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Post by tingramretro on Jan 3, 2017 12:06:46 GMT -5
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. I almost interviewed Neil Tennant once, a few years ago when I was working for Crikey! magazine, but though he was quite willing in principle to talk to us, it proved more or less impossible to pin him down long enough. |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 9:36:39 GMT -5
Captain Britain #17 (Feb '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "The Revenge of the Red Skull"  We resume our story with Captains Britain and America being literally leapt upon by a number of armed men who were apparently hiding in the trees. Captain Britain remarks that they "look like relics from the last war", which would seem to indicate a rather shaky grasp of history on his part, as Nazis in World War II did not traditionally wear green jumpsuits, masks, and huge red swastikas on their chests, and carry ray guns. Captain America, who has a bit of a gift for these things, immediately deduces (based on no evidence at all) that they are agents of the Red Skull, which is handy because it saves Gary Friedrich having to get us up to speed with a caption box. As our heroes dispatch the Nazis and continue on into Braddock Manor to investigate the demented computer (remember that?) the scene shifts to London, where some massively sterotypical Londoners who look like extras from My Fair Lady (thanks, Herb) are less than impressed by the arrival (on a "friendly visit") of the S.H.I.E.L.D Heli-carrier. Nick Fury is meeting with a condescending individual named Tod Radcliffe, "head honcho" of S.T.R.I.K.E (the Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies) which appears to be effectively a British version of S.H.I.E.L.D competing with it for the title of Most Desperate Acronym. Tod is clearly a wrong'un, as he has no respect for Fury, but we get only a brief glimpse of him before cutting inexplicably to "a seedy dockland pub" where an agent of the Red Skull is trying to recruit two elderly sailors to swell the ranks of his revolutionary army(!) As these two nitwits sign up to the cause at a full scale rally being held nearby (which nobody else seems to have noticed) the Skull muses on "how much I hate the British". Nice. At 10 Downing Street, Fury and Radcliffe are having a council of war with Prime Minister James Callaghan over the sudden resurgence of Nazism in the country (first I've heard of it) but we, the readers, are quickly given some info that Nick and the P.M are not privy to; Tod Radcliffe is an agent of the Red Skull!! Radcliffe's strike force, we are told, are due to destroy Braddock Manor within the hour (why they want to do this is not made entirely clear) but this is unlikely to be a problem for Captain Britain and Captain America, as they've just re-entered the Manor and walked into a cell filling with poison gas... Blimey, it's all moving at quite a pace, isn't it?
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 10:21:18 GMT -5
Captain Britain #18 (Feb '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "S.H.I.E.L.D Strikes Out!"  As gas fills their cell, Captain America displays an uncharacteristically defeatist attitude, lamenting that the Skull has "finally beaten (him)", but Captain Britain has a last minute brainwave and activates his quarterstaff's force field...though seemingly too late, as both heroes slump to the floor. The Skull isn't going to let them die so easily, though; as they lose consciousness, he stops the gas (hang on, I thought we were told it was poisonous?) and cackles that when S.T.R.I.K.E bomb the Manor "they will know the horror of dying twice in the same day!" Why do villains always have to make everything needlessly complicated? Meanwhile, Nick Fury is getting some seriously bad vibes about S.T.R.I.K.E's Tod Radcliffe (who basically never stops trying to wind him up by going on about how far superior Britain is to America) but, having revived, Captain Britain generates some vibes of his own as, prompted by Captain America, he presses the heretofore ignored third button on his quarterstaff and unexpectedly causes a vibration wave to blow a hole in their cell wall (there's no real explanation given for how Captain America knew the staff had capabilities that Captain Britain was unaware of, and Captain Britain's rather lame declaration that he had never fully tested the staff out because he feared its power would be too much for him to handle makes absolutely no sense, but never mind). Our heroes catch up with the Skull in the basement just as he prepares to escape the forthcoming explosion (hold on-I thought the Skull was in London last time we saw him? How did he get there?) and a brief scuffle ensues, but it is halted by the Skull revealing that his agents are still holding Betsy and Jamie Braddock prisoner at an undisclosed location, and will kill them if they don't let him go (Betsy, listening in via the two way viewscreen, rather pathetically begs Brian not to let them die). Taking advantage of the Captain's indecision, the Skull teleports out (ah, so that's how he got there). Meanwhile, in the back seat of a two man plane outside, Nick Fury suddenly finds himself trapped as his pilot,Tod Radcliffe, orders the rest of their strike force (which Fury thought was just on "a recon mission") to launch missiles at Braddock Manor. As Fury indignantly bellows that he knew Radciffe couldn't be trusted (so why did he go along with him?) the Manor is destroyed by a rain of missiles, with our two embattled Captains apparently still inside it... OK, it's still holding my attention, but what was the point of the Skull having the Manor bombed if he wanted Dr. Braddock's computer? He does attempt to take some schematcs with him when he leaves, but doesn't seem to be holding them when he teleports out. It all seems a bit pointless...
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 11:04:17 GMT -5
Captain Britain #19 (Feb '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "Two Died With Honour!"  Our story resumes at St. Paul's Cathedral, where Nick Fury is brooding over two flag bedecked coffins while waiting for the memorial service for Captain's Britain and America to begin (eh? Have we missed something?) before launching into a convenient flashback sequence (ah, so we have!) Stuck in Radcliffe's two seater plane, held back by restraints, Fury dispatches his foe by tricking him into giving him a last smoke, then shooting him with a poison dart from his stogie designed by "Q-Branch" (eh? Wrong franchise, surely?) before activating the radio wih a well aimed kick and getting S.T.R.I.K.E Central to fly him home by remote control (handy). Naturally, S.T.R.I.K.E had no idea Radcliffe was a traitor, which is scant comfort to Fury, who takes out his frustrations on S.T.R.I.K.E Director Lance Hunter by...uh...knocking his bowler hat off (an aside: yes, Commander Lance Hunter is indeed the character who inspired the Lance Hunter of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV series, though the man introduced here, decked out in a bowler and, for some reason, a salmon pink suit, bears little resemblance to Phil Coulson's acerbic subordinate; fortunately, he will shortly don a slightly less jarring Nick Fury style jumpsuit, instead). Hunter remonstrates with Fury that squabbling among themselves is perhaps not terribly useful in the circumstances, with the Red Skull still out there, warning that "unless you and I can stop him, he may well succeed where Hitler failed". So, no pressure, then? Elsewhere, back at Thames University, Courtney Ross grieves for Captain Britain but is mocked by the ever insensitive Jacko Tanner who cannot understand her attachment to the masked man who saved her from Hurricane back in issue #5. This scene serves no real purpose except to remind us that Courtney and Jacko still exist, since they haven't been seen or mentioned since issue #8, but I guess it's nice that Friedrich hasn't abandoned them. Back on the Heli-carrier meanwhile, Fury's right hand man Dum Dum Dugan is watching what appears to be Captain Britain and Captain America sparring with each other, but when a confused Fury arrives, Dugan apologizes for the "dumb stunt", explaining that they are just Life Model Decoys he had made after the heroes died, hoping they could be used to rattle the Skull. Fury reflects sadly that there was no miracle escape for the heroes after all, and that they will have to continue the fight without them... A nice issue, focusing on the supporting cast and building some tension as we are left to wonder about the fate of our heroes (yeah, right-like they're really dead).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2017 11:50:27 GMT -5
tingramretroOn the Cover, underneath the Marvel Comics Group of the Invincible Red Skull - I noticed a No. 19 Week Ending Feb 16, 1977 ... did all Marvel Comics books printed in Great Britain has that printed. I never, ever noticed that until now! 
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 12:17:48 GMT -5
tingramretro On the Cover, underneath the Marvel Comics Group of the Invincible Red Skull - I noticed a No. 19 Week Ending Feb 16, 1977 ... did all Marvel Comics books printed in Great Britain has that printed. I never, ever noticed that until now! Most of them, yes. The majority of Marvel UK's titles were published weekly until 1979, the notable exceptions being the monthly Rampage and Savage Sword of Conan. From '79 onwards, more monthly titles appeared, but the weeklies remained more common. And traditionally, they would display a week ending date rather than an on-sale date. |
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Post by Batflunkie on Jan 29, 2017 12:26:04 GMT -5
Actually, mental or not, I quite like Hurricane. His costume's better than the Captain's, too. I'm probably one of the very few who actually prefers Brian's original "lion" costume over the "Union Jack Cannon-baller Suit" |
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Post by tingramretro on Jan 29, 2017 13:08:46 GMT -5
Actually, mental or not, I quite like Hurricane. His costume's better than the Captain's, too. I'm probably one of the very few who actually prefers Brian's original "lion" costume over the "Union Jack Cannon-baller Suit" I like the original, but I think the Alan Davis redesign is just incredibly clever. Trimpe's design has elements that make it fairly clear what Brian represents (the lion, the wristbands, the upper section of the mask) but the Davis design, with the white leggings and cavalry boots reminiscent of a 19th century English soldier, the mask which is essentially a Union Jack with a section cut out to accommodate the mouth, and the chest symbol basically being the saltire flags of Scotland and Northern Ireland overlaid on each other, just say "Britain" to me much more explicitly. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 29, 2017 19:19:40 GMT -5
Captain Britain remarks that they "look like relics from the last war", which would seem to indicate a rather shaky grasp of history on his part, as Nazis in World War II did not traditionally wear green jumpsuits, masks, and huge red swastikas on their chests, and carry ray guns. Captain America, who has a bit of a gift for these things, immediately deduces (based on no evidence at all) that they are agents of the Red Skull, which is handy because it saves Gary Friedrich having to get us up to speed with a caption box. .  At 10 Downing Street, Fury and Radcliffe are having a council of war with Prime Minister James Callaghan over the sudden resurgence of Nazism in the country (first I've heard of it) Well, the Skull did usually wear a green jumpsuit, with a swastika (usually white, though); so, you could see where they might get that idea. As for the resurgence of Nazism, you did have the National Front, which was pretty active in the 70s....  and some felt that this 1970s politician was more than a bit fascist:  However, this is still my favorite English fascist...   |
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Post by starscape on Feb 5, 2017 16:32:47 GMT -5
Actually, mental or not, I quite like Hurricane. His costume's better than the Captain's, too. I'm probably one of the very few who actually prefers Brian's original "lion" costume over the "Union Jack Cannon-baller Suit" You are far far from the only one. I thought the redesigned suit was horrible. Missing out the amulet was also very disappointing. As for Hurricane: a great villain. An evil Iron Man that doesn't fire repulsors but hurricane-force jets from his wrists. I've no idea why he wasn't used more. |
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Post by tingramretro on Feb 6, 2017 8:46:17 GMT -5
I'm probably one of the very few who actually prefers Brian's original "lion" costume over the "Union Jack Cannon-baller Suit" You are far far from the only one. I thought the redesigned suit was horrible. Missing out the amulet was also very disappointing. As for Hurricane: a great villain. An evil Iron Man that doesn't fire repulsors but hurricane-force jets from his wrists. I've no idea why he wasn't used more. There did seem to be a reluctance to have recurring bad guys in British comics back then, they tended to appear once and then get killed. |
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Post by tingramretro on Feb 6, 2017 9:19:31 GMT -5
Captain Britain #20 (Feb '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "While the World Gently Weeps!"  Issue #20 opens with the Red Skull gleefully reading in The Times about Britain mourning our two fallen heroes (oh, come on! Like half the country's ever heard of Captain Britain! He's been around for a few weeks and he pretty much never leaves London!) "I have succeeded! It is my greatest triumph! Captain America, the living symbol of the United States, is at last vanquished! And Captain Britain, fledgling symbol of the hated country which brought about the fuehrer's downfall, is also dead!" However, even as the Skull gloats and boasts to his subordinates that he can now proceed with his master plan to destroy both nations, Nick Fury and Lance Hunter are in a meeting with the Prime Minister, figuring out how to thwart him. And worse yet for our teutonic terror, "somewhere north of London", the decidedly not dead Captains Britain and America are trying to find a phone in order to let Fury know of their cunning plan to pretend to have croaked in order to take the villain by surprise! Why north of London? God knows. I've given up worrying about where all of this stuff is supposed to be happening. Let's just accept that Friedrich thinks everywhere in the UK is half an hour from London Bridge. Where have they been since issue #18, though? In the pub? Our scene shifts briefly to S.T.R.I.K.E command, where Hunter is explaining to Fury that there've been a lot of reports lately of Nazi activity in Docklands (I find it hard to believe this would be tolerated by the citizenry or the police, but never mind) and then, back to a hospital near "the bombed out ruins of Braddock Manor" (which is, therefore, now "north of London". sigh) where the two Captains' search for a phone has unexpectedly yielded the surprise bonus of them finding Jamie and Betsy Braddock, being guarded by the Skull's men! Some coincidence, eh? Our heroes quickly formulate a plan, and CB transforms himself into the non powered Brian Braddock in order to bluff his way inside, while CA takes advantage of the resulting distraction to simply burst in through the window! What's that? Why didn't they both burst in through the window? Stop overthinking this, it's more dramatic this way! Anyway, the Captains quickly overcome Jamie and Betsy's captors, but there's a problem: Jamie has heard on the radio that Captain Britain is dead, and now doesn't believe this masked man who has just rescued him is really his brother! Well, the BBC couldn't be wrong, could they?
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Post by tingramretro on Feb 6, 2017 10:24:09 GMT -5
Captain Britain #21 (March '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "They've Kidnapped the Prime Minister|"  Still unaware that our heroes are not, in fact, six feet under, the Red Skull finally makes his move-teleporting Prime Minister Jim Callaghan straight out of his office in Downing Street, and into his hidden base in Docklands, full of neo-Nazis! Meanwhile, our two heroes are wasting precious time trying to convince the seemingly terminally dim Jamie Braddock that they are, in fact, alive and not imposters, a problem only finally solved when Brian finally does his magic quick change routine and reveals his true identity to both Betsy and Captain America in the process. He's really not getting the hang of this secret identity thing-particularly since one of the Skull's henchmen is still in the room, and conscious! This fact doesn't even seem to register, in fact, when Captain America rather uncharacteristically roughs the bloke up in order to get the Skull's location from him. Cap tries to phone Nick Fury, but sadly the switchboard operator at S.T.R.I.K.E assumes he's a nutcase, so our heroes have to head for Docklands on their own, pausing only briefly to beat up some young thieves who've stopped by to loot the hospital. Captain America then commandeers a lorry to get them to London, leaving the surprisingly accepting driver to phone the authorities and tell them where they're heading. Sadly, things aren't really heading our heroes' way even now, though: Hunter and Fury receive word that if the British government doesn't surrender by 6.00PM, the Prime Minister will die...and at midnight, the Skull will detonate a "germ bomb" over London, which will wipe out the population in hours! And just to top it all off, the friendly lorry driver will never deliver Cap's message; he's about to go and phone it in when his mate unexpectedly shoots him in the back with a pistol of advanced design before burning the message. Damn that Red Skull, he has spies everywhere! The level of improbable coincidences in this story is rapidly becoming just slightly ridiculous...
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 6, 2017 11:19:13 GMT -5
Cap tries to phone Nick Fury, but sadly the switchboard operator at S.T.R.I.K.E assumes he's a nutcase, I don't know why this makes me want to seek out this issue, but it totally does. |
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Post by tingramretro on Feb 17, 2017 10:12:05 GMT -5
Captain Britain #22 (March '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "Mayhem at Midnight!"  The seemingly endless Red Skull saga continues. As Lance Hunter tries to dissuade Nick Fury from undertaking an utterly pointless one man search of a city of eight million people, Captains Britain and America sneak into the deserted warehouse their unwilling informant pointed them towards last issue. Captain America initially protests that the Skull is "far too cunning to set up shop in such a hackneyed setting as an abandoned warehouse", but then concedes that he may indeed have decided to place his headquarters in "a place so stereotyped it would be overlooked". So basically, he can say he was right whatever the outcome proves to be! As it turns out, the warehouse is indeed Skull Central, and our heroes first fall into a very obvious trap (a trap door deposits them in a giant water tank) and escape it, then get into a fight with a mob of henchmen, before the Skull appears and announces that he will kill the captive Prime Minister if they don't surrender. Predictably, the Captains comply. Meanwhile, Fury is still demanding that he and his S.H.I.E.L.D forces be allowed to take over the search for the Skull and his germ bomb, much to the annoyance of Hunter who "won't chance a foreign agency provoking an international incident". I can see his point, but on the whole his next move-shutting Fury up by jabbing him with a hypodermic which puts him to sleep-seems a bit of an overreaction! Still, at least Lance can now get a bit of peace in which to do his job, while Nick slips into a rather pointless nightmare about London falling to germ warfare... This installment ends with the Skulls Nazi horde about to mobilize on London, as Hunter tries to explain the gravity of the situation to Parliament while, in Docklands, the two Captains and Prime Minister Callaghan stand tied to stakes awaiting a firing squad. "Hackneyed" is an understatement, really...
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