Tag Archives: Captain Britain

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here on Balladeer’s Blog looks at the further adventures of Marvel’s Captain Britain when he was still published ONLY in the U.K.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN Vol 1 #37 (June 22nd, 1977)

Title: … And the Highwayman Came Riding, Riding

Villain: The Highwayman

Synopsis: Having returned to Earth after his adventures in the Otherworld, Captain Britain turns back into Brian Braddock. The next day he goes to the hospital to visit his girlfriend Courtney Ross. She was injured during Captain Britain’s battle with Lord Hawk a few issues back.

Brian, a graduate student in physics at Thames University, heads to see how Courtney is doing alongside his uni friend Jacko Tanner. On their way they come across a Silver Jubilee event for Queen Elizabeth II.

The event is crashed by a new supervillain called the Highwayman, who rides a high-tech motorcycle which uses laser cannons and other weaponry. The villain also wears a monocle that shoots energy blasts and wields a battle chain.

The Highwayman easily overcomes S.T.R.I.K.E. (the British version of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and its leader Lance Fortune in addition to all other security people. Meanwhile, Brian slips away to become Captain Britain, then starts battling the Highwayman himself with his new weapon the Star Sceptre. Continue reading →

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog looks at the adventure in which Marvel’s Captain Britain explored the Otherworld, the mystic realm from which he gained his powers and weapons.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN Vol 1 #28 (April 20th, 1977)

Title: Night of the Hawk

Villain: Lord Hawk

NOTE: This was still when Captain Britain was published only in the United Kingdom.

Synopsis: Captain Britain nabs a pair of muggers and leaves them for the police. Next, he turns back into Brian Braddock and attends his classes as a grad student at Thames University, where he interacts with his friends and his girlfriend Courtney Ross.

A very eccentric old professor, Robert Willard Scott, has retired from the university and lives alone with his hawks. When those birds die, Brian Braddock uses his scientific genius to construct a large hawk-shaped remote-controlled android to keep Professor Scott company.

The older gentleman is actually insane, and upgrades the robo-hawk with high-tech weaponry and begins attacking British factories, even killing some of the employees in the attacks. Captain Britain faces the self-styled Lord Hawk and the weapons of his robo-hawk.  

Comment: This silly villain is like something from the Adam West Batman show. Continue reading →

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog follows up on the Captain Britain post from a few weeks ago. That post is HERE.

CAPTAIN BRITAIN Vol 1 #16 (January 26th, 1977)

NOTE: Originally Captain Britain was only published in the United Kingdom via Marvel UK. The series was published weekly instead of monthly. 

Title: A Hero Unmasked

Villain: The Red Skull

Synopsis: Picking up from the previous issue, Chief Inspector Dai Thomas (from Chris Claremont’s Blade stories) still mistakenly thinks Captain Britain is a villain. He has several other policemen hold Cap while he starts to peel off the hero’s mask, which would expose him as Thames University physics student Brian Braddock (brother of Betsy Braddock aka Psylocke from the X-Men).

Reluctantly, Captain Britain uses some of his super-strength and agility to break free of the cops before they can unmask him. The other police on hand start shooting at C.B. when – out of nowhere – Captain America intervenes. He’s used to authorities in the U.S. often being wrong about superheroes so he offers to fight off the cops while Captain Britain escapes.

Brian knows his force-field leaves him in no danger from the police bullets anyway and feels it will hurt his public image more if he runs off while a Yank roughs up London bobbies. The two Captains fight it out for a time before reconciling. C.A. explains to C.B. and the cops that he’s there with the okay of HMG and could use Captain Britain’s help against a world-threatening menace.

Watching all this on a viewscreen is the menace that C.A. is referring to – the Red Skull.  Continue reading →