Atlas? S.W.O.R.D.? Runaways?

There's a fair number of options, worryingly...

Captain Britain/Avengers Update and more Marvel UK Cameos...

So... As a Comics Reader of over a quarter of a Century (Man, has it really been that long?) I have learnt long ago to know the difference between the 'Hope' for a storyline (based on logical plausibility, and other stories in other titles) and what we actually receive in print.

Back when Captain Britain accepted Avengers membership in Age of Heroes #1, this just so happened to coincide with a story in the new 'Avengers #1' relaunch, which was based very much on the need for a character to be brought in with an intimate knowledge of Time Travel, Inter-dimensional Travel, and the technology required to achieve either or both. I speculated in a blog post back in May over the logical inclusion of the newly invited Captain Britain being that final Avengers member. A logical inclusion because Captain Britain is probably the most expert individual in the Marvel Universe in each of these fields...

But, as all us long term readers of comics genre know, you don't always get what you want...

When Avengers #2 went on sale a couple of weeks back it turned out that the final member, the guy who the Avengers decided to go to, was in fact Noh-Var. Better know to many as Marvel Boy...

To be fair, some of you probably don't know who he is (He is a little obscure). So for the unaware amongst you, read up Here.

Put basically he's an alien warrior from another dimension, who got marooned in the Marvel Universe, in a limited series written by Grant Morrison in 2000. He was also, briefly, a Dark Avenger.

So yes, he does come from another dimension, and his long dead crew did once have the technology required to jump dimensions. The slight flaw in his inclusion in this story, however, is that the entire point of Noh-Var is that he is trapped in the Marvel Universe. He doesn't have the technology (or knowledge of it) required to jump dimensions. Otherwise he would have gone home, back to his native dimension.

He hasn't done this to date. Because he can't.

So a slight flaw in this story, that all of a sudden he is able to offer both tech and knowledge to the Avengers, at a moment's notice. Don't you think?

Anyway, a few people have mailed me about this. And I'm not really that narked. Slightly disappointed, in as much as this was the perfect story for Captain Britain to make his Avengers début. But I am actually a bit of a Noh-Var fan. So seeing him as an Avenger is still kinda cool. If a little bit nonsensical, sure. But I'll try to overlook that.

And the blow was somewhat softened, also, by another Marvel UK cameo in that very same issue.

Basically, and I think we're past Spoiler territory by now, in Avengers #2 Noh-Var constructs a machine which allows the Avengers to take a glimpse into the Futures. That's right. Futures. Plural. Because at this point in time things could go a number of different ways. No one path is the certain future.

But what was really great was to see so many possible future timelines from Marvel's back catalogue, all on  show in the same place. Not forgotten.

( Click to Enlarge Further)

In amongst there I can see Marvel 2099, the MC2 universe from the late 90s, the original Guardians of the Galaxy, Days of Future Past and The Age of Apocalypse from the X-Men franchise, and several more too.

But perhaps the one figure to interest me the most is there on the right hand page.

Spotted him yet?

Hello, Minion!

That's right, none other than Death's Head II. An unexpected, and pleasant surprise.

After all, the timeline in which he was created (and absorbed the original Death's Head) has not exactly come to pass yet. We've seen hints threaded in Abnett and Lanning's Nova, in more recent times, but still...

Good to see that he is at least on the Radar. Be that Bendis' or JR Jr's.

For those more pedantic amongst you, of course, you may recall that this is NOT the first time John Romita Jr has drawn Death's Head II. Where was that, you may ask? Well, on none other than the cover for Marvel UK's Black Axe #1, which has formally been a Cover of the Week on this very site.

Not bad, eh?

Of course there's no guarantee that this means we'll see more of DH2 in Avengers, and I certainly won't get my hopes up. But I'd certainly welcome the idea.

Now, this actually wasn't the only British Marvel cameo of recent times. I wonder how many of you picked up this week's Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1 by Ed Brubaker and Dale Eaglesham?

And frankly, if you didn't, why not? If there were ever two creators out there I would pick up a book because of...

If you had then you would have been treated to a much larger (and much more an important part of the story) cameo:

(Click to Enlarge)

Yes, indeed. That is Steve Rogers talking espionage, over a coffee, with none other than Pete Wisdom himself. Now, granted this exchange may only take up 6 pages of the issue, but it's the six pages which set up the entire limited series. An exchange of intel which Wisdom appears to have gone over the heads of the JIC to pass to Rogers. Steve even refers to Wisdom as the 'British Spy Master,' which is pretty much what he is these days.

I also really like the way Eaglesham draws Wisdom, in this issue. The front on pose below being a prime example:

Definite nods to Leonard kirk's styling in Captain Britain & MI13, but very much with his own style in place, to. Great work! I hope we see him again in this story.

But perhaps more importantly, again, is that this shows that Wisdom is on Brubaker's radar. Too often, with regards to these characters (And Captain Britain in particular) I hear people saying 'Yeah, but the big guys at Marvel haven't even heard of these characters'.

Well, here we have Death's Head II spotted in what is arguably Marvel Comics' flagship title, and Pete Wisdom being deliberately chosen by Ed Brubaker. Ed, of course, also writes Secret Avengers. You never know. Maybe it's still possible we might see Captain Britain turn up there. Who knows? But the idea that these characters are simply not known about is a claim which I would definitely refute.

That said of course, we still have no indication of when, or if, Captain Britain WILL be making his Avengers début. Well, let it never be said that I leave any stone unturned. And so a couple of weeks ago I decided to try bother Joe Quesada himself, through Comic Book Resources' Cup O' Joe column (where readers can ask questions to the man himself). Backed up by a few CB&MI13 reading CBR regular posters we finally got our question posed last week.

Although not to Joe Q, himself. But to Marvel's Vice President Executive Editors Tom Brevoort and Axel Alonso - which, to be frank (though not wishing to be disrespectful to Joe Quesada) is every bit as good in my book.

CBR: The Sword Is Drawn was one of a few people asking after Captain Britain's future status, saying "When can we expect to see Brian Braddock's Avengers début? And any idea which book it might occur in?"

Brevoort: Paul Cornell – one of the last few jobs he did before signing his exclusive with DC – was a little two-page "Captain Britain and MI-13" story that ran in "Age of Heroes" in which Steve Rogers extended the invitation to Captain Britain to become part of an Avengers team, massaging the difficulty that might have caused with Pete Wisdom and MI-13. I would think that it's an almost absolute certainty that that's an element that will be followed up on in some tangible way very soon. But again, I don't want to tell you too much.

So, there you go. Not exactly the answer I was after, but it at least seems that there is the intention to take this further, one way or another. Somewhere soon on the horizon, by the sound of it. So don't give up hope, Cap Fans. Keep your eyes peeled.

Who knows? I mean if what I've been reading from Fred Van Lente, on Twitter, is true he's going to be getting an Avengers book soon. I tried quizzing him, but he's not giving away any finite details, yet. There's been rumours flying around the Internet though - everything from a Gods and Magic Avengers, to Cosmic heroes, to a European or even just more International Avengers team. It'll be interesting to see if that one gets revealed at San Diego Comic Con.

Maybe Cap will turn up there? Let's be honest, there is no shortage of Avengers titles for him appear in.

Either way, Tom Brevoort's word is enough for me, for now...

So keep the faith. We've had MI13 turn up in Deadpool Team up, Spitfire is getting a one-shot, Blade is showing up in X-Men, Wisdom in Steve Rogers: Super Soldier. It's all good exposure. These guys certainly aren't being left to be forgotten...

Finally, my apologies for the lack of recent updates. I was struck down with glandular fever a couple of weeks back. It's taken a while to get fit enough to be up and about, let alone get back to blogging. I actually did put together some notes for Knights of Pendragon #1 whilst under the fever. I'm trying to decipher them...

Wish me luck.

Speak soon.

Mark
(Sword)

Age of Heroes #1 Discussion Blog - Spoilers in Comments Section

As many of you will be aware, yesterday in the USA and today in the UK Age of Heroes #1 came out, including a 2-page Captain Britain & Mi13 story by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk.

I have just finished reading said issue, and I can tell you that its advent will have a fair bit of impact on the cast of that book.

But here's the thing... I don't want to spoil it for those who will be picking it up this week.

So, if you've not read it yet, in short, go away! :D

Go away, buy a copy and read it. Then come back here when you have. I'm going to be posting up discussion on what happens in this issue in the comments field for this Blog Post. So if you come to the front page of the site, and you haven't read it, you won't be spoiled.

If you click on the individual post though you will be able to see the comments. You have been warned.

So, click on 'Comments' to come join the discussion when you're ready.

Enjoy.

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.

Marvel congratulates Captain Britain & Mi13 team on Hugo nomination - And read two issues for FREE!

As posted at the start of the week 'Vampire State' the final arc of Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk's excellent Captain Britain and MI13 has been nominated for Hugo Award.

To celebrate this nomination Marvel have put the first two issues of Vampire State up online, to view for free, through Marvel Digital Comics unlimited. So, for all of those of you who didn't read the book when it came out (And shame on you!), for those of you who have always been curious about the book but never took the plunge, click HERE to see just what you've been missing. You don't have to sign up for anything - they're free to read. All you need is to be connected to the internet.

So, if you love reading British comic book characters (And let's be honest, that probably is how you came to be reading this site), if you love Vampires, or just if you love good sci-fi then go over to Marvel's site and give it a go.

And of course if you happen to be eligible to vote in the Hugo Awards this year please give Vampire State some very serious consideration. :D

Eagle Awards nomination time and Captain Britain nominated for a Hugo.

Hi folks,

I'm sorry for the absence recently. Those of you following my Twitter feed will probably know I'm still living between two houses right now - moving out of the old and into the new. And obviously this has kind of meant It Came From Darkmoor hasn't been as readily updated as it should. I'll be changing ISP this week also, as we move the phone line over. Rest assured though, we'll be back properly by the start of May. I've recovered that Marvel UK A to Z list from a packing crate and I'm raring to go, just as soon as we've got things sorted.

You know... things like a kitchen fitted. And working plumbing.

But in the meantime I could not let a couple of really important things slide. First of all I discovered this weekend that nomination for the 2010 Eagle Awards have just opened. For the uninitiated The Eagle Awards are THE big UK Comics awards, which first started back in 1977, out of Eagle magazine - the book which used to be the home of British Comic Book icon Dan Dare.




Now some regular readers might be thinking 'Hold on! Didn't we do some nominating for the Eagle Awards in the Autumn?'

Well, yeah. But you see, through a bit of a falling out, and lack of a venue, the 2009 Eagle Awards ended up being cancelled. Historically the awards have been delivered at the Bristol Comics Expo each year. That did not happen in 2009. Nominations happened, but the awards themselves never did.

This weekend the panel line-up for (as it is called this year) Bristol International Comic & Small Press Expo was announced over at Geek Syndicate, with The Eagle Awards scheduled for first thing on the Sunday morning.

And the Awards being in place obviously means that nominations are needed. And needed quickly! So if you want to have your voice counted you'll want to go here : Nominate!

Nominations are valid for any book, creator or project which was published during 2009.

Now obviously I'm not telling you who to vote for!

But during 2009 I think it's fair to say that Captain Britain & MI13 WAS being published. Vampire State WAS the big arc of that book, during 2009. Paul Cornell was writing it, Leonard Kirk was pencilling it, and Nick Lowe was doing a bloody good job editing it...

And of course there are categories such as Favourite Artist, Favourite Artist: Pencils, Favourite Editor, Favourite American Colour Comic Book, Favourite Continued Story Published during 2009, and Favourite Cover Published during 2009, which need filling out on that form.

It's up to you which you might want to nominate. But just some food for thought... :)

Not sure when nominations close, right now. But as the Awards are in May I'd get my skates on.

So the URL you need is www.eagleawards.co.uk/nomination.aspx

Nominate away!

In other news nominations were announced this weekend for the prestigious Hugo Awards this year.

Congratulations to Paul Cornell for being nominated for a Best Graphic Story Award for the Vampire State arc of Captain Britain & MI13.

After the cafuffle of last year's nominations I'd imagine that's doubly pleasing for many to see. I'm sure that regular readers will all join me in wishing Mr Cornell all the best of luck. It's up against some good competitors, but I think we all have our fingers firmly crossed for it.

More importantly it's great to see that the title has not been forgotten. Maybe Marvel aught to have think about the Hugos? The only Marvel book which got a nomination and it got cancelled in 2009. Maybe they aught to consider giving it another go...?

That's going to have to be it for now. In all likelihood I won't get a chance to update the site for a few weeks, but while I'm away I'd like you guys to have a think about something for me. As part of my return to more regular Blogging I'd like to do a re-reading of a Marvel UK ongoing title, to highlight that book and give it's tales some internet coverage again.

But which book?

Do you have a personal favourite? A title you'd like to read again along with me? Or just to hear about?

Then let me know. Post your ideas in the comments section of this post and I'll aim to go with the majority decision.

Until next time

Mark (Sword0

Second Captain Britain appearance of 2010 announced

Yup, you saw that right. The team-up I'm sure you never saw coming - Captain Britain and Deadpool.

Deadpool Team-up is one of the seemingly never ending new Deadpool ongoing books. And in May this year the Merc with a Mouth will be visiting the UK.

Here's the solicit:

DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #893

Written by ROB WILLIAMS
Penciled by MATTEO SCALERA
Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS
Heroic Age Variant by MATTEO SCALERA

TEAM-UP WITH CAPTAIN BRITAIN - Special Relationship

Cor Blimey guv'nor and, indeed, luv a duck. The fabled missing weapons haul of Captain Britain's old enemy Slaymaster has finally been discovered, which sends Deadpool, and every other mercenary with air miles to cash in, to jolly old England in pursuit of a VERY large payday. But Captain Britain isn't just going to let the deadly Slaymaster tech hit the open market. That just wouldn't be cricket.
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$2.99

And I absolutely LOVE that Humberto Ramos cover (Although, yes, I know... Technically Deadpool is Canadian).

Many of you might be aware that I am a little scathing of explosion of Deadpool titles at the moment. But with this one I cannot complain. For those who are unaware of Slaymaster, he was one of Captain Britain's foes from back in his pre-Excalibur days. He was a killer. An Arab man who prided himself in the art of killing, and saw the near impervious Captain Britain as one hell of a challenge.

He was killed off in the 80s, during Jamie Delano's run on Captain Britain, where Brian ended up smashing his head in with a large rock, shortly after Slaymaster had blinded Psylocke (For those of you who always wondered why Psylocke had mechanical eyes when he first joined the X-Men - well, that's how that began).

In taking the time to acknowledge that little part of past continuity they have won me over. And as with Age of Heroes, all Captain Britain & MI13 fans you MUST pick up this book.

Sales clearly do talk to Marvel. And if the sales of those two issue leap purely through a connection to CB&MI13 it can only be a good thing.

Plus, I think it's safe to say, that this should be a lot of fun. A lot of quite silly, but genuine fun. And as long as you come into reading this one taking the tone from the cover, I'm sure it'll be worth your while.

Captain Britain & MI13 embrace the Age of Heroes

Coming slightly late to the party blogging this, but on Wednesday night Marvel announced that as part of their new status quo, 'The Heroic Age' as it is being called, they will be publishing a mini series showcasing some characters readers haven't seen for a while. But how impressed was I when I saw the actual cover? Take a look:



Well, yes, the usual Marvel candidates... Captain America, Spider-man, Iron Man, Thor... wait! Isn't that Captain Britain!?

Too right it is. And most of the rest of MI13 with him! The Black Knight (Top Left), Excalibur - Faiza Hussain (Bottom Right), Gloriana - Meggan Braddock (To the right of Doctor Voodoo) and Pete Wisdom (In front of him).

The Captain Britain & MI13 team of Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk, are doing a few page short story for this issue. And what's it about? Cornell told Newsarama:

Cornell: Well, two of them are absent, off doing something else while the rest of the team is being honoured by Steve Rogers at a reception. A good excuse to get up to something covert in New York. Pete is a bit cynical about this whole new sweetness and light business. But there’s one big thing I wanted to do here which is proper and fitting, and I’m really grateful to Tom (Brevoort) for letting me do it.

Okay, now I really want to know what that is!

The absent two would seem to be Spitfire and Blade. A shame as she obviously has a past connection with Steve Rogers (Captain America). As does Brian of course(The two of them even once drove the Red Skull from kidnapping Prime Minister James Callaghan and invading Britain back in the 70s).

Although what has a lot of people talking is that Newsarama have seen the solicits and raised the following question:

Newsarama: It says in the solicits that a member of MI:13 might be defecting to the United States! Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

Cornell: No!

Well, let's be honest, that would be a bit of a spoiler. It has concerned a few fans of the title though, who desperately want to see a new Captain Britain & MI13 series (Be that as a limited series or an ongoing). The thought that one member might depart? Well, that's not good news. Not at all.

But then again, MI13 HAS always had a rotational membership. All British heroes are members by default. And of course... even if a member were offered Avengers membership by Steve Rogers himself, they certainly don't have to take it.

Here's a link to the Age of Heroes interview on Marvel.com Click Me. And another to the one at Newsarama: And Me! for more information...

The other associated talking point this week, has been the teaser images for Ed Brubaker's new Secret Avengers title.

Ed Brubaker, of course, should know an awful lot about Steve Rogers. His Captain America run has become incredibly revered (Heck, I went out of my way to track down a copy of the first omnibus when I was in Florida the other year, and brought that back in my hand luggage). And given the way in which Marvel tends to use these 'Event' mini series titles to lead into other ongoing books they're launching, some people are wondering if there isn't a connection between the MI13 story in Age of Heroes - organised BY Steve Rogers - and the possible launch of Secret Avengers.

Because Steve is NOT the Captain America who will be appearing in Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers relaunch. That will be his former sidekick, Bucky Barnes. Which has led to a fair few people assuming that Rogers might, given Brubaker's past connection to the character, be masterminding this new Secret Avengers team.

The day after announcing that MI13 were going to be in Age of Heroes, and that one member might be considering defecting to an American team, the following image was put out:



Marvel have been putting out one silhouetted Secret Avenger team member a day, in this poster form. This was number 4 in the series.

And as a few people online have pointed out, that silhouette is kind of flying in a pretty Captain Britain-esque pose...

Looking at the head of the figure, sure, Brian left the helmet behind at the start of Captain Britain and MI13. But if he were to be wearing it again, and a costume more similar to his New Excalibur costume...


Well... they're not a million miles apart now, are they?

And while some people thought it might actually be War Machine, the teaser image today almost definitely IS War Machine. Click Me So, you never now...

Don't you just love Speculation Season, eh? :)

Yeah, it'll probably all turn out to be nothing. But it's a damned good discussion while it lasts... ;)

Four appearances for Captain Britain & MI13 in 2010?

Spotted this morning on Paul Cornell's Twitter Feed:


Yes, I know... that's not much to go on, but that does at least sound promising. Four appearances is most definitely better than none.

This follows on from a question which Marvel's Tom Brevoort answered on Comic Book Resources Marvel Comics forum, last week:


Discuss. ;)

Another Marvel UK cameo of last week.

Another day, another Blog. I'm going to keep this up for just as long as I can.

One Marvel UK related cameo last week, which I failed to mention the other day, came courtesy of the former creative team of Captain Britain & MI13 - Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk.

Both are currently writing a Dark X-Men limited series for Marvel, a spin-off from Matt Fraction's Dark Avengers and Uncanny X-Men crossover event this summer. The basic principle being that now Norman Osborn is running the replacement for SHIELD he wants his own X-Men team, as well as his own Avengers, to control the mutant population of Marvel's Earth.

The team has changed a little since the crossover, but I really like what Cornell and Kirk have been doing here. The team now consists of Mystique (The original unscrupulous shape-shifting mutant) , Dark Beast (Henry McCoy's twisted Dr Mengele-esque doppelgänger from the Age of Apocalypse universe), The Mimic (The silver age guy who absorbed and copied the original 5 X-Men's powers) and Omega (The guy who siphons and uses mutants' powers when he comes in contact with them. Although he's better know for killing the entire of Alpha Flight in Bendis' New Avengers ;D).




The main crux if the story is a PR exercise to make this team look good in front of the cameras. Which is great, because (While they are not wearing them in that cover image above) the team are decked out in costumes looking very similar to those the original five X-Men wore in the original incarnation of X-Factor.

With Mimic looking like The Angel (With those big feathered wings).

With Dark Beast... well looking like The Beast.

With Omega, head covered by a cowl, looking a bit like Cyclops from a distance.

And with Mystique having used her shape-changing abilities to take on the physical appearance of Jean Grey.

The PR exercise, I'm sure it will surprise you, turns out to be a bit more than they bargained for. Largely centred around the 'Mutant Shaman' Nate Grey, who hasn't been seen since he was forced to dissipate his body at the end of Warren Ellis' brilliant run on his title ('X-Man') in 2001.

Nate's powers are nearly god-like in level. And he's slowly piecing himself back together. He's also got a lot of catching up to do. It won't have escaped may people's attentions that there have been a lot of things going on in Marvel's shared Universe. Reality warps, Civil Wars, alien invasions... So what does he do? Use those high level telepathic powers to do a bit of psychic 'reading up' to fill in the blanks.

It's what I'D do.

And what do we see amongst the flashbacks...?


Did you spot it? Top left!

Brian Braddock, wielding Excalibur (The sword obviously, not Faiza Hussain), kicking the crap out of that big Magic Skrull, in The Guns of Avalon!

It really does rightly deserve its place in the greater tapestry of Secret Invasion, obviously, but it's great to see the series creators getting a chance for a little cameo like this.

If you were a fan of the Captain Britain & MI13 team you really should be picking up this book. It's great to see the old team working together and this series is a lot of fun.

One more thing, at the point I had intended to post this Blog up I was going to mention that Paul Cornell was doing a 12 hour Q and A session on Twitter. However, unfortunately, I understand that he has had to cut this short. Because he's gone over the limit for the number of updates Twitter allows a user to post in a 24 hour period. Now THAT is dedication!

More info, and a selection of the questions he was asked/answered to day can be found here: Click Here.

That's it for today.

More tomorrow.

Sword.

For one last time... IT'S CAP WEDNESDAY!

That's right people. Wednesday the 22nd (Or Thursday the 23rd in the UK) sees the release of Captain Britain & MI13 #15. The finale of the Vampire State arc, and the final issue of the series. Sob. :(

But I don't want to get bogged down in bemoaning Marvel for cancelling it, or finding reasons as to why. The bottom line is that we've had 15 issues, and 1 Annual, of a consistently good British based superhero title. And it was everything we could have asked for. Cleverly written, well characterised, brilliantly drawn, humour where it should be, and dark when it needed to be. What more could you want?

Well, fans of this Blog and of Marvel UK in general affix your eyes on that cover. Memorise it, and hunt it down this week. Because you will find some pleasing cameos in this final issue, which you simply will not want to miss. Get down to your local comics purveyor. ASAP. ;D

It's been a blast. And once more I'd like to take the chance to thank Paul Cornell, Leonard Kirk and Nick Lowe for giving us this title - one which will be remembered very fondly by this Blog, and Marvel UK fans in general, for a good many years to come.

Added in with Cornell's Wisdom series we'll have 4 trade volumes of the way British Marvel stories should be told. So next time somebody tells you that all British Marvel stories are corny, and terribly stereotyped, you can tell them 'Not always. Read these...'.

Spread the word folks. There remains quite a dedicated fan base for this book, and I'm sure those fans won't just disappear. Who knows we may yet see this book again some day.