COMICS

Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

CAPTAIN BRITAIN

 Captain Britain (Brian Braddock) is a fictional superhero appearing in British and American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Captain Britain Weekly #1 (October 1976), the beginning of a serial best-remembered for runs by writer Chris Claremont, artist Alan Davis, and writer Alan Moore.

The character was initially intended exclusively for the British comics market. Endowed with extraordinary powers by the legendary magician Merlyn and his daughter Roma, Captain Britain is assigned to uphold the laws of Britain.

Publication history

Captain Britain originally appeared in the first issue of Captain Britain Weekly (cover-dated the week ending 13 October 1976), an anthology comic published exclusively in the United Kingdom by the Marvel Comics imprint known as Marvel UK. The comic represented the first original content published by Marvel UK, who had previously only handled reprints of Marvel Comics' U.S. publications.

However, the new content was still created by Marvel's American staff (the initial team being London-born writer Chris Claremont, penciller Herb Trimpe, and inker Fred Kida) under the supervision of U.S. editor Larry Lieber, then shipped to the UK for publication. (In addition, the new 8-page Captain Britain installments in each issue of Captain Britain Weekly were supplemented by more reprinted material, featuring Nick Fury and the Fantastic Four).

The character's creators are unknown, though Trimpe has remarked that the visual design looks like the work of John Romita, Sr., who was designing many of Marvel's characters at the time.

The first two issues of the comic were also bundled with "free gifts", a cardboard Captain Britain mask in the first issue and a Captain Britain boomerang in the second, such novelties being a tradition with British comic book launches. Chris Claremont left the series after ten issues, midway through the "Doctor Synne" storyline, due to creative differences with the editor. Trimpe recalled that Claremont and his replacement, Gary Friedrich, while "miles apart in personality and approach to a story", were both flexible writers who allowed him considerable free rein in laying out and pacing the stories.

With sales slowly declining, Captain Britain went to black-and-white with issue #24 (23 March 1977) and was cancelled entirely with issue #39 (6 July 1977), though the Captain Britain serial was immediately transferred to Marvel UK's Spider-Man comic, which was then retitled Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain. In 1978 Chris Claremont and John Byrne introduced Captain Britain to an American audience for the first time with Marvel Team-Up #65-66.

 The Marvel Team-Up story was reprinted as the last six installments of the UK serial, ending with Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain #253. This marked the end of Captain Britain's exploits until March 1979, when Captain Britain appeared with the Black Knight in the "Otherworld Saga" which ran in Hulk Comic. These guest appearances were the first time Captain Britain was written and drawn by British creators.

The character was relaunched, in a redesigned costume, in the Marvel Superheroes anthology title, starting with issue #377 (September 1981). The relaunch was initially written by Dave Thorpe and illustrated by Alan Davis, who redesigned the costume at editor-in-chief Paul Neary's behest. Neary's chief concern was the original costume's lion chest emblem; though the emblem is a heraldic symbol, it is better known in the UK as a sign to denote the quality and freshness of eggs Davis noted that his depiction of Brian Braddock was visually based on Garth, "an exaggerated Greek god, perfect in every way" and that:

I decided to base his costume on military uniforms. If you've ever seen the mounted guards outside Buckingham Place, you'll recognise the components. The white leggings and the tall boots with the flaps over the knees were easy. The headgear took a bit more time because I wanted it to look like a helmet rather than a mask. The stripes across his chest started as two crossed sashes and underwent numerous changes.

The political commentaries in Thorpe's stories ignited conflicts with the editors, leading to his being replaced by Alan Moore with Marvel Superheroes #387 (July 1982). Moore used Thorpe's stories as a springboard for the "Jaspers' Warp" storyline. Captain Britain appeared as one of the characters in Marvel US's 1982 Contest of Champions limited series, albeit wearing his already-discarded original costume.

After Marvel Superheroes #388 (August 1982), the series moved into a new monthly comic, The Daredevils. When The Daredevils was canceled after eleven issues, Captain Britain was continued in The Mighty World of Marvel volume 2 #7 (December 1983). After the run of Alan Moore, who left because of a dispute over unpaid invoices, the serial continued for a few more issues with different writers (Steve Craddock, Alan Davis, and Mike Collins) before moving to the new Captain Britain Monthly. 

Jamie Delano took over writing duties with the first issue (cover-dated January 1985) on the recommendation of Moore and with the agreement of Davis. However, Davis later said "Initially I gave plot ideas to Jamie [Delano] but I was never happy with the direction he wanted to take things so I took more and more control until I eventually took over as writer."

In the meantime, Captain Britain's long absence from American comics ended with a series of 1985 guest appearances, starting with Captain America #305-306. Following the cancellation of Captain Britain's solo series, Claremont and Davis created the one-shot special Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn (December 1987), which served to launch the American monthly Excalibur in 1988, featuring an eponymous team which included Captain Britain. Marvel UK incorporated Captain Britain as the main attraction of their own group series, Knights of Pendragon, which initially met with positive critical response and strong sales, but declined to the point of cancellation with issue #18.

New Excalibur was introduced in 2005, with Captain Britain as team leader. This series ran until issue #24 and the team was disbanded in the X-Men: Die by the Sword limited series.

A new series was then started in 2008, using the Secret Invasion crossover storyline as a launchpad. Captain Britain headlines this series, Captain Britain and MI: 13, written by Paul Cornell, which included some characters from New Excalibur, as well as members of MI: 13 who appeared in Cornell's Wisdom limited series.

Panini Comics bought Marvel UK and in 2006 renewed and broadened their licence with Marvel which allows them to produce original comic stories for the British and European markets. This has included Captain Britain's first original appearance in UK comics in thirteen years, with a story that ran in Spectacular Spider-Man Adventures and Panini plan to have more in their new all-ages title Marvel Heroes.

Captain Britain made several cameo appearances in Marvel Comics publications then would feature in a Heroic Age tie in anthology limited series and a Deadpool Team Up issue.

Captain Britain appeared as a regular character in the 2010-2013 Secret Avengers series, from issue #22 (April 2012) through its final issue #37 (March 2013).

Beginning in November 2014, Captain Britain reappeared with the Avengers as a part of the Time Runs Out storyline.