Captain Britain & Mi-13 #14

[trueredorion.insanejournal.com]

4 pages from the penultimate issue of Captain Britain & Mi-13 by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk.

That whole Dracula victorious thing from last issue? Drac was actually stuck in Dr. Plotka's Dream Corridor. These scans are from the end of the issue after Dracula has suffered some losses including the death of Captain Fate, his control over the vampires weakening and the reveal that Spitfire wasn't under his control. And then he gets a call from Doom:

Comments

[unknownscribler.insanejournal.com]

I went into this at length at Paul O'Brien's "If Destroyed, Still True" blog, but I really dislike Cornell's handling of Meggan. Quite apart from ignoring her development during Ellis' run -- and we'll just leave aside the point that given how House of M ended Meg really should have shown up in Exiles long before this, instead of suddenly and conveniently being in Hell -- it feels like Cornel's trying to beat a square peg into a round hole in much the same way as what was done to Emma Frost because Piotr wasn't there to be the indestructable member of the team.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

she wasn't suddenly and convieniently. In an earlier issue she was pulled out from between the cracks in reality due to that dream corridor thing, but Brian just assumed she was an illusion. when the thing was shut down she just ended up sort of crashing there.

The thing was caused by a demon so I suppose it's not that impossible that it'd have a connection to hell.

I'm honestly not a big fan of Ellis but I do recall by the end of Excalibur, even if she had gained confidence and control, she still shapeshifted involuntarily. Like when her wedding dress was being made she gave them nightmares because her measurements kept changing.

I'm just afraid the way Cornell's writing her that she won't have any shifting power left, that she's basically locked herself down.

[unknownscribler.insanejournal.com]

Yes, she was. She should never have been in Hell -- and Plotka's corridor is simply a suburb there in as I recall -- in the first place. Making the erroneous assumption the Marvel cares about its continuity at all, she should have been found somewhere in the Crystal Palace of the Exiles.

And don't talk about the end of Excalibur vol 1 -- editorially mandated cruelty that it was -- and the glories of Ellis' run in the same breath. It' slike comparing apples and sour oranges in terms of both story and art (though at least it did resolve poor old Feron's long dangling plot thread)

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

I saw the issue she disappeared in. She was stuck somewhere between the dimesnions but not in the Crystal Palace

[unknownscribler.insanejournal.com]

I'm just afraid the way Cornell's writing her that she won't have any shifting power left, that she's basically locked herself down.

Also, she's wearing shoes! Meggan very specifically does not wear shoes of any kind as it messes with her powers.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

well, she was in hell and trying to get a connection to the place did hurt her. Maybe it's to prevent that.

[okkult3000.insanejournal.com]

I'm going to be perfectly honest: I don't remember a single thing Meggan said or did during Ellis's run. I have a vague recollection of her punching someone, but that's about it.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

I remember her shutting down a fire by telling it to go away and Kitty commenting on how she really loved her powers.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Meggan during Ellis run was actually very nicely handled. It expanded on her elemental powers, including the realisation that someone who can, on top of all the standard elemental powers over fire, air and water etc, control electricity compltely just by ASKING it do things, can essentially disable any electronic system going.

Also the fact that she LOVED her powers, Kitty comments that she's never seen anyone enjoy using their powers more than Meggan does.

And the punching scene is brilliant, to the extent I can still recall the phrasing from memory;

"Captain Britain and Meggan are Excalibur's strongest members; Being hit by either of them is akin to having a fridge freezer dropped on your head. Being hit by both at the same time is like being punched in the face by God"

[espanolbot.insanejournal.com]

I really liked this issue. It made a really good counterpoint to the almost constant atmosphere of dread and despair that was hanging over the last couple of issues.

Admittedly the "it was all a dream" thing was kind of a cheat, but it balances out showing how everything could go wrong, learning from it and then doing it properly.

So, woo! Kick their asses guys! I'm looking forward to the last issue.

[long_silence.insanejournal.com]

I got so excited when I was reading the beginning of this issue and realized that Wisdom had been using Plotka's dream corridor on Drac. I thought that was such a damn good idea.

And I was a little confused by what happened to Captain Fate, at first I thought Dane had knocked him into sunlight and killed him. But then there was that thing with Sheriff Daltry. So I guess Captain Fate's curse only works when the victim is holding the Magus Sword?

I was kind of hoping for Motormouth, Micromax and Union Jack to show up in this issue since they were on the cover.

[unknownscribler.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, that was poorly executed by the art team

[long_silence.insanejournal.com]

It's alright. Killpower played a cool role at least.

I'm hoping they show up in the next issue, maybe something to do with whatever mission Blade went out on. I wouldn't mind so much if the book wasn't cancelled and there was another chance to see all of these characters together again.

[billy_vagrant.insanejournal.com]

This was such a great issue, in such a great series. Everyone had plenty of room for their moment, and the plot chugged along quite well. I knew the end of last issue was going to be a fake-out in one fashion or another, but I thought the involvement of Plokta was a clever enough device to make it work.

The ending, though ... Honestly, on a pure over-identifying dork level, I was kind of hoping for Doom to be responding to Megan on a pure "fellow Roma" standpoint. Simply a matter of him identifying her as one of his own and helping her on that level. As it's given, though, there's still plenty of room for the explanation to be that Doom knew "giving" her to Dracula was a kind of Trojan horse, of sorts, that would end up screwing Vlad at the end of the day. Victor does seem a bit smug, there ... What do you folks think? Fanboy wistfulness, or is Doom running a con?

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

oh yeah, he's definately playing with Vlad there.

[akodo_rokku.insanejournal.com]

I agree, Doom's fucking Dracula over.

[newnumber6.insanejournal.com]

I thought that was the whole point of Drac's "a gift from Doom is a sword... a sword without a hilt" line. Doom was running a con where he would screw Vlad over while from all appearances helping him, and still being owed a favour, and Drac just realized it.

[kamino_neko.insanejournal.com]

OT, but your icon looks like Rorchach and Santo's love child, and I'm not sure if that concept delights me or disturbs me...

[unknownscribler.insanejournal.com]

It's called a Xanatos Gambit

[midnightvoyager.insanejournal.com]

At least ONE comic still has Doom being magnificent.

Heh.

[akodo_rokku.insanejournal.com]

Oh man, the page limit is four pages from an issue now, isn't it?

You ate it all up! I *so* wanted to post the fist-bump. Because that was *awesome*.

[trueredorion.insanejournal.com]

The limit is seven pages, so you can post the fist bump.

[akodo_rokku.insanejournal.com]

Hurray!