Captain Britain and MI-13

[Doc Destruction]

Really sucks. People are idiots.

 

[The Englishman]

Id just like to thank all the ********s who did not buy this book but still kept buying ******** like 10 Wolverine books and the Incredible Hulk......

 

[bryanss3]

you mean HULK Incredible Hulk is coming back with a good writer soon, but I know what you mean.

 

[Dread]

Wow how shocked am I that readers are collective idiots who wouldn't know a good book if it walked up to them and slit their throats.

No I'm not madding why does you ask?

It's okay to be madding.

You know what would make Captain Britain sell. If they relaunched it as Britain's Avengers or any title with Avengers in the name. I really feel like Captain Britain and the rest of the cast excluding Blade(everyone knowns him) are very unknown characters to a lot of marvel fans. I think people don't really care about characters they aren't familiar with. People who have read Excalibur support this title, but anyone who hasn't read it probably won't give this a chance or they think it's just another X-book because of Excalibur. I really wish this wasn't canceled. Lets just hope someone good uses the characters so they're not just sitting in comic limbo.

"AVENGERS: U.K."? I am morbidly curious if that would sell as a relaunch with the same creative team. I mean, AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE is the lowest selling Avengers ongoing title right now, and it's still selling about 45-50k average (or, nearly triple what CB&MI13 was selling for months). There is a part of me that thinks it wouldn't work for long, and another that wonders if it would, at least for another year.

Honestly, I think what hurt it was that this was, essentially, the third stab at an EXCALIBUR like team within the least 3-5 years. Claremont's popularity stock dwindled on his last two stabs at EXCALIBUR and I think it weakened the popularity of the token "British superhero team" book in general. That, or sadly it was the one book that launched in the midst of SECRET INVASION that couldn't sustain debut sales for long, much like THE ORDER launching out of the Initiative (which, had Fraction not chosen to end it at issue #10, likely wouldn't have made it much farther than issue #12-18 anyway). Part of me thinks that retailers saw it as a third go at British heroes in Joe Q's tenure, especially after Jemas left, readers weren't especially taken and they kept cutting orders, treating it as more of EXCALIBUR. But, sadly, sometimes good books die.

Some books just don't sell very well. AGENTS OF ATLAS was launched in the middle of DARK REIGN and Marvel pushed it heavily in house ads, and while it's outselling the original mini, it's hardly lighting the shelves on fire, either.

I also doubt Claremont himself would have aided things. His writing style has adapted poorly to the 21st century. His appeal with X-Men projects is usually barely above the cancellation point; maybe 25-35k. His appeal with anything else is almost non-existent now. He ran NEW EXILES into the ground in about a year. His BIG HERO 6 mini produced some of the lowest sales ever for a mainstream Marvel mini, the later issues barely selling in the Top 275-300. Besides, I like the Cornell & Kirk book, and it is a shame more of us didn't.

Depressing news

Indeed.

Really sucks. People are idiots.

"Mainstream readers", the "silent majority", apparently don't always have high standards in comics.

Id just like to thank all the ********s who did not buy this book but still kept buying ******** like 10 Wolverine books and the Incredible Hulk......

Yeah, it is appalling to see HULK score over 80k sales on days like this.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Someone on the Newsarama blog post about this said that MI-13's cancellation makes him think there may actually be an inverse relationship between a comic's quality and its sales.

 

[Dread]

Someone on the Newsarama blog post about this said that MI-13's cancellation makes him think there may actually be an inverse relationship between a comic's quality and its sales.

I'm not sure. There have been plenty of mediocre and occasionally bad books that died; BLADE is an easy example. However, if a book has a perfect storm of factors, including:

- A-List creative team
- Extensive promotion
- The entire line of the company stresses how "important" it is, and that is actually backed up
- Features a character/franchise that already has an extensive fanbase and/or name recognition
- Develops it's own buzz
- Caters to some lowest common denominator, usually male appealing violence

Then it likely will sell well. Books with only 1 or even 3 out of these six traits may not quite cut it.

 

[RockSP]

There have been plenty of mediocre and occasionally bad books that died; BLADE is an easy example.

On multiple occasions.

 

[Dread]

April 2009's sales figures are in, and CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 #12 literally sold 8 copies shy of 20k. While that is quite low, it is a higher number than the 17k that it sold in March. It could be because of a variant cover, if there was one, or because 12th issues symbolize a year, and sometimes those, along with issue numbers that are multiplies of 5, sometimes stores up orders. Some retailers at THE BEAT claimed that Marvel sometimes shipped them extra copies of this book to boost Diamond numbers and/or dump some spare issues they overprinted. Still, it seems to me that sales on this book were hardly stable; as low as 17k one month and as high as about 20k on others. Perhaps it could have been saved, but it is a moot point.

The question will be if Marvel feels it is worth a relaunch, as RUNAWAYS once got, or if they want to position Cornell onto "bigger" books.

 

[chamber-music]

From CBR issue 13 review

As I write this review, “Captain Britain” has literally just been announced as cancelled. It’s sad that a book this good failed to find its audience, since it provided an excellent mix of traditional superheroics the likes of which very few books are doing anywhere near as brilliantly.

But still, it’s not over yet -- there’s still going to be at least one more trade to collect, and it’s going to contain this issue -- the most recent installment of "Vampire State" -- and you’re going to want to buy it because it’s the title’s most ambitious storyline yet, a virtual roller coaster of action and characterization.

After a slow start to the arc, Cornell opens the floodgates within this issue, and by the end has already slammed them shut again -– the threat manages to feel both overwhelmingly huge and distinctly personal as the members of MI-13 make a stand against Dracula and his masses, resulting in some devastatingly realistic results, given the odds.

Although Cornell’s virtual decimation of his cast would seem to be a fake-out, there’s no way to be certain -- especially following the cancellation announcement. It’s good, as well, to see him tackle the perennial problem of shared superhero universes by having the Mighty Avengers make a cameo. The issue ends on such a bleak final note that nobody with a heart could resist the next issue to see how they claw things back. It’s rare that a situation feels as genuinely hopeless in comics as the one Cornell has crafted.

Guest pencils on the issue come from Adrian Syaf, who does well with the material he’s given. It’s not as detailed or restrained as regular artist Leonard Kirk’s work is, but the slightly sketchier, expressive look seems appropriate for the chaotic nature of the issue. The departure from the book’s established style isn’t radical, but it is noticeable if you’re used to Kirk’s work -- still, Kirk has managed an impressively long run on the title, so it’s hard to begrudge him this one break.

There’s very little left to say about “Captain Britain.” The critical success might not have been matched by the title’s sales, but at least we can be sure that even if the book’s sales have failed, the members of creative team have not. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that Cornell will be free to bring his finely honed writing to other, more popular books.

I've been calling it for years Blade is a Jinx. The character kills every comic his in and in this one he was actually been written better than he has in since his Tomb Of Dracula days. Blade can't catch a break.

Damn no wonder comics are dying when even the good ones can't sell.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

I think I can sum up why this book has been canceled and had poor sales in one sentence. It's got BRITAIN in the title. I would imagine a lot of Americans would just laugh at the idea of Captain Britain, especially in this day and age.

"Hey they are trying to rip off Captain America!! America rulez!!!!111111 Hoo-Raa!!!"

 

[chamber-music]

I didn't want to say it but I got that feeling some people might not of wanted to pick up the book because it had Captain Britain and a giant Union Jack on the cover half the time and I could see some people thinking either

Oh its about Britain i ain't gonna understand this book because its gonna be all about Britain when actully I thought it was pretty accessable although I'm sure our American and Canadian cousins on Hype could probabley say if it was or wasn't more than I could.

Or people could just be Xenophobic or anti-british for some reason

The previous Excalibur titles where not as overtly British than CB:MI13 was.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Well I ain't afraid to say. A LOT of Americans hate us, for some reason. And I'd imagine that when your average American walks into a comic store he isn't gonna like the look or premise of a book called CAPTAIN BRITAIN.

That isn't me being racist or whatever before anyone chimes in. That's me being realistic.

 

[Manic]

We don't hate the British. We love you, and your hot movie stars. You gave us the current Batman, James Bond, and a few cool gangster films. Some of us are suckers for your English and Scottish accents. You're practically our only ally right now.

But I'll keep it real. The average American comic reader would probably laugh at the idea of there being a Captain Britain. The name makes him sound like a rip-off of Captain America (even though I guess that'd be Captain Midlands).

We're also notoriously domestic-centric about our entertainment. While so many of our TV programs air on places like Channel 4 or any one of the BBCs, you have to go to cable or the rarely-watched "public television" to find a British program on American TV. Even the Canadian programs we watch here have to take place in America or involve a few actors changing the way they pronounce words so we won't catch on.

 

[yenaled]

It was selling like hotcakes in England.

But we're hardly a big territory

 

[TheCorpulent1]

We don't hate the British. We love you, and your hot movie stars. You gave us the current Batman, James Bond, and a few cool gangster films. Some of us are suckers for your English and Scottish accents. You're practically our only ally right now.

But I'll keep it real. The average American comic reader would probably laugh at the idea of there being a Captain Britain. The name makes him sound like a rip-off of Captain America (even though I guess that'd be Captain Midlands).

We're also notoriously domestic-centric about our entertainment. While so many of our TV programs air on places like Channel 4 or any one of the BBCs, you have to go to cable or the rarely-watched "public television" to find a British program on American TV. Even the Canadian programs we watch here have to take place in America or involve a few actors changing the way they pronounce words so we won't catch on.

Vancouver = every major American city, fictional or otherwise.

 

[chamber-music]

In the states when they want a general American city on the cheap they use Vancouver.

In the UK they use Ireland (for english countryside, they get tax breaks), Prague/Budapest (old fashioned London or medeival england, its cheaper than filming in the UK) and Isle Of Man(cheap).

I remember being in America and not knowing what the hells going on in the rest of the world so I can understand Manic's point about being domestic-centric.

I can't even think of a good canadian Tv show

 

[Union Jack]

i think it'd be good if maybe the avengers when this dark reign thing is over became an international group.
Instead of soley american for the most part heroes....after all they protect the world.
it makes sense they could even be sanctioned by the UN.

Hmm...might make a thread on this one..

 

[RockSP]

i think it'd be good if maybe the avengers when this dark reign thing is over became an international group.
Instead of soley american for the most part heroes....after all they protect the world.
it makes sense they could even be sanctioned by the UN.

This was done during Geoff Johns' brief run. The female Captain Britain joined the group soon after, under another writer.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Maybe the team will still be active after the series ends and Slott will have a team-up with the Mighty Avengers someday. He and Cornell clearly liked each other's work.

 

[Union Jack]

the female captain britain was a stupid idea.

 

[RockSP]

You sexist pig you.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I thought the female Captain Britain (what's she called now?) was cool. Nice counterpoint to Brian.

 

[yenaled]

Captain Wales.

 

[The Englishman]

I thought the female Captain Britain (what's she called now?) was cool. Nice counterpoint to Brian.

She was called Lionheart

 

[The Englishman]

We don't hate the British. We love you, and your hot movie stars. You gave us the current Batman, James Bond, and a few cool gangster films. Some of us are suckers for your English and Scottish accents. You're practically our only ally right now.

But I'll keep it real. The average American comic reader would probably laugh at the idea of there being a Captain Britain. The name makes him sound like a rip-off of Captain America (even though I guess that'd be Captain Midlands).

We're also notoriously domestic-centric about our entertainment. While so many of our TV programs air on places like Channel 4 or any one of the BBCs, you have to go to cable or the rarely-watched "public television" to find a British program on American TV. Even the Canadian programs we watch here have to take place in America or involve a few actors changing the way they pronounce words so we won't catch on.

It does'nt feel like that sometimes......