Published September 1983
Writer: Alan Moore
Penciller: Alan Davis
Inker: Alan Davis
What's Going On?
Jim Jaspers makes a televised speech that portrays super-heroes as dangers to the world at large; Linda (Captain UK of Earth 238) explains that he made the exact same speech on her world as a precursor to the wholesale slaughter of all superhumans. Captain Britain tries to console her and convince her that this world will not suffer the same fate, but she doesn't believe him (in part, perhaps, because Betsy Braddock has a premonition of the impending slaughter) and leaves Braddock Manor...only to come face-to-face with the Fury.
Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Merlin and Roma are playing a chess game, with the major characters in this story acting as the chess pieces. It turns out that the Fury is not on the game board, though, so events may not turn out as Merlin has planned...
- Jim Jaspers takes a moment to change his white wine to red, indicating that he has the same reality-altering powers as his Earth 238 counterpart.
- There are tensions brewing within the Special Executive. While Wardog is concerned with a possible superhero holocaust, Zeitgeist is only interested in getting a paycheck.
- Betsy Braddock's boyfriend, Tom, is still urging her to abandon her brother and go somewhere less violent. Since we know that Betsy eventually joins the X-Men as Psylocke and I've never heard of Tom in any X-title, I'm going to make a wild guess and say Tom won't have a happy ending here.
Writing!
This is yet another issue where Alan Moore manages to do a lot with only a little space. I thought that the Merlin chess scenes were trying to be a little too clever, but Moore balanced that out by having the Fury throw a monkey wrench in that game. Other than that, we see progression with Linda, the growing conflict within the Special Executive, the growing danger from Jaspers, and a cliffhanger with the Fury. That's a lot for one half-issue!
Art!
I liked how Alan Davis chose to handle Jim Jasper's reality manipulation with the wine. It's simple, but it's just another example of how well he works with subtle facials expressions. And that last page...considering that neither character is exactly iconic, it's a damn nice panel. I think the best example of Davis' work on this issue, though, is Betsy's premonition. It's nothing huge or splashy, but showing her premonition within the silhouette of her profile is a very nice touch.
Retrospectively Amusing:
- It looks like Merlin and Roma are hanging out in a cosmic jacuzzi during the chess game. I guess you can play chess wherever you want to, but it does look strange that the father (Merlin) is at least partially unclothed and the daughter (Roma) appears to be jacuzzi-ing with her normal outfit on, right?
Worth Noting:
- Jim Jaspers specifically mentions the Presidential pardon from Incredible Hulk #278, and Henry Peter Gyrich and Sebastian Shaw both make cameos. This is the first evidence that A) ties Captain Britain to the X-Men titles and B) Marvel UK/Earth 616 is still the same as the prime Marvel universe; yes, CapBrit had made some appearances in the Marvel Universe before (Contest of Champions, Marvel Team Up) and his original self-titled comic did have a few American heroes guest-star, but Alan Moore could have easily changed what reality Marvel UK inhabited when Merlin brought CapBrit back from the dead and returned him home. So, now we have proof that these stories can impact the Marvel Universe as a whole, and an indication that Alan Moore liked Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men run.
- While she has been mentioned earlier, this is the first appearance of Vixen. It turns out that she's a woman, which will surprise Captain Britain and his friends, who somehow concluded that someone named "Vixen" had to be male.
No comments:
Post a Comment