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Post by tingramretro on Dec 6, 2016 8:36:24 GMT -5
Captain Britain #12 (Dec '76)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "To Die a Superhero!"  We rejoin our hero as he dashes into danger to save the young girl targeted by the villagers last issue from being burned at the stake, which he manages to do, but at the cost of the loss of his quarterstaff (which is "engulfed" by flames). As the Captain prepares to take on the enraged mob empty handed, Doctor Synne turns up and calls the "rustics" off, declaring that they can't kill the hero, as that pleasure belongs to him. Unfortunately, the Captain is more powerful than predicted...at least by the "highly secret computer complex" to which we now cut away, which we are told is controlling Synne's every move and every word he speaks "unbeknownst to him"! This situation is becoming more unbelievable by the minute! The computer calculates that it will need to transfer more power to Synne (who is clearly nothing but a puppet) by diverting it away from "all other subjects". Immediately, much to brother Jamie's surprise, Betsy Braddock awakens from her coma back at the Mordor clinic; it seems the computer was keeping her zonked out. As Betsy's duplicitous doctor (who is in league with Synne, remember) wonders what's gone wrong, back at the village, Captain Britain takes a moment to rather puzzlingly wonder about the identities of the two "gods" who originally empowered him, as Synne levitates him towards the fire from which he'd saved the girl... Priorities, Brian, priorities!
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 6, 2016 11:42:37 GMT -5
Captain Britain #12 (Dec '76)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "To Die a Superhero!" We rejoin our hero as he dashes into danger to save the young girl targeted by the villagers last issue from being burned at the stake, which he manages to do, but at the cost of the loss of his quarterstaff (which is "engulfed" by flames). As the Captain prepares to take on the enraged mob empty handed, Doctor Synne turns up and calls the "rustics" off, declaring that they can't kill the hero, as that pleasure belongs to him. Unfortunately, the Captain is more powerful than predicted...at least by the "highly secret computer complex" to which we now cut away, which we are told is controlling Synne's every move and every word he speaks "unbeknownst to him"! This situation is becoming more unbelievable by the minute! The computer calculates that it will need to transfer more power to Synne (who is clearly nothing but a puppet) by diverting it away from "all other subjects". Immediately, much to brother Jamie's surprise, Betsy Braddock awakens from her coma back at the Mordor clinic; it seems the computer was keeping her zonked out. As Betsy's duplicitous doctor (who is in league with Synne, remember) wonders what's gone wrong, back at the village, Captain Britain takes a moment to rather puzzlingly wonder about the identities of the two "gods" who originally empowered him, as Synne levitates him towards the fire from which he'd saved the girl... Priorities, Brian, priorities! Sounds like an episode of The Avengers. I can picture those same two stuntmen, lurking in the background, then attacking Steed and/or Emma, while they are nosing around some part f the village. Or is it even weirder and The Village? Now, that would be epic; Steed and Emma in The Village! (They did kind of parody it with Steed & Tara King). |
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Post by tingramretro on Dec 6, 2016 12:02:24 GMT -5
Captain Britain #13 (Jan '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "From the Ashes!"  The Captain's final battle with the diabolical Dr. Synne begins with him escaping a fiery doom pretty much by accident: determined to die "like a warrior" with a weapon in his hand (God, this guy's a little ray of sunshine) he grabs his fallen quarterstaff and inadvertently presses the middle button on its shaft which it has apparently never occurred to him to investigate before, only to find himself surrounded by a protective force field! Handy, that. But handier still is the arrival of "longtime charwoman Emma Collins" over at Braddock Manor; yes, the devilish computer controlling the villain is in the late Dr. Braddock's basement lab, and even as Captain Britain engages Synne in battle again, the seemingly rather simple Emma, who has decided to give her dead boss's previously off-limits lab a good clean (curiously rationalizing that this is what he would have wanted in death despite having forbidden her entry when he was alive) rather conveniently turns off the electricity in order to avoid getting an electric shock when she mops the floor(!) Deprived of his power source and pushing himself too far in his attack on CB, Synne immediately has a fatal heart attack. As he dies (I did say the Captain's enemies rarely seemed to survive their first stories, didn't I?), his illusion casting powers fail, and Brian recognizes him as his late father's former assistant! Free of the computer's control, Synne chokes out some suitably ominous last words, warning the Captain that "you must-- destroy the--computer! Before it--destroys the world!" Sending the dazed villagers, now free of Synne's influence, back to their homes, a distraught CB ("I can't believe my father would have created anything evil!") heads back to his family home...where, having finished cleaning the lab, Emma has just reconnected the computer's power! Aware of the Captain's approach, the sinister machine activates "defence plan M"... Could it be that we are about to finally learn why Brian Braddock is an orphan? Why yes, I think it could!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,218 
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Post by Confessor on Dec 6, 2016 16:55:44 GMT -5
Loving the reviews, tingramretro. Still no interestn in reading these comics myself, mind, but i'm loving your reviews of them anyway.  Who is the artist on those last two covers? Is it Trimpe? That cover to issue #12 looks decidedly Kirby-esque. |
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Post by tingramretro on Dec 7, 2016 3:07:17 GMT -5
Loving the reviews, tingramretro. Still no interestn in reading these comics myself, mind, but i'm loving your reviews of them anyway. Who is the artist on those last two covers? Is it Trimpe? That cover to issue #12 looks decidedly Kirby-esque. As far as I know, it's Trimpe. He does seem to be channeling Kirby, though. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Dec 7, 2016 18:08:58 GMT -5
GCD suggests Ron Wilson and Dan Adkins for #12's cover and Al Milgrom for #13. The only covers so far that stand out to me as obviously by Herb Trimpe are #3 and #8.
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Post by tingramretro on Dec 11, 2016 10:01:07 GMT -5
Captain Britain #14 (Jan '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "The Malevolent Menace of Mastermind!"  This issue launches straight into the action, as Captain Britain rushes into "the hidden laboratory at Braddock Manor" (eh? Hang on, if it's hidden, how did the cleaning lady get into it?) to tackle the "mechanical monstrosity" that was controlling the late Dr. Synne...ony to find himself confronted by a bald giant who introduces himself as Mastermind, and commands him to "Stop!--or die before you reach the bottom of the stairs!" The Captain isn't impressed, but Mastermind halts him in his tracks by revealing that he knows his secret identity, then fires an energy blast at him while he's off guard. The Captain, diving out of the way, demonstrates the powers of observation that have made him a scientific prodigy by thinking "that blast from his wrist weapon just about nailed me"...despite the fact that the weapon in question is clearly strapped to Mastermind's forefinger, and nowhere near his wrist. A lengthy fight ensues, until the Captain deflects one of Mastermind's energy blasts back at him...and it goes straight through him! At this, however, Mastermind offers a truce, and an explanation-though he warns that "you may discover that what you hear is even more painful than death!" (but probably not more painful than Friedrich's dialogue) The two having laid down their weapons, Mastermind directs CB's attention to a wall mounted video screen, on which he see's an image of himself canoodling with one Valerie Campbell in a pub on the night his parents died. Where Mastermind got this footage, and indeed why and how there would be a video camera randomly recording the patrons in a village pub in 1976, is not made clear, but in any case, as Brian moves in for the kill with Val, the image shifts to the door of the lab at Braddock Manor (also evidently under video surveillance) where Dr. James Braddock and his wife have come to check the computer "until Brian arrives" (the point which Mastermind is belabouring, of course, is that these events would not have played out this way if Brian had been at home helping his dad rather than in The Lion's Rock trying to get his leg over). Discovering a "power shortage", which unknown to him has been caused by the computer itself to lure him "towards his doom", Braddock tries to fix it-but just as he asks his wife to hand him a wrench, the computer unleashes a fatal charge of electricity! Zapped, we are told that "as life ebbed from their bodies, they cried out for the son who was not there to furnish aid, or phone for a physician" (so, quite a slow acting fatal electric charge, then). Mastermind sternly declares that "by your absence, you murdered your parents--as surely as if you had thrown the switch!." Which is kind of an interesting interpretation of events. The guilt trip works, though: distracted by all this drama, CB doesn't even notice Mastermind pick up his finger mounted wrist weapon again...and when the giant gloats that "once again, you have allowed me to gain the upper hand", our self hating hero rather improbably invites him to " kill me! I no longer deserve to live!" Self pity is so unbecoming of a hero, Brian. What would your parents say?
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Post by tingramretro on Dec 13, 2016 4:44:03 GMT -5
Captain Britain #15 (Jan '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "Once Upon a Death Wish!"  "I killed my mother and father--and I can't live with it--I can't!!" These are the stirring words with which our hero greets us at the beginning of this installment. And why? Because he happened to be out when the computer offed his parents! The man's hysterical! Personally, at this stage I'm thinking he needs a nice, long holiday-he's clearly not coping with the demands of a superhero lifestyle. Luckily, he's shocked out of his self pity by the arrival of Emma the charwoman, who's forgotten her dust pan and, on coming to retrieve it, is stunned at being confronted by two costumed loonies in the basement. She's even more stunned when Mastermind blasts her with his finger laser, causing CB to realize that he can't just quit "while such evil still walks the Earth!"He returns to the fray, but when he leaps directly at Mastermind, he ends up going through him, prompting the revelation that his foe isn't really there at all! CB hurls his staff at the projector lens he's only just noticed, smashing it, and the bald giant vanishes "leaving naught save a small wisp of smoke". He was just a hologram all along, "a three dimensional image projected by laser beams", as Brian helpfully informs the now empty lab. Except...hang on a minute...if he was just an image, why the wisp of smoke? And how did he pick up the finger laser earlier? Oh, well... Momentarily forgetting all about the murderous computer, which is still plotting away to itself, CB calls an ambulance and carries the injured Emma out of the lab, as we suddenly shift scenes to London, or more specifically, the sky above it. There, the gigantic Heli-Carrier HQ of S.H.I.E.L.D has arrived, bringing with it Nick Fury and Steve Rogers, Captain America! Yep, the strip has now firmly joined the Marvel Universe proper, and what's more, S.H.I.E.L.D have been called in by Britain's Ministry of Defence to investigate rumours that "the Commies" have been building "some sort of computer compex here in Britain!" The preceding explanation comes courtesy of Colonel Fury, who informs Rogers that "this might be the biggest job you ever tackled!" (yeah, right) And also that if he runs into "some costumed clown called Captain Britain", he should check him out too, as "Intelligence thinks he might be tied in with the computer somehow". This seems to suggest that "Intelligence" have been watching events in the vicinity of Braddock Manor very closely, or that Friedrich is taking huge short cuts with the plotting. Take your pick. Back at the Manor, CB has emerged with the unconscious Emma only to be confronted by Chief Inspector Dai Thomas, who starts demanding explanations from him about the injured woman and "the murder of someone by the name of Synne", and talking about taking him back to Scotland Yard. Despite the fairly obvious fact that we are no longer anywhere near London so Thomas, being an officer of the Metropolitan Police, has absolutely no jurisdiction and, indeed, no reason to be here at all, CB is torn by indecision; he can't just leave the computer still operational, it's too dangerous, but if he defies the law he'll be "going against everything I stand for". As Captain Britain ponders his desperate decision, we cut back to the computer complex, where a mysterious cloaked and hooded figure has crept in under cover of all the commotion out front, intending to use Dr. Braddock's creation to gain "total victory over Great Britain--then--domination of the entire world!!" Blimey, things are getting serious! We also get a quick reminder that Jamie and Betsy Braddock are still in danger, tied up under armed guard by operatives of our mystery villain. The Captain, meanwhile, has problems of his own, as Dai Thomas-in a flagrant violation of our hero's rights-has two of his uniformed minions grab him, while he tries to pull off his mask... Gary Friedrich: making up British law as he goes along.
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 2, 2017 8:34:12 GMT -5
Captain Britain #16 (Jan '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "A Hero Unmasked!"  When we last saw Captain Britain, he was about to have his mask forcibly removed by Chief Inspector Thomas "in the name of the law", and that's exactly where we pick up here (though as previously noted, Thomas has no apparent jurisdiction and therefore no right to do what he's doing). Fortunately for CB, hi bacon is saved by the sudden arrival of Captain America, who intervenes to protect the secret identity of this costumed mystery man he doesn't know from Adam (and who Nick Fury warned him to be suspicious of last issue) by kicking Inspector Thomas's gun from his hand and yelling at our hero to run while he holds off "these minions of bureaucracy". I have a couple of problems with this. First off, it seems to me to be totally out of character for Captain America to attack a police officer, even if the bloke is clearly an idiot. Secondly, he has no evidence that CB is actually not a criminal. And thirdly, officers of Britain's Metropolitan Police service generally don't actually carry guns. Thomas certainly shouldn't be carrying one if he's in the area of jurisdiction of another Police force. Still, even if the Inspector and the visiting yank have forgotten all about little matters like the law, Captain Britain hasn't, as he responds to his rescuers ill judged actions by attacking him and ordering him to surrender! Yes, it's the obligatory superheroes-meet-and-fight-due-to-a-misunderstanding scene! Given that Captain America is supposedly the greatest fighter in the Marvel Universe and Captain Britain has been in the business for roughly two months at this point, one would expect the fight to be over pretty quickly. One certainly wouldn't expect Captain America to be felled by a simple judo throw, or to justify his attacking the forces of law and order by uttering a line like "back in the States a hero does whatever is necessary to protect his secret identity!" But then, this is Captain Britain's book, not his... At this point, we cut away to Braddock Manor, where our mysterious hooded villain is remotely monitoring the conflict. Startled into unmasking himself (to an empty room) by the arrival of his arch foe, he is revealed to be none other than the Red Skull! As the Skull returns to the task of reprogramming the late Dr. Braddock's unhinged computer "for its final assault on mankind", we rejoin our battling heroes, both of whom Dai Thomas is now trying to arrest. He is thwarted, however, by Captain America revealing that he's operating under orders from S.H.I.E.L.D "with clearance from your own C.I.D" (that's "Criminal Investigation Department" for the benefit of our colonial cousins). Thomas is understandably put out that it never occurred to Cap to show his credentials before, to which Cap replies that he didn't give him much of a chance (in fact, Cap made no attempt to explain himself before jumping in feet first). He then annoys the Inspector even more by declaring that Captain Britain is integral to his investigation and is therefore coming with him rather than leaving in the back of a police car. Thomas stomps off irritably, but CB is still not convinced this is the real Captain America he's dealing with, on the fairly sensible grounds that he should never have been able to hold his own against him. Captain America chides him for underestimating himself, and explains that his mission s "to check out a computer. I think it's inside that mansion". Reminded of his own recent tribulations, CB agrees to accompany him, and to brief him on the way. But the Red Skull is waiting for them... A pretty solid issue, all in all, though Captain America's characterisation still seems to me to be totally off, to me. And I really think Friedrich needs to do some research into British police procedures (and, indeed, geography).
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 2, 2017 13:38:30 GMT -5
To be fair to Friedrich, it wasn't easy to do research into a foreign country, at that point in time. You pretty much had your local library and the quality of its reference materials (or lack of). Given the cursory nature of most encyclopedias, that doesn't give you a lot of material for dramatic purposes. You are stuck, then, with novels, movies and tv shows. The tv stuff would have been limited to the stuff shown on the local PBS station and movies would depend on tv showings, as you didn't yet have much in the way of video stores. I suspect, given how much he was writing at that point, he didn't have a lot of time to do much research. However, if he was taking this on long term, then, yes, he should probably get some material together. At least watch The Sweeney.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2017 19:51:24 GMT -5
tingramretroMan, I'm loving all these Captain Britain's Covers - So much Action Oriented and Very Colorful too.
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 3, 2017 3:21:20 GMT -5
To be fair to Friedrich, it wasn't easy to do research into a foreign country, at that point in time. You pretty much had your local library and the quality of its reference materials (or lack of). Given the cursory nature of most encyclopedias, that doesn't give you a lot of material for dramatic purposes. You are stuck, then, with novels, movies and tv shows. The tv stuff would have been limited to the stuff shown on the local PBS station and movies would depend on tv showings, as you didn't yet have much in the way of video stores. I suspect, given how much he was writing at that point, he didn't have a lot of time to do much research. However, if he was taking this on long term, then, yes, he should probably get some material together. At least watch The Sweeney. Or he could have just phoned up the London office and asked Neil Tennant anything he needed to know. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 3, 2017 3:28:32 GMT -5
To be fair to Friedrich, it wasn't easy to do research into a foreign country, at that point in time. You pretty much had your local library and the quality of its reference materials (or lack of). Given the cursory nature of most encyclopedias, that doesn't give you a lot of material for dramatic purposes. You are stuck, then, with novels, movies and tv shows. The tv stuff would have been limited to the stuff shown on the local PBS station and movies would depend on tv showings, as you didn't yet have much in the way of video stores. I suspect, given how much he was writing at that point, he didn't have a lot of time to do much research. However, if he was taking this on long term, then, yes, he should probably get some material together. At least watch The Sweeney. Or he could have just phoned up the London office and asked Neil Tennant anything he needed to know. He was too busy kicking in chairs and knocking down tables, in a restaurant in a West End town. |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 3, 2017 3:48:54 GMT -5
Or he could have just phoned up the London office and asked Neil Tennant anything he needed to know. He was too busy kicking in chairs and knocking down tables, in a restaurant in a West End town. Hah! I think Neil's time as London editor of Marvel UK was over quite awhile before he found his muse. He left Marvel in '77 and didn't meet Chris Lowe until 1981. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 3, 2017 11:44:23 GMT -5
He was too busy kicking in chairs and knocking down tables, in a restaurant in a West End town. Hah! I think Neil's time as London editor of Marvel UK was over quite awhile before he found his muse. He left Marvel in '77 and didn't meet Chris Lowe until 1981. No, I knew that. I saw the South Bank Show interview with them, where he talked about working for Smash Hits; but, hadn't heard he worked for Marvel UK until a few years ago. That was a bit surprising. I had trouble picturing him working in comics; then again, aside from that interview, one book and their videos, I don't claim to know much about their lives, outside of the music. Surprised no one has tried to tap him for a story, with all of the other celebrity writers DC and Marvel have tried. |
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