Today I unwrap one of my earliest “whale” acquisitions, which involves discussing the origins of the Marvel 616 Universe.
Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.
Episode 17 features Captain Britain Omnibus (Amazon / eBay), which is covered in the Guide to Captain Britain & Excalibur.
In this episode I get to show off my (mostly-correct) knowledge about a slightly obscure corner of X-Men lore – Captain Britain’s early, UK-only history. Did you know that it was largely written by Chris Claremont?!
Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.
Episode 15 features Captain Britain – Volume 1: Birth of a Legend (Amazon / eBay) and Captain Britain – Volume 2: Siege of Camelot (Amazon / eBay), both of which are covered in the Guide to Captain Britain & Excalibur.
Welcome to another edition of Marvel’s most-wanted omnibuses based on the annual secret ballot by Tigereyes. I covered #10-12 in the last installment.
We’ve broken through to the Top 10 books on the survey. That doesn’t immediately make all of it classic – some of it warrants high demand for other reasons, like a specific creator or filling in a highly-desired gap.
However, today I have three classics for you. For two of the books, that designation is an obvious one. For the third, this might be the first time you’ve ever been asked to consider it as a classic, but I’ve felt that way for over 25 years!
Do you own an oversized tome of the comics starring your favorite character or featuring your favorite story? My Marvel Omnibus & Oversized Hardcover Guide is the most comprehensive tool on the web for tracking Marvel’s hugest releases – it features details on every oversize book, including a rundown of contents and if the volume is still readily available for purchase. [Read more…] about Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses of 2016 – #9, 8, and 7
The definitive, chronological, and up-to-date guide and trade reading order on collecting Excalibur and Captain Britain comic books via omnibuses, hardcovers, and trade paperback graphic novels. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Collecting X-Men: A Definitive Guide. Last updated November 2018 with titles scheduled for release through April 2019.
Captain Britain is unique in all of Marvel Comics as the only major character to originate from the Marvel UK imprint to not only be imported to the US but to thrive across multiple teams and titles. Marvel UK’s first original superhero would later be woven inextricably into the X-Men universe via Excalibur.
Brian Braddock was introduced in 1976 in Captain Britain Weekly, the creation of artist Herbe Trimpe and a young X-Men writer named Chris Claremont. While Claremont would only last 10 issues as author, it was he who first wrote Captain Britain for American audiences in 1978 in a Marvel Team-Up story with Spider-Man.
Despite that introduction to the main Marvel Universe, Captain Britain stayed sequestered to Marvel UK through the mid-80s aside from a brief appearance in Marvel’s first Event Book, Contest of Champions, and guest-starring in Captain America in 1985.
However, on British shores his profile only continued to increase with the Marvelman team of Alan Moore and Alan Davis taking his reigns in 1983. It was this pair who introduced many of the characters and concepts that would drive Excalibur.
It was his creator Chris Claremont who brought Captain Britain (and his sister Betsy Braddock, AKA Psylocke) to the X-Men universe in 1985 via New Mutants Annual #2. Shortly thereafter, he introduced Psylocke as a member of the X-Men and exported fan favorites Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, and Rachel Summers to Excalibur where they were joined by Captain Britain and his longtime lover, Moore/Davis creation Meggan.
[Read more…] about Collecting Excalibur & Captain Britain comic books as graphic novels