BRITAIN PREVAILS - Captain Britain & MI13 Appreciation PART II

[tony ingram]

Lord Hawk? The Manipulator? The Highwayman...?

Okay, so they're not ALL good. :)

I thought ol' Basil Crushstone had a lot of untapped potential! He brainwashed the Queen into invading an African nation-how many bad guys can honestly say that?

[OJSlaughter]

Meggan and Brian's relationship works because they are never shown together any more. In the Otherworld Arc, she was away from him for most of it for instance

______

Lord Hawk! Ha, my god that was pure Silver Age Cheese!

[Panic]

Meggan's not been the same since CB's mag ended and Excalibur happened. I miss the relationship they were developing then, but after the way they were both portrayed in Excalibur (the Romantic Misadventures of Bully and Doormat!) I'm not sure I care anymore. Really Brian is such a nice guy and a straight-shooter (when he's written right) I think he's got more chemistry when paired with someone cold, manipulative and ruthless like Saturnyne - that's an odd couple pairing that's interesting, imo.

[OJSlaughter]

I like her, even though when she goes into 'super devoted to Brian' mode, she annoys the shit out of me.

She has plenty of potential to be more, we just need the right writer to approach her.

[Guest_1001]

I am sorry, I know it is blasphemous but could we drop Otherworld? It is dding him no favours.

Seconded! I'm afraid I'm not a fan of Otherworld. I think it removes a relateable aspect of Cap that people like Alan Moore and Paul Cornell have made the most of.

[Panic]

Seconded! I'm afraid I'm not a fan of Otherworld. I think it removes a relateable aspect of Cap that people like Alan Moore and Paul Cornell have made the most of.

Thirded!

I think it can be an interesting place to explore (like in the UK Black Knight strip), but I don't think the whole Dungeons & Dragons stuff does Brian any favours. I don't like him in a position of authority either - I like him best in anti-authoritarian mode, the little guy fighting the good fight.

[tony ingram]

Thirded!

I think it can be an interesting place to explore (like in the UK Black Knight strip), but I don't think the whole Dungeons & Dragons stuff does Brian any favours. I don't like him in a position of authority either - I like him best in anti-authoritarian mode, the little guy fighting the good fight.

"Little guy"!!? He's almost seven feet tall!!!

[Gallifrey]

I am sorry, I know it is blasphemous but could we drop Otherworld? It is dding him no favours.

Seconded! I'm afraid I'm not a fan of Otherworld. I think it removes a relateable aspect of Cap that people like Alan Moore and Paul Cornell have made the most of.

Thirded!

I think it can be an interesting place to explore (like in the UK Black Knight strip), but I don't think the whole Dungeons & Dragons stuff does Brian any favours. I don't like him in a position of authority either - I like him best in anti-authoritarian mode, the little guy fighting the good fight.

I kind of wish Jamie Delano had never thrown that "Your dad's from Otherworld" narrative grenade into the mix, and that Brian had remained a (relatively) normal bloke pressganged into becoming Captain Britain, rather than being 'born to it'. Because of that revelation, his character ever since has been defined and limited by his connection to Otherworld - not a great development, seeing as how ill - defined Otherworld itself was until recently.

If Kieron Gillen is building on Paul Cornell's ideas consistently, then Otherworld's 'redevelopment' ought to have some impact on CB's powers and his perceived role in relation to both \Britain and Otherworld. It'll be interesting to see if this does indeed happen.

[OJSlaughter]

Well Otherworld is kind of random, it is a creation of a nations subconscious.

In the end run, they need to get rid of Otherworld and the Captain Britain Corps. Simply blow up the place of something. I don't care how, just do it.

[Gallifrey]

Well Otherworld is kind of random, it is a creation of a nations subconscious.

In the end run, they need to get rid of Otherworld and the Captain Britain Corps. Simply blow up the place of something. I don't care how, just do it.

It's been tried, in this pushme - pullyou situation that the character seems eternally trapped in. One writer tries to off the Corps and distance Brian from Otherworld, another just brings the buggers back.

[OJSlaughter]

The threat to Otherworld always seems to come from Otherworld. The whole thing just distances the man from the main world, which is a shame because I really don't care about this imaginary world that much.

[Aelle3]

I have always been a fan of the Otherworld stuff, for me its just part of Cap and not something I would want to see disappear for good. However I would like it to remain in the background being used only sparsely, leaving Brian to defend his Britain.

[tony ingram]

Actually, Cor blimey is an evolution of Gorblimey, which in turn is a corruption of the old oath 'God oblige me', indicating a shocking and fearful development.

[The Sword Is Drawn]

I like her, even though when she goes into 'super devoted to Brian' mode, she annoys the shit out of me.

She has plenty of potential to be more, we just need the right writer to approach her.

I'd agree. Certainly later writers on Excalibur didn't have much of a clue what to do with her. I really liked where Paul Cornell seemed to be going with her on CB&MI13. Meggan was being fleshed out through that Annual and through that final arc. She was being given room to grow. Sadly, of course, she's not really been used much since.

Seconded! I'm afraid I'm not a fan of Otherworld. I think it removes a relateable aspect of Cap that people like Alan Moore and Paul Cornell have made the most of.

I would never want it gotten rid of. But I don't think that it should be ever-present. I would prefer that we had a story whereby Merlyn were to offer Brian 'The Keys to the Kingdom' as it were, and he turned him down, opting to protect his OWN world. I love the Corps, I love the concept of Otherworld (As Journey into Mystery continues to remind me), but it should be something Brian only interacts with when necessary.

I kind of wish Jamie Delano had never thrown that "Your dad's from Otherworld" narrative grenade into the mix, and that Brian had remained a (relatively) normal bloke pressganged into becoming Captain Britain, rather than being 'born to it'. Because of that revelation, his character ever since has been defined and limited by his connection to Otherworld - not a great development, seeing as how ill - defined Otherworld itself was until recently.

I do like that connection though. Because it throws up huge questions about Sir James, and his not being the man his children thought he was. The questions it raises are pretty interesting. What *was* his connection to the Hellfire Club? If Merlyn sent him to 616 to bring him an Heir for Otherworld, what does that make his children - natural birthed siblings or some kind of genetically engineered project?

The one thing Rick Remender IS doing that I'm so intrigued by in Secret Avengers is this concept of Sir James as 'Brother' and his involvement in releasing the equivalent of Blade Runner style synthetic humans out into the real world, unaware of what they are.

I think largely the problem with Delano's plot point is not so much that it devalues the characters in itself, it's more that it wasn't really explored by future writers for such a long time, and even then not so conclusively. But I do think it has some great potential.

If Kieron Gillen is building on Paul Cornell's ideas consistently, then Otherworld's 'redevelopment' ought to have some impact on CB's powers and his perceived role in relation to both \Britain and Otherworld. It'll be interesting to see if this does indeed happen.

By rights it *should*. But I guess that's something which would have to be picked up on in Secret Avengers. Hey, maybe it's our explanation for Brian's sudden change in personality? ;)

[tony ingram]

I'm still not seeing any change in personality. Just a reversion to type.

On a totally unrelated note, but simply because it's vaguely CB related: does anyone else really wish someone would bring back Kilgore Slaughter and Ralf the Time Traveler? Does anyone else even remember Timesmasher?