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Captain Britain US & UK collections #US #1
Captain Britain: Birth of a Legend
Collects "Captain Britain Weekly" #24-39 and "Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain" #231-238.
376 pages, Hardcover
First published October 13, 1976
5 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Chris Claremont
3,273 books891 followersChris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 15, 2021
Captain Britain (Brian Braddock) is at his best when his adventures are just as strange and weird as the hero himself is. While the book starts strong, and regains its strength near the end, the middle drags quite heavily with many filler issues while the writers seem to figure out what they want the character to be.
This book collects most of the early appearances of Captain Britain. For those unaware, Captain Britain first appeared as part of UK-exclusive anthology collections, which reprinted previous Marvel Comics issues alongside a new Captain Britain story. Specifically, this volume collects:
Material from Captain Britain #1-10 (W: Chris Claremont, A: Herb Trimpe)
Material from Captain Britain #11-23 (W: Gary Friedrich, A: Herb Trimpe)
Material from Captain Britain #23-30 (W: Gary Friedrich, A: John Buscema)
Material from Captain Britain #31-36 (W: Gary Friedrich, A: Ron Wilson)
Material from Captain Britain #37 (W: Len Wein, A: Ron Wilson)
Material from Captain Britain #38-39 (W: Bob Budiansky, A: Ron Wilson)
Material from Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #231-232 (W: Bob Budiansky, A: Ron Wilson)
Material from Marvel Tales #131-133 (W: Chris Claremont, A: Herb Trimpe)
Also worth noting only Captain Britain #1-23 are presented in color. The remainder of this book is in black and white. Marvel Tales #131-133 are cut up and rearranged reprints of Captain Britain #1-2.
The stories in this book start strong with Chris Claremont's issues, which detail the origin of Captain Britain and the first appearances of his siblings Betsy and Jamie Braddock, alongside with his first few encounters with various villains: Joshua Stragg/The Reaver, Hurricane, and Dr. Synne. Herb Trimpe's art in these issues, while simple and cartoony, is very expressive and fun, and many of the villains are equally interesting.
Once Chris Claremont leaves and Gary Friedrich takes over the book, unfortunately things begin to stagnate. We enter a long series of issues involving Captain Britain meeting Captain America and fighting the Red Skull (with guest appearance by Nick Fury) over a series of encounters, which begin to feel formulaic as the Red Skull keeps capturing Captain Britain and Captain America only to then allow them to escape and begin the process all over again. Herb Trimpe's art, which I had thoroughly enjoyed until this point, quickly becomes as equally bland as the story, and on multiple occasions I had to force myself to keeping pushing through to the next issue. Things get marginally better at the end of the arc when John Buscema takes over, and seeing his Nick Fury jetpack-ing around is a delight.
Following this is a story about an old professor of Brian's who becomes the villainous Lord Hawk, which definitely sees a return to more of the weirder storytelling we initially saw in Chris Claremont's run. Also during this arc is when Ron Wilson begins to take over art duties (and continues to do so for the rest of the book). I found that Ron Wilson's art quickly grew on me, and I came to like it a lot. It's incredibly expressive, without being as cartoony as Herb Trimpe's, and much of the inking work throughout these issues are really solid.
Things really pick back up starting at Captain Britain #33 when we see Captain Britain travel to Otherworld and meet Merlin/Merlyn and learn the secret behind his origin story. This story definitely felt like the continuation of Chris Claremont's more cerebral and strange early issues, and is very much what I would have liked to see more of throughout the book. The art and especially inking are all great during these issues, with tons of creativity and expression throughout. The story ends with Brian getting an upgrade to his powers, which sets up the final arc of the book.
The remaining issues of the book feature Captain Britain fighting two new foes: Highwayman and The Manipulator, as they seek to steal Britain's military to conquer the fictional African country of Umbazi. While this sounds like, and in many ways is, a return to the standard superhero affairs that plagued the middle of this volume, by this point it seems like the creative team had figured out enough of what made Captain Britain work to know to keep things a little off-beat, and the villain Highwayman in particular reflects this, being something of a non-skeletal Ghost Rider knockoff with a Cockney accent. It was certainly a downturn from the high point of the previous arc, but still an enjoyable enough way to finish off the volume.
Overall I think this book is mostly for completionists, or those who really love Captain Britain and want to get a taste of his earliest adventures. The stories were enjoyable, but outside of Chris Claremont's issues and the Otherworld arc, were nothing terribly memorable.
This book collects most of the early appearances of Captain Britain. For those unaware, Captain Britain first appeared as part of UK-exclusive anthology collections, which reprinted previous Marvel Comics issues alongside a new Captain Britain story. Specifically, this volume collects:
Material from Captain Britain #1-10 (W: Chris Claremont, A: Herb Trimpe)
Material from Captain Britain #11-23 (W: Gary Friedrich, A: Herb Trimpe)
Material from Captain Britain #23-30 (W: Gary Friedrich, A: John Buscema)
Material from Captain Britain #31-36 (W: Gary Friedrich, A: Ron Wilson)
Material from Captain Britain #37 (W: Len Wein, A: Ron Wilson)
Material from Captain Britain #38-39 (W: Bob Budiansky, A: Ron Wilson)
Material from Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #231-232 (W: Bob Budiansky, A: Ron Wilson)
Material from Marvel Tales #131-133 (W: Chris Claremont, A: Herb Trimpe)
Also worth noting only Captain Britain #1-23 are presented in color. The remainder of this book is in black and white. Marvel Tales #131-133 are cut up and rearranged reprints of Captain Britain #1-2.
The stories in this book start strong with Chris Claremont's issues, which detail the origin of Captain Britain and the first appearances of his siblings Betsy and Jamie Braddock, alongside with his first few encounters with various villains: Joshua Stragg/The Reaver, Hurricane, and Dr. Synne. Herb Trimpe's art in these issues, while simple and cartoony, is very expressive and fun, and many of the villains are equally interesting.
Once Chris Claremont leaves and Gary Friedrich takes over the book, unfortunately things begin to stagnate. We enter a long series of issues involving Captain Britain meeting Captain America and fighting the Red Skull (with guest appearance by Nick Fury) over a series of encounters, which begin to feel formulaic as the Red Skull keeps capturing Captain Britain and Captain America only to then allow them to escape and begin the process all over again. Herb Trimpe's art, which I had thoroughly enjoyed until this point, quickly becomes as equally bland as the story, and on multiple occasions I had to force myself to keeping pushing through to the next issue. Things get marginally better at the end of the arc when John Buscema takes over, and seeing his Nick Fury jetpack-ing around is a delight.
Following this is a story about an old professor of Brian's who becomes the villainous Lord Hawk, which definitely sees a return to more of the weirder storytelling we initially saw in Chris Claremont's run. Also during this arc is when Ron Wilson begins to take over art duties (and continues to do so for the rest of the book). I found that Ron Wilson's art quickly grew on me, and I came to like it a lot. It's incredibly expressive, without being as cartoony as Herb Trimpe's, and much of the inking work throughout these issues are really solid.
Things really pick back up starting at Captain Britain #33 when we see Captain Britain travel to Otherworld and meet Merlin/Merlyn and learn the secret behind his origin story. This story definitely felt like the continuation of Chris Claremont's more cerebral and strange early issues, and is very much what I would have liked to see more of throughout the book. The art and especially inking are all great during these issues, with tons of creativity and expression throughout. The story ends with Brian getting an upgrade to his powers, which sets up the final arc of the book.
The remaining issues of the book feature Captain Britain fighting two new foes: Highwayman and The Manipulator, as they seek to steal Britain's military to conquer the fictional African country of Umbazi. While this sounds like, and in many ways is, a return to the standard superhero affairs that plagued the middle of this volume, by this point it seems like the creative team had figured out enough of what made Captain Britain work to know to keep things a little off-beat, and the villain Highwayman in particular reflects this, being something of a non-skeletal Ghost Rider knockoff with a Cockney accent. It was certainly a downturn from the high point of the previous arc, but still an enjoyable enough way to finish off the volume.
Overall I think this book is mostly for completionists, or those who really love Captain Britain and want to get a taste of his earliest adventures. The stories were enjoyable, but outside of Chris Claremont's issues and the Otherworld arc, were nothing terribly memorable.
December 29, 2012
Claremont’s origin for CB is nicely epic [7], but then we get a long and mundane fight against a super-villain, Hurricane [5]. CLaremont’s run ends with an interesting VIPER story [6], then a multi-issue fight with an uninspiring villain named Dr. Synne, saved only by the introduction of Brian’s siblings [5.5]. When Friedrich takes over, things start off well enough as he cleans up the Synne plot [5], but then the story takes a turn for the silly as we get monster computers, overly dramatic parental death, and a pointless fight with Captain America [4]. The rest of the Captain America & Red Skull arc is slightly-better-than-average superhero fare for the era, with a great issue where everyone acts like the heroes are really dead and some nice epic scope at the end [6]. Five issues of Captain Britain fighting a robotic hawk that he made is totally ludicrous, reminding me of how bad Friedrich’s plotting was when he was writing that bad computer claptrap [3]. Friedrich’s final issues thankfully return to Claremont’s origin, and thus don’t have the ridiculous underpinnings that his own original writing seems to [6]. In the final arc, Len Wein sets up some over the top villains, but when Bob Budiansky gets his hands on them, he adds a British flare to the book that had been missing to date [6.5]. Overall, this is a mediocre volume, of interest only to folks who want to see the rest of Captain Britain’s story.
November 24, 2015
This book collects Captain Britain 1-23 when it were a weekly!
Written by Chris Claremont it's awful, basically American creators doing a British character, awful.
We meet his sister Betsy who would one day become an x-men.
That's it nothing else good about the comic though later writer Gary Friedrich is the reason I give it three stars.
The art by Herb Trimpe is not bad.
Story just old tired super hero stuff , 1960s Peter Parker lines
I dread reading volume two but I know that by volume three things get better
Also my copy of birth of a legend is from Panini which is different from what's in the good reads database
Written by Chris Claremont it's awful, basically American creators doing a British character, awful.
We meet his sister Betsy who would one day become an x-men.
That's it nothing else good about the comic though later writer Gary Friedrich is the reason I give it three stars.
The art by Herb Trimpe is not bad.
Story just old tired super hero stuff , 1960s Peter Parker lines
I dread reading volume two but I know that by volume three things get better
Also my copy of birth of a legend is from Panini which is different from what's in the good reads database
June 17, 2018
I tried to like this collection as it was bought for me as a present for my birthday.
Alas I could not.
The story is serialised and that would be a strength if the story was any good but sadly, it is not.
Alas I could not.
The story is serialised and that would be a strength if the story was any good but sadly, it is not.
May 24, 2018
Never read these early stories before with the old costume. While its very clearly written by an American with a few bloopers, its also a lot of fun and the character really works
September 17, 2019
Classic 70's Marvel UK.
June 27, 2018
The version I have collects Captain Britain, Vol. 1 (1976-77) #1-39 and Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain (1977) #231-232. I really enjoyed this. I had read some of the old Captain Britain stories (when I could find them as a kid) because Excalibur was my favorite team growing up. So it was really great to see what Captain Britain started out as and how he developed. I thought some of the story lines drug out a little (for instance, the Red Skull), but all in all, I think this was a fun escape from the world and into the heart of what comics can be.
November 20, 2013
This was a pretty spectacular superhero book. Not a lot of great continuity, or overarching impact on the overall Marvel universe, but it has some great action in it.
It starts out at its best. Chris Claremont writing his typical "social realism but really just great superheroic punching fest" that he's so good at. Brian Braddock has to risk his life to protect Britain from some mega-powered baddies, while managing his academic career and his family.
The magazine gradually went away from color printing, which dampened the appeal of the later stories. But it did the typical thing, of almost every issue threatening to kill off Captain Britain, and he survives the next issue, pretty well.
It actually used British politics in a very clever way (albeit cartoonishly broad, I mean it is a comic book) at least twice. The Red Skull launches a high tech Nazi military campaign (which also features team-ups with Captain America and Nick Fury, naturally awesome), and then this weird African power grab by white guys named the Manipulator and the Highwayman, also nice and pseudo-political.
The early stories by Claremont, with the AMAZING origin story, as well as colorful costumery by baddies like the Hurricane, are alone worth the price.
5/5
It starts out at its best. Chris Claremont writing his typical "social realism but really just great superheroic punching fest" that he's so good at. Brian Braddock has to risk his life to protect Britain from some mega-powered baddies, while managing his academic career and his family.
The magazine gradually went away from color printing, which dampened the appeal of the later stories. But it did the typical thing, of almost every issue threatening to kill off Captain Britain, and he survives the next issue, pretty well.
It actually used British politics in a very clever way (albeit cartoonishly broad, I mean it is a comic book) at least twice. The Red Skull launches a high tech Nazi military campaign (which also features team-ups with Captain America and Nick Fury, naturally awesome), and then this weird African power grab by white guys named the Manipulator and the Highwayman, also nice and pseudo-political.
The early stories by Claremont, with the AMAZING origin story, as well as colorful costumery by baddies like the Hurricane, are alone worth the price.
5/5
August 11, 2013
The first British hero with a Marvel or DC series, Captain Britain debuted in Marvel's UK weekly titles back in the 1970s. The series here is entertaining, though hardly ground-breaking and narrative glitches become obvious when they're collected in one book (an eveil super-computer introduced in one story is forgotten about almost immediately). I enjoyed it, but it's nothing I'd rush to put into a friend's hands.
April 21, 2014
I remember Captain Britain fondly from his days in Excalibur, but I had never gone back and read his early stories. They're resoundingly okay.
The dialogue is frequently overwrought, the artwork is a little crude, and the villains are sometimes less than inspiring. (Lord Hawk? He's an angry college professor with a robot hawk. Not one for the ages.) But Brian Braddock has a likeable, everyday hero quality to him that grounds the series and makes for a fun read.
The dialogue is frequently overwrought, the artwork is a little crude, and the villains are sometimes less than inspiring. (Lord Hawk? He's an angry college professor with a robot hawk. Not one for the ages.) But Brian Braddock has a likeable, everyday hero quality to him that grounds the series and makes for a fun read.
July 8, 2014
THis was a very different version of Captain Britain than currently exists in the Marvel Universe... one that's more like 'British Spiderman' than anything. Starts off well (the Claremont issues)... the peak is definitely the Captain America team up (though the dialogue gets really bad at times)... after that it goes pretty steadily downhill. It's still a fun read, but nothing one has to run out and purchase.
January 16, 2016
Very nicely produced collection, beautifully printed and bound. In terms of the content, it's basically a product of the times - the late seventies - and doesn't match up to current comics. But its still a nice intro to a little known character. Maybe they'll cancel the next Captain America and give us some Captain Britain! Maybe not.
March 1, 2013
Interesting to see the introduction of Betsy, pre-Psylocke. And amazing to see a really interesting political spyfi thriller of Captains America and Britain teaming up against the Red Skull. But prepare: stories are short and characterization is slim!
July 4, 2016
The stories before the team up with Captain America were 5 stars. Towards the end of the team up they slide to 4. The last half are 2 or 3, but that's also influenced by the black and white art.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews