Comics Official CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI:13 Discussion Thread

[Valechan]

Was bored for a while at work today; started wiki-ing stuff, including Brian's bio, leading to Excalibur/TJ/Wisdom etc. As a result, some things dawned on me that are now making me seriously question it as a series worth reading.

Largely it revolves around dangling plot lines and jumpy stories. Bascially the whole series is "we did this, this happened, we did the next thing":

1) Psylocke returns from the dead much to Brian's joy, which was never touched upon after she died the first time. She dies again while teaming up with Brian (but really joins the Exiles), and he just assumes she's dead and starts the next adventure.

2) The Merlin who gave Brian his powers has been claimed to be the Arthurian Merlin - but during the Arthurian story with Dane, he doesnt even converse with the wizard, let alone anything else. The arc ends, nothing more is said.

Merlin is known for being duplicitous and is not above using mind control. Is it just so difficult to accept he was mind controlling Brian not to pry into his whereabouts? Besides, if that Merlin is truly Merlyn-Roma's dad (which was never truly confirmed), is he not his past self? Why would the past self of Merlyn know what's going on on present day Otherworld? There is also the distinct possibility Merlyn made everyone forget about his ressurrection, seeing as Brian never asked for him ever ever again not even when he was King of Otherworld.

3) TJ inexplicably has a stroke, spends an issue semi-recovering, and the whole team tells her she's part of the family/team. The arc ends, she's left in bed while they just get on with things without even a brief panel of her being visited or something. No one calls Kurt.

False, Sage calls the Institute and Emma tells her Kurt is in space. Check issue 16.

4) Juggernaut learns the truth of his origins and is given an ultimatum. He refuses to be what Cytorrak wants him to be, the team goes home and moves on; Cain retains his power despite Cytorrak being able to remove it just like that for disobeying.

Did we see him take the Gem? No. He could've said "well all right, I'll do your work, but I'll do it my way"

5) Roma promises she will rectify the mistake her father made with Albion - the old man aint around anymore but she's not even told anyone about the guy? Brian was ruler of Otherworld for crying out loud - bring the man up to speed when his arse hits the throne next time will ya!

I don't know if you noticed, but Roma doesn't tend to share her plans and goals with other people. She does what she must, and it is a burden she chooses to bear alone. If she didn't tell Brian about him there must be a reason. Wait until the story actually unfolds to complain about this.

6) Meggan's gone, Brian barely mourns; he moves on and doesnt bother making getting back to Otherworld any kind of priority.

Roma could easily "hex" Brian to not want to return, in order to keep him and Excalibur as reinforcements when the time is right. Wouldn't be the first time she did something like that.

7) Brian gives Lionheart her power, but appears to have lost any of his kingly powers so can't remove them to prevent her being a threat.

Brian gave Kelsey the chance to become Captain Britain because that was his job as King of Otherworld. No longer King, no longer has the job to empower or depower Captain Britains.

And my personal pet peeve:

8) There is still absolutely no clarification on Brian being a mutant, what powers are inherrent or purely suit or amplified by suit. No development or clarification of his powers other than rather lame and overused strength, speed, flight, durability (or is that forcefield, or a forcefield in addition to natural resilience, or a suit forcefield, or a mental forcefield? Who ever bloody knows!). Thats the best Merlin could come up with? A flying Juggernaut?

Notice that all Captain Britains share the same or very similar powers. If a Captain Britain has no powers of his own then he receives those granted by the suit, speed, flight, durability and strength. Linda McQuillan, Lionheart, Albion, all the Captains have that power. And if memory serves me right those are the powers of a certain "super"man from the distinguished competency.

I love having an English team. I love the whole premise behind Captain Britain, with its mythology ties and corps side story. The time travel arc could have been so massively well done and really opened up the background of the team and Otherworld's role in the Arthurian legend, but instead it was a fun little jaunt to fight dragons, have a feast and go home...

As I said, love the idea of Captain Britain, but the Captain himself really needs explaining once and for all. Instead of arcs for stories making up new stuff about thoroughly well rounded characters, how about taking the wishy washy ones and defining them? We dont need to know it was Charles who was sposed to be Juggernaut; it does nothing for Charles himself, and clearly it changes nothing about Cain's role in the grand scheme of things.

Have in mind that the Time Travel/Cyttorakk stories were fill ins and not planned by Claremont, who is the writer of the book and who, along with Alan Davis, better defined the Otherworld concepts first introduced by Alan Moore. I have faith that Claremont, now writing both Exiles and Excalibur will explain everything about Otherworld in the upcoming limited series that links both teams.

 

[anyjus]

Was bored for a while at work today; started wiki-ing stuff, including Brian's bio, leading to Excalibur/TJ/Wisdom etc. As a result, some things dawned on me that are now making me seriously question it as a series worth reading.

Largely it revolves around dangling plot lines and jumpy stories. Bascially the whole series is "we did this, this happened, we did the next thing":

1) Psylocke returns from the dead much to Brian's joy, which was never touched upon after she died the first time. She dies again while teaming up with Brian (but really joins the Exiles), and he just assumes she's dead and starts the next adventure. This will be addressed when we have the Exiles/New Excalibur Cross Over

2) The Merlin who gave Brian his powers has been claimed to be the Arthurian Merlin - but during the Arthurian story with Dane, he doesnt even converse with the wizard, let alone anything else. The arc ends, nothing more is said. Why would a immortal magician share any knowledge of the Crosstime with a time displaysed mortal?

3) TJ inexplicably has a stroke, spends an issue semi-recovering, and the whole team tells her she's part of the family/team. The arc ends, she's left in bed while they just get on with things without even a brief panel of her being visited or something. No one calls Kurt. Sage made a call to the Xavier Institute. Emma Frost informed Sage that Nightcrwaler was otherwise unavailable since he joined Xaviers Shiar Support Team

4) Juggernaut learns the truth of his origins and is given an ultimatum. He refuses to be what Cytorrak wants him to be, the team goes home and moves on; Cain retains his power despite Cytorrak being able to remove it just like that for disobeying. Juggernaut KNOWS his origin/history with Cytorrak. He knew he had to do Cytorrak's bidding. Juggernaut is still in possesion of the Gem of Cytorrak.

5) Roma promises she will rectify the mistake her father made with Albion - the old man aint around anymore but she's not even told anyone about the guy? Brian was ruler of Otherworld for crying out loud - bring the man up to speed when his arse hits the throne next time will ya!

6) Meggan's gone, Brian barely mourns; he moves on and doesnt bother making getting back to Otherworld any kind of priority. Captain Britain did mourn for Meggan in the first few issues of New Excalibur. I'm sure it will be touched on again.

7) Brian gives Lionheart her power, but appears to have lost any of his kingly powers so can't remove them to prevent her being a threat.

And my personal pet peeve:

8) There is still absolutely no clarification on Brian being a mutant, what powers are inherrent or purely suit or amplified by suit. No development or clarification of his powers other than rather lame and overused strength, speed, flight, durability (or is that forcefield, or a forcefield in addition to natural resilience, or a suit forcefield, or a mental forcefield? Who ever bloody knows!). Thats the best Merlin could come up with? A flying Juggernaut? Captian Britain is NOT a Mutant. The Braddock father was a Mystic from Otherworld. That is why Brian is a Mystic and Jamie and Betsy are Mutants. His uniform does provide him with a force field.

I love having an English team. I love the whole premise behind Captain Britain, with its mythology ties and corps side story. The time travel arc could have been so massively well done and really opened up the background of the team and Otherworld's role in the Arthurian legend, but instead it was a fun little jaunt to fight dragons, have a feast and go home...

As I said, love the idea of Captain Britain, but the Captain himself really needs explaining once and for all. Instead of arcs for stories making up new stuff about thoroughly well rounded characters, how about taking the wishy washy ones and defining them? We dont need to know it was Charles who was sposed to be Juggernaut; it does nothing for Charles himself, and clearly it changes nothing about Cain's role in the grand scheme of things.

Hope that clears things up

 

[chris moore]

You've both got me on the TJ thing Anyjus and Sebita. But all the answers to my Merlyn points are McGuffin ones - he cast a spell, mortal concerns are not Merlyn's concern, why would he tell Brian anything. This Brian, the 616 Brian, is the quintisential Brian, the one Merlyn chose the father of to be the man to bear a son who would one day rule otherworld. He's been ressurrected by Merlyn twice now, with changes and minor explanations each time - so no, I dont think its in either character to not give two hoots about the other.

I like that there's going to be a crossover between these two teams. Its probably the first one to make sense since Luna was captured by Cortez and both the X-Men and the Avengers had an actual reason for both being involved.

What I'm saying is that the gem was imbued with some of Cyttoraks power. If Juggs won't fulfil his role as avatar, then why would cytorrak continue to have a portion of his power in the gem?

The mourning thing bugs me simply because Brian isnt rising to the challenge of being a hero and a leader again, overcoming his loss and fighting back - he just started doing it. He turned to alcohol after far less loss/problems in the past.

I always thought he was the only sibling who wasnt a mutant (maybe what makes him the better choice for Merlyn, he's the closest to a pure otherworld physiology), but does his physiology absorb dimensional frictional energies and process them into physical power (hence no energy blast abilities), or does his body absorb them but the suit convert them into physical power, or does the suit do all the work? Does the suit enhance his natural/otherworld ability to absorb the energy so he can still absorb and convert it the further he is from the greatest concentration (Britain, or more specifically the lighthouse where the rift is)? Citizens of Otherworld - are they baseline humans from various earths who only reside in Otherworld, or was Braddock senior an extra dimensional being born in Otherworld? I'd say a human who resided in Otherworld cos an extradimensional being siring kids with a human would not result in mutant children (x-gene possessing at any rate), so none of the kids would be. But if he was a human who just lived there and moved here, then what makes his physiology (and Brian's) so special for Corps powers? If its not natural at all and in fact given completely by Merlin (and therefore a magical power as he was an apprentice of another Earth's sorcerer supreme), then why make it a power in a suit rather than an innate one with just a fancy uniform?

You see what I mean about clarification - I dont think anyone can properly answer those questions - too many conflicting accounts throughout the guy's publication history.

 

[Specter313]

NEW EXCALIBUR #22
Written by CHRIS CLAREMONT
Penciled by JEREMY HAUN
Cover by SCOT EATON
“Battle for Eternity” continues! Albion’s team has destroyed technology in England! The Excalibur team is on the ropes and Albion’s forces are growing! 32 PGS./Rated A …$2.99

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Any word on what's next after the Albion showdown?

 

[squeekness]

Hopefully something better because so far this arc has been the suckage....

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Yup, I'm 1 boring arc away from giving it the boot.

 

[Valechan]

Just got 18 and 19 and loved them!!!

HAve you guys noticed that issue 25 will ship in november just as issue 100 of Exiles does?? Methinks the crossover will come then...

 

[Havok83]

Just got 18 and 19 and loved them!!!

HAve you guys noticed that issue 25 will ship in november just as issue 100 of Exiles does?? Methinks the crossover will come then...

I thought the crossover was going to be a mini series?

 

[Valechan]

I think it's far too much coincidence that issues 25 and 100 come out the same month, a month who is supposedly also the month of the "big" X-Crossover... perhaps this issues will be the launch of the mini. Let us not forget that Excalibur was skipped one of these last months...

 

[Specter313]

A new writer coming up? Possibly:



[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]FOR CORNELL (SAY IT QUICKLY)[/FONT]

I understand that "Wisdom" author (you know, "Wisdom," the best current Marvel book that nobody bought?), "Doctor Who" Hugo nominee (and writer of the tip top "Human Nature" episode that just aired and the "Family Of Blood" episode airing next week), "Robin Hood" writer (he of the "I shot the sherriff" "No, you shot the deputy" line) and newly-appointed contributor to "Primeval's" second series (the cliffhanger episode of which did the kind of time travel logic that you wish "Doctor Who" would do and on that topic when will New Who get round to adapting Steven Moffat's "Continuity Errors" anyway?) Paul Cornell (see, I knew we'd get here eventually, I wonder what the rumour is, it had better be good after this build up, now where did I put my cheese?) is the new writer on Marvel Comics' "Excalibur".

And there's that sound again.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13

 

[Specter313]

New Excalibur #20 will arrive in stores on May 31 from Marvel Comics. The issue is written by Chris Claremont, with art and cover by Scot Eaton.

Here's how Marvel describes the issue:

"'Battle for Eternity,' part 3 of 7. The battle lines have been drawn! Captain Britain's most powerful enemy has declared war and is building an army. An army that now consists of New Excalibur's first foes, the Dark X-Men!"

New Excalibur #20 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.99.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Part 3 of 7

Jeez

 

[OutcryX]

What are sage's powers?

 

[squeekness]

A new writer coming up? Possibly:



[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]FOR CORNELL (SAY IT QUICKLY)[/FONT]

I understand that "Wisdom" author (you know, "Wisdom," the best current Marvel book that nobody bought?), "Doctor Who" Hugo nominee (and writer of the tip top "Human Nature" episode that just aired and the "Family Of Blood" episode airing next week), "Robin Hood" writer (he of the "I shot the sherriff" "No, you shot the deputy" line) and newly-appointed contributor to "Primeval's" second series (the cliffhanger episode of which did the kind of time travel logic that you wish "Doctor Who" would do and on that topic when will New Who get round to adapting Steven Moffat's "Continuity Errors" anyway?) Paul Cornell (see, I knew we'd get here eventually, I wonder what the rumour is, it had better be good after this build up, now where did I put my cheese?) is the new writer on Marvel Comics' "Excalibur".

And there's that sound again.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13

If CC leaves, I would consider buying this again. If it's Cornell and he is in fact the guy writing Wisdom (I might be the only one reading the book and I do really like it)I would definately buy it again.

 

[Kevin]

I just read issue 16-19, and I really liked Issues 16 and 17. 18 and 19 were meh.

 

[chris moore]

"Take them down my friends"? Oh, come on! There's cheesy comic garble, and there's CHEESY.

 

[Havok83]

I read that Claremont's last issue on this title is issue 24. Anyone else hear anything?

 

[anyjus]

THANK YOU. With Claremo gone maybe this book will get some decent material! Shadow X and Albion can only around for so long. Aside from him I do like the roster(trade Psylocke with Nocturne). It would be nice to see Excalibur interact with the X-Men sometime.

 

[Apprentice]

Is there any particular point that would be easy to jump back onto this book? I just kinda lost track of it after Psylocke's disappearance.

 

[Havok83]

Is there any particular point that would be easy to jump back onto this book? I just kinda lost track of it after Psylocke's disappearance.

thats when Claremont left. You can pick up the issue that he returned, issue 16 but I really wouldnt even recommend the book

 

[Apprentice]

It's not very good?

I might just start up again when Claremont leaves again.

 

[squeekness]

I read that Claremont's last issue on this title is issue 24. Anyone else hear anything?

Yay! .. if it's true.

THANK YOU. With Claremo gone maybe this book will get some decent material! Shadow X and Albion can only around for so long. Aside from him I do like the roster(trade Psylocke with Nocturne). It would be nice to see Excalibur interact with the X-Men sometime.

I agree. I want so much to kep reading this -- I am a Wisdom fan -- but CC's work is so drwan out and garbled I can't stand it. Albion? Who freakin' cares? *yawn*

It's not very good?

I might just start up again when Claremont leaves again.

We can start a club.

 

[Havok83]

It's not very good?

I might just start up again when Claremont leaves again.

the only time I liked NEX was when CC went on leave and Tieri took over. I liked it until the Juggernaut arc but then again I dont like the Juggernaut

 

[OutcryX]

Claremont is leaving this book?