Captain Britain was originally developed by Marvel to become a flagship British superhero, for the UK division of the company to sell directly to the UK market.
Unfortunately, the character had a rough time of it conceptually, and basically lacked a steady and clear vision that could appeal to readers - and sell.
That is, until Alan Davies, Alan Moore, and Jamie Delano came aboard, redesigned the character, and then wrote a massive story arc known as the "Jasper's Warp".
(Jamie Delano - who would later go on to build up DC's John Constantine at the start his own Hellblazer series - worked with Alan Davis to produce a believable and credible hero, and a story in which to flex his growing character.)
The Jaspers Warp storyline effectively involves a lot of character rebirth and death, the real development of an anti-establishment hero, and general epic stroytelling that combines general Marvel pulp fun with intelligent character development and good storytelling.
And then, just when Captain Britain had become really interesting, the series finished and Captain Britain spent a while languishing in cameo land, until joining up with a couple of ex X-men (such as Nightcrawler) in the rather pulp and pointless "Excalibur" comic, a US-release Marvel series.
Only to finally disappear from that mag and become another cameo character again.
Except...that I have it on good authority that Marvel UK are planning to republish the original Jasper's Warp story.
Although the second half was published in graphic novel format, the first half of the story was never released, apparently because the artist, Alan Davis, had kept the rights to certain characters (such as the unstoppable Fury) and only now has permission been secured.
The Jasper's Warp will no doubt appear very dated in places, but should carry its strengths again. And - perhaps too hopefully - somebody will actually go out and build on the possible success with a proper return of Captain Britain as a character, with his own series, and powered by intelligent storytelling that can follow properly and respectfully after Jamie Delano.
Unfortunately, the character had a rough time of it conceptually, and basically lacked a steady and clear vision that could appeal to readers - and sell.
That is, until Alan Davies, Alan Moore, and Jamie Delano came aboard, redesigned the character, and then wrote a massive story arc known as the "Jasper's Warp".
(Jamie Delano - who would later go on to build up DC's John Constantine at the start his own Hellblazer series - worked with Alan Davis to produce a believable and credible hero, and a story in which to flex his growing character.)
The Jaspers Warp storyline effectively involves a lot of character rebirth and death, the real development of an anti-establishment hero, and general epic stroytelling that combines general Marvel pulp fun with intelligent character development and good storytelling.
And then, just when Captain Britain had become really interesting, the series finished and Captain Britain spent a while languishing in cameo land, until joining up with a couple of ex X-men (such as Nightcrawler) in the rather pulp and pointless "Excalibur" comic, a US-release Marvel series.
Only to finally disappear from that mag and become another cameo character again.
Except...that I have it on good authority that Marvel UK are planning to republish the original Jasper's Warp story.
Although the second half was published in graphic novel format, the first half of the story was never released, apparently because the artist, Alan Davis, had kept the rights to certain characters (such as the unstoppable Fury) and only now has permission been secured.
The Jasper's Warp will no doubt appear very dated in places, but should carry its strengths again. And - perhaps too hopefully - somebody will actually go out and build on the possible success with a proper return of Captain Britain as a character, with his own series, and powered by intelligent storytelling that can follow properly and respectfully after Jamie Delano.
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