CAPTAIN BRITAIN & MI13 #3 - Spoilers!

**madrox1977** · 07-10-2008, 06:33 AM

Once again seems the best comic this week was set in Britain, this story was brilliant......

London:
We start off with an unnamed Skrull [Dr Strange robes] doing his churchill-esque speech to his troops, he then grants them extra strength thanks to the Pendragon force. He turns his attention across the Thames towards the Houses of Parliament and the combined forces of some of the British army, Black Knight and Faiza Hussain.

Some commander type is telling his troops and Dane and Faiza about how the skrulls cant be allowed to gain control of Parliament as they could go on TV and say they have won [although I would imagine them kicking arse across the uk is a big hint they already might have]. Dane tells Faiza to run but she stays asking "do super heroes run?" Dane continues about the sword, and how it could have turned him to stone, but hasn’t so skrull blood mustn't count.

Otherworld:
Pete is being held by skrulls and needs an evacuation, which spitfire does, they have a chat about Pete’s voice telling him he needs to make a sacrifice, Spitfire says do it and rushes back to help john the skrull who is defending the sword Excalibur [and yes I know the sword in the stone isn’t meant to be Excalibur but this was explained in the second issue].

The next two pages switch between Dr Strange skrull leading his troops across parliament bridge [don’t live in London so don’t know if that’s its name] and Tink and her father battling skrulls in Otherworld.

Pete follows his "voice" to a rather large ominous door and the voice commands him to open it, which he reluctantly does. At this point several demons are seen escaping from the doorway I recognised Cyttorak [Juggernauts god] and Lillith [I’m sure the sword is drawn will do a better job of naming these characters].

Finally Merlin appears, it would seem that during the fight with the fury [in die by the sword?] he was stabbed by the fury and by plucking the shard out he removed all evil from within him. Pete has brilliant banter with him "I am Merlin" to which he replies "Mate, after all that I would be too pleased if you weren't". The chat a bit and Merlin reveals he is going to revive a hero and sends Pete to sleep.

Merlin then appears in the Uk in the centre of it [which according to wiki (meaning it’s probably wrong) this is Walley in Lancashire]. Merlin slams his staff into the ground and hands come out and a loud screams is heard, which is heard both in otherworld and across the Uk. Union flags [it’s not the union jack unless it’s on a boat apparently] fly across the country towards the emerging body and wrap around it.

Back in other world a shadow appears in the cave with john the skrull and spitfire "its him" then cut to Tink and her father fighting the skrulls look upward and Oberon shouts "its him, it is hope for magic".
Cut back to London where Dr Strange skrull is making short work of the army, Dane attacks him is knocked out, then he grabs Faiza and is doing his usual villain monologuing about how Britain is useless and whines all the time and never does anything about anything, when he is struck from behind, and the final page is so good I’m putting it in a different colour in case you don’t want to know, Brian stands there holding Excalibur in new outfit, skrull Dr Strange laying at his feet and says "we just don’t like to make a fuss"

Loved every minute of this story, and can’t wait for the next issue. Cornell is a genius; the art is brilliant just about my favorite comic at the moment. Skrulls in this are far more sinister than in the main SI book, in my opinion.
Sure Sword is drawn will add things I haven’t mentioned but I’m hoping he does to be honest.

**CMBMOOL** · 07-10-2008, 07:00 AM

Maybe this will be picked up in SI main.

**Splatt** · 07-10-2008, 07:23 AM

Wait a minute. Issue #4???

Isn't it #3?

**fitditz** · 07-10-2008, 07:36 AM

It is #3

**madrox1977** · 07-10-2008, 08:22 AM

Damn it was so focused on doing a review that i got the number wrong hahaha

**alveraz** · 07-10-2008, 09:27 AM

I think it was Ed Brubaker that recommended this comic in one of his books, I've been putting it off but I better go get me some Captain Britain now, looks like I'm missing out :)

**The Sword Is Drawn** · 07-10-2008, 10:32 AM

This issue was nothing short of brilliant. I was incredibly pleased to see that at least in part my theory from last issue was right. It WAS Merlyn in Wisdom's head, and he has brought Brian back from the dead. But at what cost? Merlyn has put Wisdom to sleep. What exactly that might mean, we'll have to wait and see. I hope it's not the ultimate sacrifice.

Other important stuff:

*Merlyn is locked away behind that door we saw Oberon refer to last issue. But it appears that to some degree this was his own intention. And as he points out Otherworld no longer has a Guardian to hold him imprisoned there (Roma is dead, Brian is... well, Claremont took the Guardianship away from Brian, off-panel, three years back, now).

*The Daemons who escape? Well, I don't really recognise them. One certainly does look like Cyttorak, but I don't think that it could be. Maybe somebody on here who has a copy fancies looking them up?

*Upon being released by Wisdom Merlyn appears in his skull cap persona. And he states that he is no longer mad. He refers directly to the dark part of his soul having overtaken him, leading him to even murder his own daughter, but that part of him is gone now. He states that during X-Men: Die by the Sword a part of the Fury pierced his side and became lodged there. Over time he directed all the darkness in him out of his body and into that shard. He then smashes the shard.

What does this mean? Well, Merlyn may no longer be evil. Although he may also be lying. We can never be sure. But he is BACK. And I suspect that at the end of this arc he will be ruling Otherworld again.

*Merlyn then travels to the centre of Britain (Note for Madrox1977: It really isn't too important to the story, but there are several places which CLAIM to be the centre point of Britain. And who is to say any are wrong or right. You try finding the centre of a land mass which is so odd and irregular in shape!

) And smashes the ground. All across the country we watch as Union Flags tear themselves from flagpoles and soar across the land, wrapping a form, newly emerging from the ground, like a nationalised mummy.

Merlyn states that no longer will this man be uncertain, or one of many - like the Union Flag he will be one thing that contains many! Read into that what you WILL, but I'm thinking that with all but a handful of the Captain Britain Corps having been slaughtered during X-Men: Die by the Sword, Merlyn could be making Brian the ONLY Captain Britain - or at least holding the power of all those fallen Captains in one form.

And the potential impact of that could be immense.

I like the new costume - It's very reminiscent of the one Brian's father wore, and passed down to him in Excalibur vol 2. Only without the Lion Motif. In that story Brian was told that he WAS 'Excalibur'. Now he even has the Sword to prove it. And while this doesn't mean the Skrulls are done for, yet, it certainly moves the tide in their favour.

I really hope that Dane is only stunned. I wasn't too sure what happened in that panel, but I think Faiza stepped in. The dialogue would suggest that. I loved the way that the Skrull Sorcerer Supreme tore into the British mindset. It was a fair assessment, and one I'm sure American readers will agree on.

I hope Tink survived that final push, too. Pete's final words suggested that he thought she fell, and that he may have cared for her a little more than we'd been led to believe.

I also really liked the way in which John the Skrull (Not 'Skrull John' as half of Marvel's PR keeps calling him) refused to die wearing a Skrull face. The 'I could go Spartacus on you' line made me laugh.

A lot more serious in tone than the previous issues, but the way in which this built to crescendo was so incredibly well-timed and fitting that nobody could seriously complain.

Like I've said before... If only the rest of Secret Invasion could play at this Level or in this Gear...

**Britannic** · 07-10-2008, 10:54 AM

Brilliant. no other word can describe this issue. I agree with everything stated above. I also love how Cornell can take duff Marvel continuity (see New Excalibur and Die by the Sword) and turn it into something so good. The deconstruction of Britain and Brittishness was spot on as was Brian's retort at the end. This is quite possible the best book I have read in a long time. When in my opinion so much is going wrong within the Marvel world this is a beacon of hope.

Still not sure what Fazias powers are but I am sure that will become apparent soon.

**The Sword Is Drawn** · 07-10-2008, 10:58 AM

For anybody who fancies trying to spot who all the other evils escaping from Merlyn's prison ARE, well here ya go (Although I apologize for the grainy quality of my scanner):

**Death's Head 2.0** · 07-10-2008, 11:21 AM

Haven't got a clue who any of those nasties are, but I just wanted to say that this issue was AWESOME! I've wanted a proper British book for what seems like forever, and finally this seems like it is it.

The big guy on the left looks like some kind of messed up version of the Juggernaut.

**Loki** · 07-10-2008, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by The Sword Is Drawn

For anybody who fancies trying to spot who all the other evils escaping from Merlyn's prison ARE, well here ya go (Although I apologize for the grainy quality of my scanner):

Red guy is Cyttorak, the being that empowered Juggernaut (hence looking not dissimilar), cleavage woman next to him is Lillith (mother of demons, not Dracula's daughter), green guy with mouth on abdomen is Satannish, woman below him is Umar, tentacled green guy is Shuma Gorath. Don't think the others are specific, seen-before, creatures.

**Britannic** · 07-10-2008, 11:30 AM

As stated in the first post of this thread I do think two of em Cyttorak Juggernaucts god and Lillith.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyttorak

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith_%28Marvel_Comics%29

some of the others I have seen but can't place sorry.

**The Sword Is Drawn** · 07-10-2008, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by Loki

Red guy is Cyttorak, the being that empowered Juggernaut (hence looking not dissimilar), cleavage woman next to him is Lillith (mother of demons, not Dracula's daughter), green guy with mouth on abdomen is Satannish, woman below him is Umar, tentacled green guy is Shuma Gorath. Don't think the others are specific, seen-before, creatures.

Thanks Loki. The only one I recognised was Cyttorak (The look is pretty distinctive).

The implications of releasing these characters could be very interesting. They've just been let out into the metaphysical melting pot of the British collective conscious. Imagine what impact that could have, if any one of these entities started getting into ALL those civillian minds...?

**Loki** · 07-10-2008, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by The Sword Is Drawn

Thanks Loki. The only one I recognised was Cyttorak (The look is pretty distinctive).

The implications of releasing these characters could be very interesting. They've just been let out into the metaphysical melting pot of the British collective conscious. Imagine what impact that could have, if any one of these entities started getting into ALL those civillian minds...?

Oh, there will be repercussions, to be sure...