Volume 03: Captain Britain: A Crooked World

Captain Britain: A Crooked World

Author: Alan Moore | Illustrator: Alan Davis

"I hit one of you and ten of you get nose-bleeds! What are you people?"

Author extraordinaire Alan Moore's only work for Marvel was for their Marvel UK imprint. For too short a time he took over author duties of the unimaginatively named Captain Britain.

The bearded-one plays it safe for the first few issues, but being Moore means he can't contain himself for long. Early in his run he chucked the manual out the window, rewrote the character's origin story in a convincing manner, making the manipulative Merlyn and his daughter Roma more instrumental in decision making, and turned the Captain into a fully fledged Moore-esque character. It turned out to be just what was needed to revive the series. At times it feels like an episode of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He even slips in a vision of a dystopian England, much like his V for Vendetta (1988).

It's very British. The Captain gets deeply frustrated when things don't turn out as expected, and characters display the quirks that define the quintessential Englishman. However, rather than reinforce stereotypes it succeeds in turning them into comical strengths. More than once I found myself in hysterics at the behavioural traits of the group.

The villains are equally ridiculous, with names to match: The Omniversal Majestrix Saturnyne; the Special Executive; the Avant Guard; and Jim Jaspers (with a name like that it sounds like he should be teaching high school Chemistry, not destroying entire worlds).

As the scripts got more insane so too did artist Alan Davis' panels grow more adventurous. Some of the expressions he uses are really fantastic. It's refreshing to see someone break from a regular routine and admirably rise to meet a challenge.

A Crooked World is noteworthy for also featuring the first appearance of the Captain's twin sister, Betsy Braddock, who works for S.T.R.I.K.E, the British version of S.H.I.E.L.D. You maybe know the purple-haired Betsy better as Psylocke of the X-Men.

The book collects together stories from Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #387-388, Daredevils #1-11,
and Mighty World of Marvel V2 #7-13.

Verdict: