I think you've probably hit the nail on the head, here. It was a case of a writer used to the pace of full length American monthlies not knowing how to gauge the pace of British weekly anthologies with shorter page counts per story. Claremont, for all his faults, understood it. I don't think it came as easily to Friedrich or Leiber.

Good to know, and thanks for pointing it out ...

That image of Captain Britain reminds me of the song, "Englishman in New York" : See me walking down Fifth Avenue, a walking cane here at my side...

Sure, why not?  He's a British icon!

Sounds like the name of a british breakfast cereal... I had to look his name up!

Quentin Crisp would certainly have been a good alter ego for a superhero. Even more unlikely than a mild-mannered journalist! (Better dressed, too).

He's not as famous here as his cousin Cookie Crisp.  

Captain Britain #27 (April '77)

Script: Gary Friedrich/Larry Lieber
Art: John Buscema/Fred Kida

"Wil You Never Win?"



A somewhat ironic title, it seems to me, as "when will this story end" was basically the question I was asking last issue. However, thankfully, this issue it finally does just that, albeit in a fairly low key and rather unsatisfying way: the Red Skull, having survived his fall from the clock tower, simply teleports away on the first page vowing terrible vengeance at some unspecified point in the future, we get a blink-and-you'll-miss-it acknowledgement of the fact that, oh yeah, Commander Hunter defused the Skull's germ bomb, and our heroes head back to the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier to pat each other on the back and get a congratulatory transatlantic video call from President Carter. As Captain Britain and Hunter head off, Captain America and Nick Fury reflect that "the UK's having a rough time right now--and they're lucky to have guys like that around!", whie Hunter and C.B are pleased to have fought beside "two living legends". It's all a bit over the top, and one can't help thinking the very sudden wrap-up of the Red Skull storyline after what seems like millennia was just because the writers finally realized they hadn't a clue what to do with it. We do get a short scene between the Prime Minister and Dai Thomas, though, in which Dai gets to remind us that he hates superheroes because of his wife's death. And there's a bit of foreshadowing which will ultimately come to nothing, as Hunter offers C.B a job with S.T.R.I.K.E and, when rebuffed, gives a sly smile and thinks to himself that the police take a dim view of vigilantes, and sooner or later the Captain will have to join the agency or retire.

With the main story over, Captain Britain gets a cab back to Thames University (indulging in a brief origin flashback along the way) only to then remember that his costume has no pockets so he has no money. He rather unheroically runs out on the driver without paying, which I'm sure Captain America would have disapproved of. Returning to his rooms as Brian Braddock, our hopeless hero then finds a letter from his father's old friend Professor Scott, and wonders to himself whether the "kind old gentleman" is enjoying "the radio controlled hawk I built for him (!)"

As we can see with the scene on the last page, this is something of an understatement, as "some fifty miles to the north", the bizarrely garbed Professor Scott prepares to unleash his metallic avian companion on a smoke belching factory, while proclaiming "let naught but rubble remain, where yon palace of pollution stands! So commands Lord Hawk!"

Oh, Brian. What have you done now...?