![]() ![]() The remainder of this book features the repurposed Captain Britain and The Black Knight origin stories, which I appreciate the inclusion of. Sadly, the credits are very sparse, so I couldn’t find the name of the inker, but I hope they went on to do more work. There’s a dark and gritty realness to it, with gorgeous heavy black inks throughout. What really impressed me, though, is the art. It was really fascinating to see the mix of superhero and fantasy, and in many ways the story felt like a DND campaign that went a bit off the rails. That said, I ended up getting sucked into it, especially once the group made it to Otherworld and started really ramping up the fantasy elements. I’m not a huge fan of Arthurian mythology in general, and the 2-4 page limit for each issue meant there were a couple of pacing issues, particularly at the beginning as it took quite a while for the mystery to start unfolding. I’ll be honest and say I expected to not like this story. It’s a lengthy story featuring the Black Knight and Captain Britain’s journey to Merlyn’s home of Otherworld to find the secret resting place of King Arthur. The final story of this book features the Black Knight epic found in 2-4 page backup stories in Hulk Comic (UK). Byrne’s artwork is clean as always, and to me stands out as the definitive 70’s Marvel style. I really enjoyed the pairing of Brian Braddock and Peter Parker, as to me they are very similar character archetypes, and seeing them play off each other was a great enjoyment. ![]() These are the most “normal” issues in the book, although anyone who’s read a story featuring Arcade before knows that isn’t saying much. This story features Captain Britain visiting America and teaming up with Spider-Man, along with the first appearance of Arcade, an assassin who prefers to capture his victims and give them a chance to survive by succeeding in the trials of his Murderworld amusement park. They’re fun and weird, and Ron Wilson’s art continues to be great throughout.Īfter this comes the two part Marvel Team-Up story, created by the legendary duo of Christ Claremont and John Byrne. These stories are the best and worst of pulp 70s storytelling, which I admit to being a huge fan of. ![]() ![]() The final story features Captain Britain on a chase to catch Slaymaster, who is killing various rich collectors and taking their prized treasures (including a rare issue of a Spider-Man comic) and has a tone that would feel right at home side-by-side with a James Bond movie. The third story features a The Lost World + The Most Dangerous Game + Enter the Dragon combination (which unfortunately also features a lot of the Orientalism tropes common to these types of pulpy stories at the time). In the next story Captain Britain fights a werewolf and vampire duo. In the remaining Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain stories, we first see Captain Britain go toe-to-toe with the Loch Ness Monster, which turns out to be a robot controlled by an alien sent to spy on humanity. Fortunately that lesson seems to have been learned for this volume, as the stories embrace a much more over-the-top energy. My main complaint about the previous book in this series was that Captain Britain was shoehorned into many “standard superhero” stories that weren’t a good fit for him. Hulk Comic #31-41 featured recaps of the origins of Captain Britain and The Black Knight, reusing art and dialog (reworked as necessary) from their original stories and are presented at the back of the book. Note: The entirety of this book, with the exception of Marvel Team-Up #65-66, are presented in black and white. Hulk Comic (UK) #31-41 (W: Various, A: Various) Hulk Comic (UK) #1, 3-30, 42-63 (W: Steve Parkhouse, A: John Stokes) Marvel Team-Up #65-66 (W: Chris Claremont, A: John Byrne) Material from Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #247 (W: Jim Lawrence, A: Ron Wilson) Material from Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #240, 245 (W: Larry Lieber and Jim Lawrence, A: Pablo Marcos) Material from Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-239, 241-244, 246 (W: Larry Lieber and Jim Lawrence, A: Ron Wilson) For those unaware, Captain Britain first appeared as part of UK-exclusive anthology collections, which reprinted previous Marvel Comics issues alongside a new Captain Britain story. The book collects the remaining early appearances of Captain Britain. Captain Britain’s tales in this are strange and high in fantasy, with guest appearances by Spider-Man and eventual co-star The Black Knight. This book follows up on Captain Britain: Birth of a Legend, and unlike the previous volume, offers much more exciting and varied stories. ![]()
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