CLANDESTINE PART ONE - CLANDESTINE CLASSIC

CLANDESTINE CLASSIC
Premiere Hardcover, 2008

The first story arc in the CLANDESTINE ongoing series is titled "Family Reunion". In it, we meet the core cast: siblings Walter, Dominic, Samantha, Kay, Rory, and Pandora. The last two are the youngest and initially believe themselves to be the niece and nephew of Walter, but they soon learn they are his younger brother and sister, and that everyone they had been told was an aunt or uncle is actually a sibling.

There are other Destines who pop up here and there, notably genius Newton, who lives in a parallel universe, and Gracie, the family mystic -- but the above characters comprise the core cast. Additionally, by the end of the first four-part story arc, we meet Adam Destine, the family's father -- who sired all of his offspring with an otherworldly genie.

CLANDESTINE

Following my months long Captain Britain marathon, I decided to keep the Alan Davis train going over the summer with a series I've had interest in quite a while: CLANDESTINE. I was vaguely aware of this series when it debuted in 1994, but I wasn't entirely sure what it was. And as I was an avowed fan of the "Image Comics" art style, Alan Davis's clean, clear artwork did not appeal to me at the time (how tastes can change!).

CLANDESTINE was an ongoing series, apparently a joint production between Marvel U.S. and Marvel U.K., but it was canceled after only a dozen issues. Alan Davis, the creator of the series, left after eight of those issues and the remaining four were published without his input. About a year after the series' cancellation, Davis returned to the characters for a two-part limited series, X-MEN AND THE CLANDESTINE. He immediately disavowed the final four issues of the ongoing series and picked up with the characters exactly where he had left them.

Following the X-Men crossover, the ClanDestine disappeared for over a decade. Then, in 2008, Davis produced a new five-issue limited series starring the characters. This series led into a trio of annuals, released in 2012, which saw the ClanDestine interacting with the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Wolverine, and Dr. Strange.

As with my Captain Britain reviews, the ClanDestine posts were composed mainly from memory, since I read these books in July, before I had decided to start blogging. But I like to think I have some interesting -- or at the very least, not boring -- things to say about the books. So, beginning Wednesday: A three-part CLANDESTINE review series.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART TEN - PAVING THE WAY FOR EXCALIBUR

Presenting a special extra-length post to close out the Classic Captain Britain era!

When last we saw Captain Britain, he was on his way home from Sat-Yr-9's parallel Earth.  He arrives in time to console his sister, Betsy, following her murder -- in self-defense -- of Kaptain Briton.  Shortly thereafter, Mastermind reveals to Brian and Betsy that their father was not a human being as they had always believed, but a citizen of Otherworld and a chief adviser to Merlyn.  Mastermind then takes on the holographic appearance of a human butler, to better serve Brian and his family.

Meanwhile, Garbriel and Michael, agents of the Resources Control Executive ("RCX"), the agency which has replaced STRIKE, have tracked down Linda McQuillan, Captain U.K., who is living in peace on our Earth.  They introduce her to the Warpies, mutated children created by the Jaspers' warp.  They want Linda to help them coerce Captain Britain into serving them as a symbol, hopefully preventing a coup of the British government due to civil unrest created by the reality warp.

EARTH 616

You may note that during my Captain Britain reviews, I never use the term, "Earth 616". The reason is simple -- I hate it.

"Earth 616" is the designation that was given during the Dave Thorpe/Alan Moore Captain Britain stories to the Earth where the "real" Marvel Universe resides. I believe Moore has alternately taken credit for the number and said that Thorpe coined it. To my recollection, I don't recall it appearing in a Thorpe story, but it's possible I'm wrong. At any rate, I really feel that if it weren't for its association, deserved or otherwise, with Alan Moore, "616" would not see nearly as much use as it does.

But the point is, the term bothers me because it just sounds silly -- I (figuratively) roll my eyes when I see or hear someone refer to the "main" Marvel Earth as "Earth 616," "616," or, stupidest of all to my ear, "the 616." Just call it the Marvel Universe! No one will stop and ask you if you mean Earth 12, Earth 457, or Earth 8532. I promise we all know exactly which Earth you're talking about. Trust me.

Even if fandom doesn't necessarily agree with my above sentiment, I'm gratified that Marvel does. I've said before that I have little use for modern Marvel, but one area where we see eye-to-eye is the stupidity of "616". Several of Marvel's editors, from Joe Quesada on down, have stated their distaste for the term, as well as their confusion as to why anyone would even want to use it.

So: sorry if I've offended anyone who uses the number. This is only my personal opinion. You will never see the term "616" used on this blog beyond this post. And yet somehow, even without that indicator, you will still know which universe I'm referring to at any given time.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART NINE - ALAN DAVIS TAKES OVER

CAPTAIN BRITAIN: BEFORE EXCALIBUR TPB (1988)

Following the departure of Alan Moore as Captain Britain's writer, Jamie Delano comes on board to continue the series.  But, per Alan Davis's foreword in the CAPTAIN BRITAIN OMNIBUS, Davis himself was doing the bulk of the plotting, and even often rewriting Delano's scripts to bring them closer in line with his own vision for the character.

As this era begins, Cap reflects upon the Jaspers' Warp saga.  Apparently the entire storyline took place over the span of only six months, which seems a very short amount of time to round up and incarcerate so many super-humans in concentration camps around the country.  But Captain Britain's adventures have been chronicled in real time up to this point, and since the story was told in six monthly issues, six months it is.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART EIGHT - JASPERS' WARP

Captain Britain vs. the Fury

After rescuing his sister Betsy and her fellow psychics from Slaymaster, and knowing the Vixen's forces will still be searching for them, Captain Britain brings them to live, at least temporarily, with him at Braddock Manor. Not long after, Cap is kidnapped by a group of dimension-hopping mercenaries from the future called the Special Executive, and taken to the "Omniversal Hub", where he has been called to serve as a witness for the defense in a trial against Opal Luna Saturnyne, charged with failing in her duties to save the alternate Earth where Cap first found her.*

While at the Hub, Cap learns that he is part of a corps of similarly costumed heroes -- one for every Britain on every Earth in the omniverse. It would be generous to say that our hot-headed hero does not get along with his fellow corpsmen, engaging in fisticuffs with them multiple times during the trial. The "Captain Britain Corps" is more of a throwaway gag here, but the concept would gain great traction later under Alan Davis and Chris Claremont.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART SEVEN - MOORE & DAVIS

CAPTAIN BRITAIN TPB (2002)

The "Jaspers' Warp" storyline, which -- excepting a few unrelated interludes -- comprises the entirety of the Alan Moore/Alan Davis run, is widely considered the height of Captain Britain's solo adventures. At the very least, it is certainly the best known of those tales. The story picks up exactly where the previous chapter ended, with Jim Jaspers' reality warp re-shaping the parallel Earth where Captain Britain and Jackdaw are stranded.

Incoming writer Alan Moore, before he became THE Alan Moore, runs briefly with Dave Thorpe's premise but immediately and brutally takes the story in his own direction. In response to the reality warp, the British government activates a deadly robotic organism called the Fury, which we learn is responsible for this world's superhero purge of years past.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART SIX - A CROOKED WORLD

The CAPTAIN BRITAIN OMNIBUS

In roughly 2002 or so, Marvel published a CAPTAIN BRITAIN BY ALAN MOORE & ALAN DAVIS trade paperback. It contained only the material the two Alans produced together, but nothing else. I have no idea why they didn't include this small handful of stories, illustrated by Davis and written by Dave Thorpe, as well. They do a great deal to set up the Moore-Davis run (which will be covered in the next post).

As the Alan Davis era begins, we find Captain Britain and Jackdaw on their way home from Otherworld, when they are sidetracked by a trip to a parallel Earth. Along the way, Cap's costume inexplicably changes to the Davis-designed look -- a superior costume in my opinion, but the arbitrary change is somewhat jarring. Cap simply says something to the effect of, "my costume -- it's changing!" as they pass between dimensions, and that's the end of it.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN - THE BOOKS

Since I haven't taken the time in my series of Captain Britain reviews to speak about the books themselves, I think I'll do so here.  The stories I've been reviewing are contained in three volumes: BIRTH OF A LEGEND, SIEGE OF CAMELOT, and the CAPTAIN BRITAIN OMNIBUS.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART FIVE - ALONGSIDE MERLIN'S CHAMPION, THE BLACK KNIGHT

Art by Staz Johnson

Following his appearance in MARVEL TEAM-UP, Captain Britain disappeared for about two years, as Marvel U.K. quit its practice of producing original content.  Previously, it was unlikely that Cap's adventures had proceeded in real time, as most chapters led directly into the next.  However, around this time, when Marvel U.K. began to craft new stories once more, the new creators behind the captain eschewed "Marvel Time" and declared that our hero had been missing in action for the same two years his series had been on hiatus.

In the pages of Marvel U.K.'s HULK comic, Cap returned to fight alongside the Black Knight, a once and future member of the Avengers, headlining his own weekly 1-page strip.  The stories were written by Steve Parkhouse and illustrated by John Stokes.  Stokes's pencil art was inked by Paul Neary, who would soon become the editor-in-chief of Marvel U.K.  Neary's career has spanned decades since, with a stint drawing CAPTAIN AMERICA for Marvel in the U.S., a long stretch as the regular inker of superstar artist Alan Davis, a second term as the EiC of Marvel U.K., and currently, another long stretch as the regular inker of superstar artist Bryan Hitch.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART FOUR - MARVEL TEAM-UP

Art by George Perez

Before reviewing the above-mentioned stories, I would like to give a quick overview of my thoughts on Captain Britain's "Lieber Years".  I feel that, in a time when Marvel Comics were really taking strides toward more layered, sophisticated storytelling, Lieber's Captain Britain was a dinosaur of a simpler age.

I like Silver Age silliness as much as the next guy, and I'm sure Lieber's stories appealed to young children -- but from Stan Lee on, Marvel comics usually had something for everybody.  Even Stan's Silver Age stylings could appeal to teens.  And by the 70s, you had folks like Jim Starlin and Steve Englehart writing comics which, while understandable and enjoyable for kids, could also be read and appreciated by an older crowd.  Lieber's stories, on the other hand, seemed to be written strictly for children only -- which is certainly not a bad thing, but it is counter to the direction Marvel was headed at the time.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN'S COSTUME

There seems to be a debate in the fandom regarding Captain Britain's costume. I see a lot of folks who prefer the original over Alan Davis's redesign.  To each their own, but the Davis costume is Captain Britain to me.

Art by Alan Davis

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART THREE - THE LIEBER YEARS LIMP TO AN END

One positive thing I will say about these old Captain Britain stories is that the pace is frenetic. It feels like reading a comic strip, where every storyline leads directly into the next, with no downtime in between. I assume this is due to the weekly schedule of the series. On top of that, Cap's adventures went black-and-white about halfway through the Skull storyline, which adds to the "newspaper strip" feel of the whole thing.

Case in point: Immediately following the Captain America/Red Skull storyline, Brian Braddock passes out in his bed and dreams about nutty ol' Lord Hawk, a hermit for whom Brian constructed a robotic bird some time back.  To keep him company. A. Robotic. Bird.

Anyway, at precisely that moment, Lord Hawk has decided to take his bird out and terrorize England because things aren't how they used to be.  If I recall correclty, he wanted to return to a simpler time, when men and their robot birds lived off the land, and all those pesky modern conveniences weren't around to get in their way.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART TWO - CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE RED SKULL

Before leaving CAPTAIN BRITAIN WEEKLY, Chris Claremont gave our hero an origin, introduced an antagonist on the police force, a mysterious criminal mastermind, and provided a good-sized, if somewhat derivative, supporting cast. Even with his departure, he had left a status quo in place and ready to use for the next writer. So naturally, pretty much all of it was junked immediately.

Art by Herb Trimpe

CAPTAIN BRITAIN PART ONE - THE BEGINNING

First, a brief comics history lesson: In the 1970s, Marvel Comics started a British division, which eventually came to be known as Marvel U.K.  While this division of the company primarily reprinted stories originating in the United States, a decision was made to give the British fans their own new superhero. Thus was born Brian Braddock, better known to the world as Captain Britain.

Marvel U.K.'s editor-in-chief, Larry Lieber (Stan Lee's brother), tasked young Chris Claremont with the creation of Captain Britain. Claremont's version of the character was a physics student, the afore-named Brian Braddock, who was given a mystical pendant by Merlin the Magician and his daughter, Roma (though readers were unaware of the duo's true identities in Cap's origin story). Upon rubbing the pendant, Brian would transform into Britain's very own superhero, complete with a magical force field generating scepter and extra-human physical abilities.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN

From approximately March to June of this year, I read a lot of old Captain Britain comics. Starting with BIRTH OF A LEGEND and SIEGE OF CAMELOT, two hardcovers collecting Cap's earliest appearances, which were produced by Marvel U.S. for release through Marvel U.K., I then moved on to the CAPTAIN BRITAIN OMNIBUS, which collects all of Alan Davis's work on Cap's solo stories, now produced by Marvel U.K.'s own home-grown talent.

Having finished all this material I had never before read, I decided to revisit Captain Britain's early Marvel U.S. appearances in the pages of EXCALIBUR CLASSIC volumes 1 - 5, and EXCALIBUR VISIONARIES: ALAN DAVIS 1 - 3. I skipped all the (frequent) fill-ins, reading only the material by Chris Claremont and/or Alan Davis.

It's been a couple months now since I finished the books, and I wasn't really entertaining thoughts of blogging at the time, so my "reviews" of this material will be informal and less detailed than those I hope to produce in the future. But I enjoyed these stories, so I'd like to say something about them while they're still somewhat fresh in my mind.

So, beginning Monday: the first in a series of classic Captain Britain reviews!