Profile: Captain Britain

Real Name: Brian Braddock

Aliases: Brittanic

Class: Extra-dimensional human hybrid, magically augmented via suit

Major Affiliations: King Arthur, The Corps, Merlyn, S.T.RI.K.E., Excalibur, Jackdaw.

Major Enemies: Red Skull, Fury, Dr. Synne, Mastermind, Mad Jim Jaspers, Crazy Gang, Hauptmann Englande, Slaymaster.


Powers: Super Strength (100 tons), Flight, Energy Storage.

First Appearance: Captain Britain Weekly #1

Brian Braddock is the older twin brother of Elizabeth and younger sibling to elder brother Jamie. Unkown to his children, thier father was actually a native to the other-dimensional Otherworld and agent of its ruler Merlyn.

Braddock fought crime and injustice in the UK for many years battling against his Major Enemies alongside S.T.R.I.K.E., Nick Fury, Captain America and Spiderman. Surviving a fall from a plane into the Atlantic Ocean he spent several amnesiac months living as hermit on the coast of Cornwall before Merlyn sent the Black Knight to awaken his memories and bring him to Otherworld.

There Brian battled the forces of Necromon aiding in the revival of King Arthur. Arthur then dispatched him back to Earth with a new ally, Jackdaw, saying that he had another, greater, task to undertake.

With his costume and powers transformed en-route, Captain Britain and Jackdaw landed in a Britain run by a facist regime. In the ensuing battle first Jackdaw and then Britain himself died at the hand of Fury, a cyborb designed by Jaspers to be the ultimate super-human killer.

Merlyn rebuilt Britain from his remains (a rag, a bone, a hank of hair) and returned him to his own dimension, unaware of his death as part of the "Captain Britain Corps".

Facing Jaspers once again, Braddock turned Fury against his maker, draining him sufficiently for Captain Britain and Captain UK to finally bring Jaspers to account.

Afterward Braddock continued to adventure as Captain Britiain and soon encountered Meggan, his future fiance. Briefly retiring, Braddock's sister "Betsy" took command of his role and suit.

Her death at the hand of Slaymaster plunged Brian into a drunken depression that only Meggan could revive him from. Forming the super-hero team Excalibur, Captain Britain re-emerged, defeating and imprisoning Slaymaster before marrying Meggan and returning to Otherworld as Gaurdian of the Multiverse.

Comic Heroes

Recently reconoitering the hallowed pages of 2000AD I identified a recent launch, specifically that of Comic Heroes.
A new UK based Comics magazine, produced by the publishers of SFX, the first issue weighed in at a hefty £8.99 but provided plenty of material to review.

Pulling no punches the first issue provides a double sided A0 poster, with the new Batman and Robin artwork on the reverse, Wolverine Origins comic, 2000 AD fridge magnets and 130 perfectly bound pages of Future Publishing best.
First impressions are, as one might expect, of a quality publication with potential regular slots such as Your Guide to...., The Art of...., Retrospective...., Comic Icons as well as all of the necessary News and Reviews.

The reviews themselves come across with great integrity, written by recognised "names", giving clear reasoning and a good feel of the reviewed product.
This months guide was How to Write for Comics and very revealing to myself, as a grunt GI, discussing story arcs and pacing via three part scenes.

As a recent returnee to the Fanboy fold it did an excellent job of reminding me of some of the stips that I devoured as a youth as well as highlighting some on the newer titles that have escaped my attention.

Despite being a UK publication a worldview is provided with a strong movie cross-over theme with Iron Man, Kick Ass and Superman featuring heavily in this first issue. My feeling is that this may a little mainstream for some and it is fair to offer "something for everyone". The second issue is due on Tuesday 15th June and it will be interesting to see if the bias shifts at all. I understand that further publication will depend on sales figures but I had to look high and low to find my copy so there seems to be plenty of take-up.

Comic Heroes shall remain securely within my sights.

Back to the Future

On a recent recce to London's Science Museum I discovered a particuarly interesting upper hall exhibit that I hadn't expected in a great number of ways.

In brief, the premis of the exhibition is that post war Britain had actively looked towards a new, gleaming technological future as a reaction to the oppressive background of the Cold War

So closely following the long years of post-war rationing and austertiy this stuck a chord with Frank Hampson who created Dan Dare, cutting a technicolour dash across across the pages of Eagle comic.

The quality of the display was excellent. Interspersed amongst various examples of 50s and 60s industrial, cold war and labour saving technologies were the vivid front covers of Dan Dare's fantastic adventures.

Sheer cathartic escaspism.

Surrounded by Vulcans, Minis an Cappucino makers it suddenly struck me where Thunderbirds, Forbidden Planet and The Voice of the Mysterons sprang from and why.

Art is a reflection of it's time. Comics are a reflection of thier time. Comics are ART.