Captain Britain -- Part II
Hoo-boy. It's been a while, hasn't it? Anyway, after beating up Slaymaster, Captain Britain moves Betsy, Tom Lennox, and Alison Double -- the survivors of S.T.R.I.K.E.'s psi-division -- into his home. Some strange aliens, the Special Executive invade his home at night, looking for Captain Britain. They take out Betsy and Tom and tell Captain Britain to consider himself their prisoner. He attacks, and they calm him down. Their leader, Wardog, tells him they're here on behalf of Saturnyne. She abandoned him on the other Earth, so he really gets mad, then, but Fascination takes him out.
He wakes up in a strange alien environment, surrounded by the Special Executive. They explain the situation to him. [This page is missing in my first printing, but he's in an alternate Earth. D'oh!] Two alternate Captain Britains, Captain England and Captain Albion, arrive to chaperone him to visit Saturnyne. On the other Earth, reality has nearly come completely apart, but the Fury still remains, preparing to leave that reality and find Captain Britain. She's all shackled and explains that she's been made a scapegoat for the "push" on the other Earth failing. They argue, but he finds he takes pity on her. Her trial begins, presided over by her replacement, Mandragon, who is also the prosecutor. He first pronounces that the other Earth's reality is a threat to all realities and uses a machine to erase it from existence. Somehow the Fury survives, drifting through non-reality. (Saturnyne and Captain Britain's relationship is pretty shakey. sometimes one or the other of them seems attracted to the other, and other times they seem to be enemies. Mostly, Captain Britain holds a torch for her while she acts aloof. She starts to reciprocate at about the exact time he realizes she isn't worth his trouble. Mandragon is just a bald black dude, in spite of his imposing sounding name. I'm not sure where they're supposed to be here. In Excalibur it's retconned that Saturnyne and Roma/Merlin both serve in Otherworld, but I don't think that was the original intent. It brings up strange questions about what the Omniversal Majestrix and the Omniversal Guardian's relationship to each other is.)
On our Earth, Linda McQuillan, Captain U.K. from the other world, tosses and turns in bed as she recalls the Fury massacring all the superheroes of her Earth. Her husband pushed her into a machine to teleport her to another reality, and just as she was leaving, she saw the Fury grab and kill him. Mandragon presides over his kangaroo court, meanwhile, suggesting that Saturnyne and Captain Britain are lovers in cahoots with each other. Captain Britain gets rowdy so his chaperones restrain him. Mandragon pronounces that they will both be broken down to "your component salts and bio-carbons", "sentence to be carried out immediately." Captain Britain breaks free and starts kicking ass. Giant robots (?) come to join the brawl, and Wardog decides that the Special Executive should help him out, since they're the ones who brought him there. Back on Earth, Linda McQuillan gets out of bed and sees that the front page of the paper has Sir James Jaspers calling for super hero legislation, just as he had on her world. (There was a great story in the 50's of Excalibur where Captain Britain goes back on trial in Otherworld (with Linda McQuillan as his defense, no less!). I think Captain Albion and Captain England show up there, too.)
In a back alley on our Earth, the Fury has appeared. The trip has cost it dearly, though, and it is only a torso. It's breaking down the metal garbage around it so it can absorb it. A bag lady see it, and it creates a harpoon on the side of its head, that it shoots through her skull. It then reels her in so that it can use her for more raw materials to rebuild itself. Meanwhile, Captain Britain and the Special Executive battle the bad guys in a huge brawl. On our Earth, Linda McQuillan leaves her home, feeling antsy. She walks past the Fury, almost right outside her door, which harpoons a cat and reels it in. After Captain Britain and the Special Executive flee, Mandragon asks an aide where they can hide, handling the machine he used to erase the other Earth. Betsy and Tom Lennox are astonished when the Special Executive and Saturnyne return with Captain Britain. While they're getting things sorted out, Linda McQuillan comes to the door, introducing herself a Captain U.K. She says they're facing genocide, hodling up the paper with the ominous headline.
The group sits around watching TV, where Sir James Jaspers is speaking out against superheroes. Captain Britain tries to console Linda, but she says it was the exact same speech he gave on her world. Elsewhere, James Jaspers is at a party, where he meets Peter Henry Gyrich and Sebastian Shaw. Shaw's been contributing to Jasper's campaign. James Jaspers gets white wine, but he only likes red wine. He uses his reality warping powers to change the wine. On Otherworld, Merlin says the game has begun and plays against Roma, like a game of chess, using pieces resembling the characters in the story. Jaspers calls the Vixen, who now controls S.T.R.I.K.E. from within and tells her within the week S.T.R.I.K.E. will receive orders to eradicate all superheroes and to be ready. Linda McQuillan leaves Braddock Manor, because she wants no part of what's to come. Merlin wonders if something's escaped his notice, and Linda finds herself confronted by the Fury. (The Fury changed its design a bit when it rebuilt itself.)
At Braddock Manor, Cobweb begins seizing because something appeared in time that she didn't see coming. On Otherworld a piece for the Fury has appeared spontaneously on their chessboard. Outside Braddock Manor, the Fury tries to kill Linda, and is doing a pretty good job. As it prepares to finish her, Merlin shields her piece with his hands, saving her in our world but burning his palms. Captain Britain attacks the Fury, and is horrified when he recognizes it. The members of the Special Executive prepare to help, except for Zeitgeist, who only wants to do jobs that pay. The Fury immediately tears off Wardog's cybernetic arm, then kills one of Legion. Legion creates a number of himself by bringing them through the timeline, so killing one means they will all die. Cobweb is lost in her strange thoughts, ending with "I see the future..." then a page that's blank except for the sound of the Fury's energy weapon arm and the caption "... and it is canceled." (This is how you make a villain scary! First, you establish that it's killed all the heroes on its world, then you have it kill the hero within ten pages of its first appearance, completely overpowering him. Next you have it survive the complete destruction of its home reality, followed by it tracking the reborn hero to his own world, via pure instinct. Then you have it slip past the notice of the omniversal grand manipulator and an precognitient and have it start whaling on the good guys.)
The battle continues, and Zeitgeist still refuses to join in. One of the Special Executive is killed and Fascination goes berserk, using her power to shut down the Fury's brain. It quickly shifts its consciousness to an auxiliary nervous system in the small of its back and knocks her out. It beats Captain Britain a bunch, but Zeitgeist attacks. He can hurt the Fury, phasing through its body and ripping through its flesh, but since he only exists in an abstract sense, it can't sense him on any level: infra-red, brain waves, or the most basic molecular activity. Everyone strikes at it while it's confused, and Captain Britain and Fascination smash it through the ground and into the caverns below. The caverns collapse and Captain Britain says it'll be back. Linda has wet herself and is nearly catatonic in with fear. Zeitgeist is livid, telling off Wardog for letting the team get shredded for charity. Wardog sadly agrees and the Special Executive leave.
Overview: Things start to get cooking here. We see a lot of crossover use of ideas. Linda is sort of like Rachel, as the sole survivor of another world where the superheroes have all been killed. Legion is sort of like the member of Omega Flight, Flashback, who has the same power and dies in a similar way. The Captain Britain Corps. are similar to the Green Lantern Corps. Mad Jim Jaspers, who comes to prominence in the next issue, resembles Proteus. Then again this is Alan Moore writing, so we shouldn't be surprised.
He wakes up in a strange alien environment, surrounded by the Special Executive. They explain the situation to him. [This page is missing in my first printing, but he's in an alternate Earth. D'oh!] Two alternate Captain Britains, Captain England and Captain Albion, arrive to chaperone him to visit Saturnyne. On the other Earth, reality has nearly come completely apart, but the Fury still remains, preparing to leave that reality and find Captain Britain. She's all shackled and explains that she's been made a scapegoat for the "push" on the other Earth failing. They argue, but he finds he takes pity on her. Her trial begins, presided over by her replacement, Mandragon, who is also the prosecutor. He first pronounces that the other Earth's reality is a threat to all realities and uses a machine to erase it from existence. Somehow the Fury survives, drifting through non-reality. (Saturnyne and Captain Britain's relationship is pretty shakey. sometimes one or the other of them seems attracted to the other, and other times they seem to be enemies. Mostly, Captain Britain holds a torch for her while she acts aloof. She starts to reciprocate at about the exact time he realizes she isn't worth his trouble. Mandragon is just a bald black dude, in spite of his imposing sounding name. I'm not sure where they're supposed to be here. In Excalibur it's retconned that Saturnyne and Roma/Merlin both serve in Otherworld, but I don't think that was the original intent. It brings up strange questions about what the Omniversal Majestrix and the Omniversal Guardian's relationship to each other is.)
On our Earth, Linda McQuillan, Captain U.K. from the other world, tosses and turns in bed as she recalls the Fury massacring all the superheroes of her Earth. Her husband pushed her into a machine to teleport her to another reality, and just as she was leaving, she saw the Fury grab and kill him. Mandragon presides over his kangaroo court, meanwhile, suggesting that Saturnyne and Captain Britain are lovers in cahoots with each other. Captain Britain gets rowdy so his chaperones restrain him. Mandragon pronounces that they will both be broken down to "your component salts and bio-carbons", "sentence to be carried out immediately." Captain Britain breaks free and starts kicking ass. Giant robots (?) come to join the brawl, and Wardog decides that the Special Executive should help him out, since they're the ones who brought him there. Back on Earth, Linda McQuillan gets out of bed and sees that the front page of the paper has Sir James Jaspers calling for super hero legislation, just as he had on her world. (There was a great story in the 50's of Excalibur where Captain Britain goes back on trial in Otherworld (with Linda McQuillan as his defense, no less!). I think Captain Albion and Captain England show up there, too.)
In a back alley on our Earth, the Fury has appeared. The trip has cost it dearly, though, and it is only a torso. It's breaking down the metal garbage around it so it can absorb it. A bag lady see it, and it creates a harpoon on the side of its head, that it shoots through her skull. It then reels her in so that it can use her for more raw materials to rebuild itself. Meanwhile, Captain Britain and the Special Executive battle the bad guys in a huge brawl. On our Earth, Linda McQuillan leaves her home, feeling antsy. She walks past the Fury, almost right outside her door, which harpoons a cat and reels it in. After Captain Britain and the Special Executive flee, Mandragon asks an aide where they can hide, handling the machine he used to erase the other Earth. Betsy and Tom Lennox are astonished when the Special Executive and Saturnyne return with Captain Britain. While they're getting things sorted out, Linda McQuillan comes to the door, introducing herself a Captain U.K. She says they're facing genocide, hodling up the paper with the ominous headline.
The group sits around watching TV, where Sir James Jaspers is speaking out against superheroes. Captain Britain tries to console Linda, but she says it was the exact same speech he gave on her world. Elsewhere, James Jaspers is at a party, where he meets Peter Henry Gyrich and Sebastian Shaw. Shaw's been contributing to Jasper's campaign. James Jaspers gets white wine, but he only likes red wine. He uses his reality warping powers to change the wine. On Otherworld, Merlin says the game has begun and plays against Roma, like a game of chess, using pieces resembling the characters in the story. Jaspers calls the Vixen, who now controls S.T.R.I.K.E. from within and tells her within the week S.T.R.I.K.E. will receive orders to eradicate all superheroes and to be ready. Linda McQuillan leaves Braddock Manor, because she wants no part of what's to come. Merlin wonders if something's escaped his notice, and Linda finds herself confronted by the Fury. (The Fury changed its design a bit when it rebuilt itself.)
At Braddock Manor, Cobweb begins seizing because something appeared in time that she didn't see coming. On Otherworld a piece for the Fury has appeared spontaneously on their chessboard. Outside Braddock Manor, the Fury tries to kill Linda, and is doing a pretty good job. As it prepares to finish her, Merlin shields her piece with his hands, saving her in our world but burning his palms. Captain Britain attacks the Fury, and is horrified when he recognizes it. The members of the Special Executive prepare to help, except for Zeitgeist, who only wants to do jobs that pay. The Fury immediately tears off Wardog's cybernetic arm, then kills one of Legion. Legion creates a number of himself by bringing them through the timeline, so killing one means they will all die. Cobweb is lost in her strange thoughts, ending with "I see the future..." then a page that's blank except for the sound of the Fury's energy weapon arm and the caption "... and it is canceled." (This is how you make a villain scary! First, you establish that it's killed all the heroes on its world, then you have it kill the hero within ten pages of its first appearance, completely overpowering him. Next you have it survive the complete destruction of its home reality, followed by it tracking the reborn hero to his own world, via pure instinct. Then you have it slip past the notice of the omniversal grand manipulator and an precognitient and have it start whaling on the good guys.)
The battle continues, and Zeitgeist still refuses to join in. One of the Special Executive is killed and Fascination goes berserk, using her power to shut down the Fury's brain. It quickly shifts its consciousness to an auxiliary nervous system in the small of its back and knocks her out. It beats Captain Britain a bunch, but Zeitgeist attacks. He can hurt the Fury, phasing through its body and ripping through its flesh, but since he only exists in an abstract sense, it can't sense him on any level: infra-red, brain waves, or the most basic molecular activity. Everyone strikes at it while it's confused, and Captain Britain and Fascination smash it through the ground and into the caverns below. The caverns collapse and Captain Britain says it'll be back. Linda has wet herself and is nearly catatonic in with fear. Zeitgeist is livid, telling off Wardog for letting the team get shredded for charity. Wardog sadly agrees and the Special Executive leave.
Overview: Things start to get cooking here. We see a lot of crossover use of ideas. Linda is sort of like Rachel, as the sole survivor of another world where the superheroes have all been killed. Legion is sort of like the member of Omega Flight, Flashback, who has the same power and dies in a similar way. The Captain Britain Corps. are similar to the Green Lantern Corps. Mad Jim Jaspers, who comes to prominence in the next issue, resembles Proteus. Then again this is Alan Moore writing, so we shouldn't be surprised.