Sunday, 14 October 2012

THE GREATEST SUPERHERO OF ALL?


Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

How could I forget?  And just how could I forget I'd forgotten?  If I hadn't seen the cover staring out at me in a previous post on this very blog, I wouldn't have remembered that I'd forgotten to remember I'd forgotten.  All clear?  Good.  (You know how I hate confusion.) 

Back on October 6th, 1976 (wow, thirty-six years ago), MARVEL's U.K. answer to CAPTAIN AMERICA went on sale in newsagents all across the country.  The accompanying scans come from the very copy I purchased from JOHN MENZIES in my local shopping centre on the way to work that morning all those years ago.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN was a first for Marvel U.K. - the debut of an all-new, specially created superhero, as opposed to the diet of reprints from across the pond we had hitherto enjoyed and responded to with rabid appreciation.  The strip was still produced in America (though writer CHRIS CLAREMONT and artist HERB TRIMPE had British connections), but set in England, and featured the kind of mockney-Cockney dialogue that our Yankee cousins imagine we all speak like.  (Think DICK VAN DYKE in MARY POPPINS and you've got the picture.)

Various hands have guided the LONDON LION in different and diverse directions since his first humble beginnings in '76, but despite basically being a SPIDEY knock-off, there was an unconvoluted innocence about CB's early tales which was refreshing.  But don't take my word for it.  Judge for yourself as BRIAN BRADDOCK's initial voyage of discovery now unfolds before you for your reading pleasure.  Ready?  Hold on to your hats and off we go!






Unfortunately, the budget didn't stretch to full-colour throughout the mag, so the FANTASTIC FOUR reprint had to settle for Letratone, though by now the printing standard was good enough to reproduce the grey hues without turning them into the muddy mess that had blighted many earlier weekly titles.  NICK FURY, AGENT Of S.H.I.E.L.D. brought up the rear of the comic, which had returned to colour for JIM STERANKO's classic tales of super-espionage.



So there you have it!  Britain's Brian Braddock battling the bombastic baddies of the brutal JOSHUA STRAGG - The REAVER - for the very first time in a classic tale from the vaults.  Now don't say I'm not good to you, 'cos it simply wouldn't be true.
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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous14 October 2012 at 11:14

    Hi Kid - I remember being disappointed with the free mask - Being 11 years old I would have preferred a poster similar to the ones given away in the first issues of "The Superheroes" and "The Titans"
    Nick Fury was my very favourite strip from all of Marvel UK comics with glorious Steranko art reproduced each week and as a bonus all in colour, well worth the extra penny on the cover price & Big John Buscema on FF was also not too shabby!
    However, the lead Captain Britain strip seemed too simplistic in comparison to many of the other strips being reprinted in 1976 across the Marvel UK line and appeared to herald the slow decline towards a more juvenile product - or was I just starting too grow too old for comics?
    Cheers, Big D

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  2. Dougie14 October 2012 at 11:29

    Here's an obscure factoid. The Reavers' attack on Darkmoor is actually referenced in the narrative of the 1996 Virgin Books Dr. Who novel "The Scales of Injustice".

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  3. Kid14 October 2012 at 12:45

    Big D, I think that was because of Brian Braddock's 'civilian' life being similar to Peter Parker's in many ways, so the tales had the flavour of early Spider-Man stories. Also, Herb Trimpe's art looked kind of '60s as well. When Big John Buscema and then Ron Wilson took over the art chores, the strip had a more contemporary feel, I thought.

    ******

    Obscure but interesting - thanks for that, Dougie. And for jogging my memory about the Captain.

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  4. moonmando14 October 2012 at 12:52

    whatever happened to Captain Scotland and his radioactive sporran?With an `Och aye the noo and a `See you Jimmy`,enemies lay decimated at his feet.
    Or maybe i was just imagining it?
    Good idea though?....Hmm.

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  5. Kid14 October 2012 at 13:07

    You were imagining it. Drunk again, eh? Captain Scotland? Pah! Wait a minute - Sergeant Scotland sounds not bad. I feel an idea coming on - where's my crayon?

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  6. John Pitt17 March 2014 at 23:14

    Now THIS is what I'm talking about!
    ( Believe it or not I've been here before!- but it was so long ago. Still, how could I forget?
    I'm off now for another look at #10, see you again tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kid18 March 2014 at 00:08

    See? It's always worth having another look around on this blog, JP.

    ReplyDelete

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