X-Lapsed Origins - Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #380 (1981)

Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #380 (December, 1981)

"In Support of Darwin"

Writer - Dave Thorpe

Art - Alan Davis

Letters - Jenny O'Connor

Colors - Helen Nally

Edits - Paul Neary

Cover Price: 63p

Well, speaking of seminal stories that are still wildly relevant to our current year HoXPoXDoXSoXRoX landscape...

... is everybody ready to meet a certain Interdimensional Witch Queen?

That's right - her Royal Whyness is about to make her presence known... and felt!  Will any of us survive the x-perience?  Well, probably...

Let's go!

--

Picking up right where we left off, Captain Britain has met Algernon... the over-sized definitely not a rat-thing.  Al pours the Cap a cuppa, the contents of which Brian recognizes as the same "juice" that the Junkheap was after last chapter.  Now, this entire exchange is being viewed by... a weirdo named Dimples.  He reports this to... wait for it... Her Royal Whyness.  Here it is, gang... the first appearance of the Interdimensional Witch Queen, Opal Luna Saturnyne.  He asks what he ought to do about this... to which, she suggests that he already knows.  And so, he summons the, ahem, Avant Guard.  Once this is settled, Saturnyne resumes her meeting - talking about "The Push"... whatever that is.

Back at the Rat House, Captain Britain tries to break away from Algernon... when, suddenly -- Jackdaw blips back in, looking quite... uh, radical.  Turns out he was unable to locate Merlin to get to the bottom of exactly what and where they'd been sent.  Also, he appears to recognize Algernon as someone called Seamus.  Beautiful Brian assumes that Jack's still drunk.

Then... the, ahem, Avant Guard show up.  They're your generic dudes in suits.  They also wear bowler hats and carry umbrellas, because of course they do.  They take aim and blast at Brian... who is initially able to withstand the beam via his forcefield -- however, that is short-lived.  Brian and Jackdaw are sent into another dimension... for like a panel or two.  It's neat the way this is all depicted on-panel, but feels like it's rushed due to the constraints of being a chapter in an anthology.  Brian and Jack peel back through to this Crooked London... and beat up the baddies.

We wrap up with one of the Avant Guard firing a devolver blast... which narrowly misses Brian, and instead hits Algernon.  Poor ol' Al is devolved into just an ordinary rat.  This is enough to distract our hero long enough for him to get blasted.  We close out this chapter with Brian himself being devolved into a monkey.

--

I know I say this a lot... but, dang -- these are some weird strips!

I feel like these old stories don't come up quite enough in conversation when folks discuss trippy comics.  There is genuinely something eerie and uncomfortable about these stories.  It's got the surreal whimsy and wackiness of an Alice in Wonderland... with the underlying sinisterness of... well, an Alice in Wonderland.  It's quite well done... and, I'm enjoying these Thorpe chapters far more than I ever expected!  I assumed this little experiment would be a slog until we got to the Moore chapters... but, I was completely wrong!

What we get here is... well, a whole lot of set-up.  I love how the strip itself ends with all of the new questions we might have.  What's going to happen to Captain Britain now that he's a monkey?  Who is the Whyness?  What is "The Push"?  And so on...

That said, since it's mostly set-up - there isn't much for us to discuss here without spoiling what's to come.  I will say that I'm certainly enjoying the build-up... and feel like it's coming together quite well.  Thorpe, for the most part, has toned down his "spelling it out" via thought balloons here.  Sure, there's still a lot of thought balloons... but, I feel like they're used much better - they're here to offer up context rather than explain exactly what it is we're seeing on-panel.

I'd say the only bit of "clunk" we get in this chapter was Brian and Jack's brief visit to the void... or wherever.  I understand doing that to allow the Avant Guard (a name, by the way, that I absolutely love) to show what they're capable of... but, it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity, or afterthought - likely due to the constraints of this being just a five-page short subject.

Alan Davis' art continues to impress, even at this early point in his career.  I especially dig the "radical" take on Jackdaw... looking more like a pointy-eared, ponytailed Zack Morris than an elf nyoinked out of a fantasy story.  I also really like how are sure to let us know he's still a bit drunk by having his cheeks be a bit rosy.

It's funny, the chapter that comes next is actually the first chapter Marvel included in a semi-recent TRUE BELIEVERS reprint, whose purpose it was to examine the first appearance of Saturnyne.  I own that, but haven't actually sat down with it... but, it's odd that it would open with Captain Britain already being devolved.  Seems a weird way to start the story without the preceding context.  Oh well... I suppose that's all for me to say - if you wanna follow along with me from this point on, Marvel's made it quite easy to do so with that recent reprint.

Overall - still having a heckuva time with this... and I'm happy that Her Royal Whyness has made her first appearance.  Looking forward to more - and I hope you are as well!

NEXT CHAPTER: Re-Birth!

X-Lapsed, Episode 149 - Juggernaut #5 (2021)

X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Forty-Nine

Juggernaut (vol.3) #5 (March, 2021)

"A New Beginning?"

Writer - Fabian Nicieza

Art - Ron Garney

Colors - Matt Milla

Letters - VC's Joe Sabino

Edits - Bissa, White, Cebulski

Cover Price: $3.99

On-Sale: January 6, 2021

On the eve of our milestone 150th episode - we wrap up our look at the recently concluded Juggernaut miniseries!  Will Cain stay on the straight and narrow?  And what of his totally not-a-mutant sidekick?  We'll talk all about it!

Plus: Great mailbag... and the formal announcement of the X-Lapsed Origins blogging project!  Pop over to the site for some seminal bits and bobs about Betsy's Beautiful Blonde British Brother Brian... and our most favoritest place ever: Otherworld!

--

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X-Lapsed Origins - Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #379 (1981)

Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #379 (November, 1981)

"The Junkheap That Walked Like A Man"

Writer - Dave Thorpe

Art - Alan Davis

Letters - Jenny O'Connor

Colors - Helen Nally

Edits - Paul Neary

Cover Price: 63p

In case it's not clear from the covers I'm including here in the pre-ramble section of these posts, Captain Britain isn't the only character being featured in the UK Marvel Super-Heroes mag.  As you can see, it's a pretty interesting anthology format... and, while I believe I initially referred to this as a being a "weekly", I'm coming to the conclusion that it is, in fact, a monthly.

Which, is a little bit baffling... I'm not sure how a four page Captain Britain strip could keep folks of the day invested.  Four pages a week?  Sure... but, four pages a month?  That's a bit of a tough sell.

Anyhoo - let's fight a robot... and, uh, chat a rat?

--

We open with the Junkheap and Captain Britain fighting their way through the city of whichever London this is.  Initially, the military assumes them to both be enemies.  Ya see, they don't recognize Captain Britain at all.  More on that in a bit.  Now, Brian is able to sorta-kinda hold his own... he even goes all cover of Action Comics #1 on the bot for a bit.  Unfortunately for him, however, the British M.P.s (I'm guessing they're military police... but could be mistaken) decided to fire a rocket launcher at him!

Brian's all "what the hell, guys!" and suggests they should know who he is.  To this, they reply that they used to have a Captain UK... but, never met a Captain Britain.  Amid this confusion and distraction - Betsy's Beautiful Blonde Brother gets Blasted by the Bot.

Brian fights his way though the blast... and manages to push the Junkheap into... uh, the Thames?  That's the one from the beginning of Danger Mouse and Bananaman, right?  Whatever the case, this causes the Heap's energy to zeep... er, seep away.  As it crackles in the drink, it comments that it needs "more juice".

Captain Britain convinces the M.P.s to allow the Heap to reform... so they might follow it to this source of this "juice".

Brian and the M.P.s follow the shambling wreckage to a nearby sewer pipe... which looks like it's oozing with Tang.  Our Captain prevents the Heap from rejuicing... and, it goes inert.

Just then... a strange street person appears.  Captain Britain sure seems to be chummy with these interdimensional hoboes, don't he?  Anyhoo, this character convinces Brian to enter the sewer pipe... we wrap up with him face-to-face with... an over-sized Rat Thing called Algernon.  I hope Brian brought him some flowers!

--

Boy, this is a strange little strip, now isn't it?

It's so weird... I can't remember any of this - it's like I'm seeing this Algernon character for the first time.  In fairness, I barely remembered Jackdaw - so, what can I say?

I wanna say our main takeaway from this chapter is that it might just be (though I can't say for sure) the first hint that there is a Captain Britain Corps.  Brian's never heard of this Captain UK... and the Londoners don't know nothing of a Captain Britain.  So, I'd say that was a low-key seminal scene.

As listeners of the main X-Lapsed program (and, ya know - readers of the current year X-Books) know, the Captain Britain Corps are most definitely still a thing nowadays - only, they've all got purple hair and whatnot.  Whatever the case, it's neat and interesting to see how all of these pieces originally started falling into place.

Let's take a very brief look at this Captain UK character.  Listeners of From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast might remember her as Beautiful Brian's representation when he was put on trial by the Captain Britain Corps for his many... many... many misdeeds.

From Excalibur #43 (November, 1991)

Looks like she'll start popping into our Captain Britain strips before long (and to say much more would be spoiling the story)... so, look forward to that!  Worth noting, the British M.P.s in this chapter refer to Captain UK as a "he"... so, looks like we'll be hitting the ground running with some already established lore!

Overall, I'm still enjoying this eerie little strip - and I hope you are as well.  Who knows... maybe we'll come out of this with a whole new appreciation for Otherworld - and a desire to reread the X of Swords storyline over and over again!  Or ya know... maybe we won't.

NEXT CHAPTER: In Support of Darwin

Generation X-Lapsed, Episode 02 - Generation X (vol.2) #2 (2017)

Generation X-Lapsed, Episode Two

Generation X (vol.2) #2 (July, 2017)

Writer - Christina Strain

Art - Amilcar Pinna

Colors - Felipe Sobreiro w/Jay David Ramos & Chris Sotomayor

Letters - VC's Clayton Cowles

Edits - Robinson, Ketchum, Paniccia, Alonso

Cover Price: $3.99

On-Sale: May 31, 2017

The Purifiers have attacked... and the only member of our cast that seems to want to do anything proactive about it gets scolded!  That's just ONE of the "Chris Problems" I had with this issue... more on that if you decide to hit PLAY -- and I sure hope you do!

Agree?  Disagree?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue and overall volume of Generation X! 

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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com

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X-Lapsed Origins - Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #378 (1981)

Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #378 (October, 1981)

"Outcasts"

Writer - Dave Thorpe

Art - Alan Davis

Letters - Perl Godbold

Colors - Helen Nally

Edits - Paul Neary

Cover Price: 56p

Welcome back, friends - to our X-Lapsed X-Tra Credit!

I wasn't sure how receptive folks would be to me plopping myself back in the blogger's chair - and resuming with some more text-n-pics based content.  I want to thank everyone for checking out the first installment of X-Lapsed Origins - it did far better than I thought it would.  Hopefully y'all enjoyed it enough to come back for more!

I'd love to hear your thoughts along the way - please feel free to write in! 

--

Our second chapter opens with Captain Britain and Jackdaw being spotted by some policemen... now, why Brian would immediately be concerned by this is a bit iffy, but it turns out he's got every right to be.  Ya see, these coppers have guns... which, I suppose isn't/wasn't a thing in the UK... England... or Great Britain (if you're familiar with any of my Excalibur discussions, you'll know I don't know the difference between the three - if any!).  Anyhoo, the officers fire on our heroes... which causes them to flee - right into a hobo community.

There, Brian attempts to deduce just where (or when) in the heck he and his companion are.  Unfortunately for him, these hoboes are so out to lunch, they haven't the foggiest idea what he's going on about.  Instead, they just offer him a swig outta their bottle.

Jackdaw obliges... and gets some rosy on his cheeks.

This irks the Captain, as they really ought to be focusing on the task at hand, rather than getting wafted on some hobo swill.  He sends his assistant dimension-hopping to locate Merlin and find out just what in the multiverse is going on here.

Then... a random junkpile (or, junk heap as the next chapter will call it) animates and rises from the ground.  It appears to have a mad-on for humanity... and blasts our good Captain straightaway.  We wrap up this chapter with Brian getting a good view of this weird version of London... while in hot pursuit of the "Junkheap that Walked Like a Man"!

--

A short chapter, yes?  Only four or so pages, which looks like it'll be the shortest for this opening salvo... but, not by much.  Looks like these chapters will be anywhere between four and eight pages.  Though, when we get into the Alan Moore installments, I would assume that we can spend quite a bit of time on even the shortest of offerings.

So, whatta we got here?  Well - not a whole heckuva lot.  Thorpe is still world-building, and showing us the subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences between this London and the (not yet established as the) 616-London.  For the most part, it's quite well done - though, as mentioned last chapter - much of Brian's internal monologue reads kind of like a term paper.  Just dry explanations of what he's seeing... even though, we can see whatever it is he's talking about right there on panel.  A little clunky - but not unforgivable.

I'd wager that the over-explanation might've been helpful for those X-Fans of 1996 when this was reprinted in X-Men Archives to follow along.  Well, those of whom didn't quit trying to read this after the first chapter, anyway...

Let's briefly touch on Jackdaw.  Here's a character I was 100% certain I was going to despise... and yet, I'm actually kind of digging him.  I like how different he is from the stuffy and serious Captain Britain... and find that they play off each other quite well.  So far, so good!

Overall - still having a good time with this little project, and I hope you are as well.  It's a lot of fun seeing some of these seminal moments... with the added bonus of getting to enjoy some very early Alan Davis artwork!

NEXT CHAPTER: The Junkheap That Walked Like a Man by Thorpe & Davis

From Claremont to Claremont, Episode 2c - X-Factor #72 (1991)

From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast

Episode 2C

X-Factor #72 (November, 1991)

"Multiple Homicide"

Writer - Peter David

Pencils - Larry Stroman

Inks - Al Milgrom

Colors - Glynis Oliver

Letters - Michael Heisler

Edits - Harras & DeFalco

Cover Price: $1.00

Will the real Jamie Madrox please stand up... or, well - die, I guess?

Episode Two rolls on, as Jeremiah (@bigox737) and I discuss the weirdness of which dupe got shot, and look into Havok and Polaris's awkward romantic reunion.  Jeremiah will also hop into the hot seat for the dread "Pod File" segment!

It's a great time as always, we hope you'll give us a listen!

--

@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com

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X-Lapsed Origins - Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #377 (1981)

Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #377 (September, 1981)

"The Return of Captain Britain"

Writer - Dave Thorpe

Art - Alan Davis

Letters - Peri Godbold

Colors - Helen Nalley

Edits - Paul Neary

Cover Price: 56p

Well, just what in the heck is this???

An actual blog post at the humble blog?  Well, in short - yeah!  This is a little project I've been considering for awhile now... just wasn't sure how to go about doing it.

Part of me considered making this yet another audio endeavor... but, let's face it, my voice is all over the place right now, and isn't impressing all that many folks!

Also, I really missed the blogging format.  Even though Blogger is still kind of a pain in the butt (well, actually quite the pain in the butt), I still have this desire to continue working in the written format.

I apologize for the shift in direction over the past... well, nearly a year, at this point.  Those of you who have been with me from the get-go (or for a long while anyway) will hopefully understand and appreciate, that after a certain event, I needed to "shift gears", so to speak.

I also apologize for this new direction... as, it's most definitely not a return to the old "Random DC Comics Reviews" format that I'd long established here.  Instead, I'm looking at backfilling some of our knowledge base for the X-Lapsed podcast.

For those who are listening, first: thank you... it's been an interesting experiment shifting from daily blogging to daily podcasting - and, at this point, we're over six-months in... with new content on the channel each and every day.  Second: you'll know that we recently wrapped up the 22-part X of Swords (or, as we affectionately call it "Ecks of Tens") event crossover.

This is a story based out of Otherworld... and predicated on a lot of early Captain Britain lore.  While I've waxed nostalgic over my experience with the Alans Moore and Davis Captain Britain stories... it's been such a long time since I revisited them that I feel as though I may've missed out on some of the context of the story... and, as such - failed in my attempt to pass that context along to the listeners.

And so... X-Lapsed Origins!

Here, with this "sister series" which mixes our X-Lapsed medias, I'm hoping to provide some broader context... while also perhaps introducing less-seasoned X-Fans to some seminal stories which still resonate and inform the books to this very day.  Sometimes we'll bump into contradictions... but, heck - that's half the fun, right there!

Without any further ado... let's check out "The Return of Captain Britain" from 1981.

--

We open with... an INFO PAGE!  Okay, okay... I'm kidding.  But, not really.  Ya see, I'm using X-Men Archives #1 (July, 1995) to get this story, which is a strange and almost anachronistic book indeed.  We'll talk more about that later... but, for now - this INFO PAGE gets us caught up on what's been going on in Brian's story to this point.  Basically, Captain Britain and his elf pal Jackdaw just helped the Black Knight and Merlin thwart a threat in Otherworld (Brian also appeared and competed in the Marvel Super Heroes Contest of Champions event miniseries), and now - he's been sent back to Earth.  Along the way, Brian's costume changes from its original design, to it's more familiar one... also, his power sceptre vanishes - more on that in a bit.

Our hero (and his pal) plop down in the UK, where they find themselves faced off with... The Crazy Gang!  This is the first appearance of a character who will loom quite large during this endeavor... and is still relevant now: Mad Jim Jaspers!  He is flanked by... well, the Crazy Gang: Jack of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, Coco, Executioner, Tweedledope, Dormouse, and the Conjurors.  They immediately enter into battle.

Brian is unsure as to how he'll be able to defend himself and battle these baddies without his magic sceptre... but, he manages to knock the Executioner for a loop with a punch.  He then hops out a window... freaks out for a moment about his inability to fly without that, ya know, magic sceptre -- only to realize that he doesn't appear to need it anymore.  He assumes that Merlin simply transferred the sceptre's power to his new costume.

Mad Jim then throws an exploding teapot at the Captain... which, sounds like something I'm making up - but, it's not!

Jackdaw slides in to swipe the Conjurors' magic wands... Brian bumrushes them (along with Jack of Hearts) from behind... causing a whole lot of coin to go flying... much to a pair of hoboes delight.

The Crazy Gang then make their daring exit.  After tossing a smoke bomb, they load onto their... teapot-shaped helicopter, and make like a tree.  This leaves Brian and Jackdaw pondering exactly what just happened... and, well - they're both at a loss.  Our hero then picks up some of the coins... which he doesn't recognize at all.  On the wall is a political poster... which, doesn't mean a whole heckuva lot to me - but tells Captain Britain that... this isn't the UK (or England... or Great Britain) he remembers.

--

Well, this is weird one, innit?

First, I gotta say - this must've been a spectacularly hard-sell back in ye old 1995.  I mean, even if you were tangentially familiar with the Captain Britain lore... you might come into this thinking (and hoping) it's the Alan Moore run... or, maybe the original Claremont run - but, no!  It's the bridge between the two.  Alan Moore's story doesn't even start until the next issue of X-Men Archives!  This means there are seven Dave Thorpe chapters in this first ish.

This issue has a foreword by Alan Davis, which is titled: "Stick With it, it gets Better!" (included below), which isn't much of a ringing endorsement, is it?  But, it is true.

While this short story (it's an eight-pager, all of these installments will be short - remember, these are from the UK weeklies) didn't exactly rock my socks... and, honestly, without the INFO PAGE I'd have been completely lost (actually even with the INFO PAGE I was still kinda grasping), I did enjoy this.

It was cool getting to see the first appearance of Mad Jim Jaspers... who, as mentioned, will loom large as we proceed.  The rest of The Crazy Gang characters... ehh, I mean, they are what they are.  They look to be... well, very British.  Which, isn't a qualifier or indictment in either direction - but, nonetheless... I mean, I don't think you could mistake them for being anything but a British creation.

We learn a little bit about Brian's new powerset here... with no more reliance on his magic sceptre.  Instead his powers seem to be imbued by his new costume.  Definitely a shift to the status quo... and, I'm glad we get it out of the way here - albeit in kind of a clunky way.  Some of these thought-balloons were so fumbling and overwritten it almost justifies Marvel abandoning them in later years.

Overall - I think this is going to be a fun little experiment.  Not sure what the schedule will be... or, even if there'll be one.  I definitely want to hear your thoughts as we work our way through -- and also, if you have any suggestions for any post-Captain Britain X-Lapsed Origins subjects, please send them my way!

Look forward to introductions of many Otherworldly concepts... such as Saturnyne and more from Mad Jim!  We might even see some more Braddocks... and believe it or not, we're going to get a neat little reference to MiracleMan to boot!

NEXT CHAPTER: Outcasts by Thorpe and Davis

--

Foreward: