Captain Britain might not be the greatest character in the history of comics, but I can almost guarantee this is the greatest Alan Moore comic you’ve never read. I mean, y’know, unless you’ve actually read it. In that case, you’re probably wondering why in the hell I’m wasting time and not already talking about the Fury.
I’ll get there, I promise, but first, a little background. Hop behind the cut for more.
One of the earliest Marvel UK characters, Captain Britain was created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe in the mid-70s to be a sort of magical counterpart to Captain America. For years, he starred in stories that saw him doing pretty much exactly what superheroes do — stopping bank robbers, beating up super villains, teaming-up with Spider-man, that kind of thing. These early stories were not bad, and if you’re a Claremont completest, you should read ’em. However, it wasn’t until years later, when Captain Britain was relaunched and shortly after, taken over by Alans Moore and Davis that things got marvelously weird and amazing.
Not only did his costume change, but his entire world took a bit of a hard left, taking him to a place where he would face a court filled with alternate versions of himself, a reality warping psycho, and the Fury, a seemingly indestructible murder machine with only one purpose: killing superheroes.
Those most familiar with Moore’s DC work will find Captain Britain startlingly non-Marvel, with many of his most recognizable concepts and tropes showing up throughout this, one of his earliest projects. There’s even an appearance by Miracleman, but don’t get too excited. Just like nearly everybody else in this story, he’s soon vaporized by the Fury, and he doesn’t come back.
More recently, Captain Britain’s shown up in Uncanny X-Force and this week, he joined the Secret Avengers team. If you like what you’ve seen of the guy there, or if you’re just generally a fan of exciting comics about posh Brits who get the stew beat out of them on a regular basis, then I can’t recommend Captain Britain by Alan Moore and Alan Davis enough.
The only draw back is that currently, it’s not a story that you’ll get your hands on for less than $30. Marvel did a collection of just the Moore/Davis stuff a while back, and more recently, they collected almost EVERYTHING in one, giant omnibus.
You can find them both here!
