Captain Britain and MI: 13

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Creative team
Captain Britain and MI: 13
Cover art for Captain Britain & The M1-13 #1.
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	May 2008 -
Main character(s)	Captain Britain Pete Wisdom The Black Knight Spitfire John the Skrull Faiza Hussain
Writer(s)	Paul Cornell
Penciller(s)	Leonard Kirk
Inker(s)	Jesse Delperdang
Colorist(s)	Brian Reber
Creator(s)	Paul Cornell Leonard Kirk

Captain Britain and MI: 13 is an American comic book series from Marvel Comics, written by Paul Cornell, with art by Leonard Kirk.

The series launched as a tie-in to the Secret Invasion crossover storyline in May 2008, before becoming a separate ongoing series.

1 Publication history
2 Characters
3 Plot
- 3.1 The Guns Of Avalon
4 Reception
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links
- 7.1 Interviews
- 7.2 Reviews

[edit] Publication history

The idea for the series grew out of Cornell's first Marvel MAX limited series Wisdom, which is centered around Pete Wisdom and MI: 13.

“	I loved working with Paul on Wisdom and wanted to expose more readers to his writing.	”
—Editor: Nick Lowe^[1]

In August 2007 it was announced that Cornell was going take over writing New Excalibur^[2], another series with close links to MI: 13, but, over time, the project morphed into a new series. As he explains

“	I think there have been so many Excaliburs lately that Nick [Lowe] just wanted to underline that this is a fresh start. And it shows that we have a purpose firmly in mind. And it spotlights Cap, which is fine by me.	”
—Paul Cornell^[3]

The New Excalibur team was wound up in the 2007 crossover mini-series X-Men: Die by the Sword and the major Marvel summer event of 2008, Secret Invasion, was used as a launchpad for the new Captain Britain and MI: 13 series, much like how the fallout of the 2005 summer event, House of M, was used to launch New Excalibur which after issue #4, separated from the event to become an ongoing series.

[edit] Characters

The main cast of characters revealed so far include superheroes with British backgrounds like Captain Britain^[4], The Black Knight^[5], and Spitfire^[6] working for MI: 13 alongside its field agents Pete Wisdom^[7], and John the Skrull^[8].

Dr. Faiza Hussain^[9], a character first seen in this series^[10], is set to become a superhero and agent of MI: 13. Former head of MI: 13, Alistaire Stuart, returns as the scientific adviser^[1], while Tink, a MI: 13 field agent from Wisdom, returns in issue #2^[11], although not in an official agent role.

Other superheroes that have been confirmed for future appearances in the title, are Captain Midlands and Union Jack, but Cornell also has intentions to explore a variety of other British superheroes.

“	One of the great things about this title is that, because all British superheroes are de facto part of MI-13, we can visit disparate parts of the Marvel UK scene without it being a big deal	”
—Paul Cornell^[11]

When quizzed about if other British characters like some of the Knights of Pendragon, Elsa Bloodstone, Motormouth, and Killpower, Cornell stated an interest of looking at other British heroes as the series progresses^[12]. Cornell had also stated a character would be appearing who was British, even if they were not commonly thought to be, and this was revealed to be Blade, who will join the cast in issue #5^[13]^[14].

[edit] Plot

[edit] The Guns Of Avalon

See also: Secret Invasion

During the Skrull Invasion, Britain comes under heavy attack by Super Skrulls, which forces a loose coalition of British superheroes to come together to fight them off under the aegis of MI: 13. The Skrulls launch an assault on the Siege Perilous^[11], preventing access into the Otherworld (Avalon) through its portal while breaking through into Otherworld via another portal located in one their ships. While in Avalon, the Skrulls gather together mystical items and convert them for their own use^[15].

[edit] Reception

Reviews of the first issue were largely positive, noting Cornell's solid characterization and tight plotting^[16] as well as the vein of black comedy that runs through proceedings^[17] and the smooth transition from his Wisdom limited series, despite the differences in the scale of the action^[18], which may make the issue "a little new reader unfriendly."^[19] Comic Book Resources called it "a splendid new series"^[16], Comics Bulletin conclude "I haven't read a stronger first issue than this in a long time"^[18] and IGN agreed, stating "Captain Britain And MI: 13 #1 is as good a debut to a superhero story as I can remember."^[17] Given the good reviews and the tie-in with Secret Invasion (the first issue of which sold an estimate quarter of a million copies)^[20] the sales were high, with the first printing selling out immediately and being followed by a second printing with a variant cover based in Kirk's interior art.^[21]

The appearance of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown got considerable attention from the press^[22], contrasting the comic's heroic portrayal with the PM's current poor standing with the voting public^[23]^[24]. Cornell said "I'm quite a fan of Gordon Brown. I'm pleased we've given him a PR boost on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world. I feel quite sorry for him, so I'm glad I've contributed a bit."^[25]