(This review covers Captain Britain and MI13 #1-4. Spoilers abound.)

Poor old Captain Britain has never fitted quite into the Marvel Universe,

Yes, I know there are some people who would dismiss that concept, but I always saw him as a B-List character, who seemed to spend most of his time playing second fiddle to the X-Men (his sister, Betsy, is actually X-Man Psylocke), or being involved with the Captain Britain Corps, a shameless steal from the Green Lantern Corps. It did have its few moments of amusement, including Captain Britain-like characters from worlds as diverse as 1984 and a Nazi-occupied Great Britain, but I was never too impressed. There were stories that had moments of sheer delight – such as the recently reissued Jasper’s Warp storyline – but overall Captain Britain remained a bit character. Hardly a fair assessment, given his prominence in Excalibur, but one I feel stands.

Why is that the case, you may ask? I feel that it happened because while Captain Britain was set up to be the British counterpart to Captain America, he wasn't used as such a character. The vast majority of Marvel’s stories took place in America and Captain Britain could not, reasonably, be involved. Civil War and World War Hulk took place in the US; Captain Britain’s only appearance in Civil War was, IIRC, in the Black Panther storyline. The same could be said for many other British characters. The Black Knight was an Avenger. Pete Wisdom spent most of his time with the X-Men (including Kitty Pryde, with whom he had a relationship). One character, Blade, is hard to think of as a British character at all. I was not, therefore, keen on the concept of a new Captain Britain series, and only picked up the first issues in my LCS. It still stuns me to know how close I came to missing out on the series. Let me now say something about the series that should make Brian Michael Bendis hang his head in shame…

Captain Britain and MI13: Secret Invasion…is what Secret Invasion should have been.

The storyline, called The Guns of Avalon, opens immediately over London, with all-out war between the Skulls, the British Military, and superheroes. Captain Britain battles the Skulls over London, while down below, the Black Knight and a medic (Doctor Fazia Hussian, new character) battle Skull ground troops. There is a very clear sense of threat for once (something lacking in the other Secret Invasion crossovers, or even Secret Invasion itself) and a direct tie-in with modern-day politics. (UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown pops up when discussing the Skull attacks on the UK.) Pete Wisdom and John the Skull discover a Skull posing as the head of MI13. In barely five pages, there is more excitement and action than in half of Secret Invasion…

The plot deepens as Captain Britain, Pete Wisdom and Spitfire realise that what the Skulls are really after is the magic – Britain, in the Marvel Universe, is the home of magic – and travel to Avalon to find Excalibur, the fabled weapon of King Arthur and the only weapon that can stand against the newly-magical Skulls. In the meantime, the remainder of the British military (and this, too, was lacking from the main series) make their final stand against the aliens on Waterloo Bridge, joined by the Black Knight and Fazia, who is struggling to cope with her newfound powers. Pete Wisdom, in desperation, frees the imprisoned demons from Avalon and uses them to destroy the Skulls, but at a price. The demons are now free and able to wreck havoc on Britain. MI13, at the end, is reformed with a mandate to oppose the demons.

And there is a meaningful death. I cannot express my disgust enough at how the Wasp’s death was handled in Secret Invasion. In The Guns of Avalon, the death of John the Skull, hailed as a traitor by his fellow Skulls, is killed outright, a death that has tragic effects on the team.

This series…works. I can’t really say that enough. Everything about it just slots together, from the opening moves of the war to the final terrifying conclusion and the implications for the future. The only discordant note comes from the reference to events in America with the Skulls, a reference to the fact that while Secret Invasion still had four comics to go, the Captain Britain issues were already moving ahead of them, chronologically. The interplay between action, character development and the implications of the Skull invasion is practically perfect. The thunderous appearance of the demons and their effect on the Skulls is astonishingly well done.

The artwork is, generally speaking, very good. The sheer scale of the action is captured perfectly, as are the characters and the backgrounds. There are moments when the artwork isn’t quite perfect, but it seems to add to the feel of the comic, rather than detracting spectacularly from the impact.

It’s also nice to see some degree of continuity, although I hope that they pick and choose carefully. Merlin’s reference to the Fury is a reference to one of the more endearing creations from Captain Britain’s early stories – a Doomsday-like superhuman killing machine designed by Mad Jim Jaspers to kill superhumans – while there are references to the earlier Wisdom limited series, including Pete Wisdom’s…ah, involvement with the Fairy Tink and her father, Lord of Avalon. The demons released at the end include other characters from Marvel, including Satanish, Lilith and other demons.

(It is interesting to note that the portrayal of Captain Britain in Wisdom is quite different from the portrayal of him in his own series.)

Most series that spin out of crossover series tend to fall down within the next few issues, but I feel confident that Captain Britain and MI13 will continue to astonish us, as it already has. The next storyline is excellent, and Vampire State is shaping up to be just as good. This series is a keeper.

I just hope they keep the bloody X-Men out.

Five out of Five.