Paul Cornell Two-In-One

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Scans from Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1 and Captain Britain and MI13 #13, both by Marvel's latest British import.

So, for Cornell's first issue, introducing the Young Avengers' first real rogues of their own, he opts to focus wholly on the new characters, with the classic team only showing up on the final page.  Since these guys are obviously going to end up as the Young Masters of Evil (the title of the arc is "Young Masters", for Christ's sake), you observe the varying degrees of villainy already present as they try to be heroes.  Four of the six are already pretty immoral, though not necessarily malicious; I'm not sure what to make of Coat of Arms, honestly.  She's some kind of meta-artist who paints pictures with questions like "Who is the greatest living artist: Gene Colan or Norman Osborn?"; Melter is the one who's really interested in being a hero in the classic mold.






I predict that by the end of this, he'll be the most messed up and evil of them all.

Over in Captain Britain and MI13, Dracula's plan to invade Britain proceeds apace, as Her Majesty's soldiers try to find foreign aid.  Norman says he's powerless to help them (of course, since Dracula made his deal with the Cabal, he obviously just doesn't want to).  Next up:



Dracula notes that Fake-Wanda isn't willing to break the barrier, just as he predicted; how he could predict that, I have no idea, since he clearly doesn't know that she's Loki, and he clearly says that it's not that she can't, just that she doesn't want to.

Anyway, Spitfire seems finally overcome by Dracula's will, and leads a vampire army against the team, killing Faiza:





Now, obviously, whatever happened there didn't happen like Mr. Minion is telling it to Dracula (personally, I'm guessing either that Spitfire wasn't really under Dracula's control and thus they all somehow tricked them (not sure how that would work, given the vampire horde) or, more likely, the MI13 that they fought wasn't the real deal).

Comments

[dorksidefiker.insanejournal.com]

Looks like Melter's in for a few rounds of Break the Cutie (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreakTheCutie).

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

No! No linking to TV Tropes! Bad, ba-...too late. There goes my day.

[dorksidefiker.insanejournal.com]

Muwahahahahahahahahahahahaha~!

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

I view TV Tropes as a textbook for rhetoric and lit theory majors. I mean, you just take any random section of TV Tropes, read it, and your doctoral dissertation practically writes itself. Legally Fruity! Hand of Death!

[dorksidefiker.insanejournal.com]

Of course, then you have to pry yourself away and actually write it.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

And then defend to your committe why you're late in defending your thesis to your committee! (Say that fast three times.) "But...but...the lamshading! All over Galaxy Quest!"

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

Aaaand that should be "lampshading." Spelling fail!

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

Yes. "Lamshading" is probably something else (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Squick).

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

As I said, it was a simple case of spelling fail. If there's a squick called "lamshading," I'm blissfully ignorant of it and hope to remain that way.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

I know that Paul Cornell wants Brian & Co. to beat Dracula, but honestly, why don't they just call Stephen Strange? He'd pwn Dracula and take care of this whole thing in under ten minutes. I knew that Cornell was going to do something along the lines of Brian being exiled from Britain, so it'll be interesting to Cornell's take on this. (Is there a writer who has worked with Brian's character that hasn't done a "what if Brian got kicked out of Britain?" story?)

Coat of Arms: how very postmodern of you, dear.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Apart from standard inter-title stuff, Strange isn't Sorcerer Supreme anymore, and his powers seem pretty on the fritz.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, I know, and that's too bad, because that would have been a completely awesome guest appearance in the CB&MI13 book.

[bruinsfan.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, but mostly because he seems to be having self-confidence issues about his spiritual purity and worthiness. I bet he wouldn't have any difficulty using big black magic spells from the Darkhold like the Montesi Formula if he weren't currently playing hide & seek with Dormammu's patsy in New Avengers.

[ian_karkull.insanejournal.com]

Ooh, good suggestion! I remember Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch and Monica Rambeau fighting Dracula in the sewers beneath Avengers Mansion.
Now that was classic comic stuff.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

I have another motive for desiring Stephen to appear in the CB&MI13 book: I would love to see Paul Cornell write Stephen Strange. Cornell is such a joyful fanboy that I'm betting, if circumstances allowed him to do it and he wanted to write it (and if likes Strange), that it would be FANTASTIC. Stephen can take on Dracula and the Brian, Faiza, Blade, Dane, etc. and handle all of Drac's minion army. See? It practically writes itself!

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Why would you want a guest character to appear at defeat the main villain instead of the actual heroes? That's Bendis' way.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

I prefer to look at it as "why wouldn't I want Paul Cornell to take a crack at Stephen Strange to help the good doctor to escape from Bendis?"

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Partly because Strange vs Dracula has been done before, so let's see how a team WITHOUT a convenient spellcaster deals with him.

[tragical_mirth.insanejournal.com]

I imagine that the gigantic magical wall of plot device was put in place just for that reason - to keep anyone from the greater Marvel U who might be able to finish this in a jiffy out.

[wingsonwater.insanejournal.com]

Okay, for a book with the Young Avengers title on it, I'm seeing a distinct lack of Young Avengers. Is this going to be like the SI crossover books with Runaways?

Annnnnd, I'm guessing that the MI13 is actually okay. Because I'd be pretty ticked of Faiza were gone.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

I don't think that Cornell would kill Faiza. I think he's a writer sensitive enough to fandom discussions such that he'd really balk at killing off a character that he created and nurtured with an obvious affection. And the fallout from Marvel icing another character of color in a main title? Yeah. I don't think Cornell would do that, although he's told me before that he's going to really torture the characters in the Captain Britain book.

[statham1986.insanejournal.com]

Much like the majority of miniseries coming from Marvel right now, the Young Avengers mini features the Dark Reign tagline, and features a new set of 'heroes' who want to be the Young Avengers, and openly declare themselves as such, apparently, much to the chagrin of the REAL Young Avengers, which sets up confrontations between the two groups, and will supposedly end the series with this group becoming the oft-suggested Young Masters of Evil.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

The YA appear on the last page of the first issue; I assume Cornell wanted to acquaint the readers with the new characters first before bringing in the more established ones.

[newborn.insanejournal.com]

Ooh. I was wary about this YA book (although I do like most of Paul Cornell's work that I've read), but I like -- well, I like Coat of Arms so far, at least. Dunno if I can care about Melter's angst yet. I'll see when I pick it up tomorrow.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

Captain Britain & MI13: I love this book. I really, really do. And I am so glad I read the Tomb of Dracula Essential volumes (thanks, whoever it was who recommended those!) because Dracula is so awesome in that he is such a bratty dick, and yet also believably, ridiculously powerful. And he has won stuff! And Blade is there! And Stuff! People!

And, just, this book excites me so much! Yaah!

*happy flail*

[proteus_lives.insanejournal.com]

Oh, I agree Melter gonna be eating babies by the end of this.

MI13 ending is a total snow-job. I do predict by the end of the arc, Spitfire will kill her son or be killed by him.

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

Oh, I agree Melter gonna be eating babies by the end of this.

Considering his powers, isn't it more likely he'd be drinking a baby smoothie?

Yes, I went there... and now I rather wish I hadn't!

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

Also, poor kid-in-spider-man-shirt. That's a pretty huge mistake to make.

There is something weird about the colouring on the Young Avengers preview, though. not quite sure what it is.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

Wait, Faiza's dead?! ;_;

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

And Black Knight and Wisdom, if you take this sequence at face value.

[long_silence.insanejournal.com]

So that's what a melted person looks like.

And damn that's a lot of vampires. Hopefully Brian doesn't get back into England just by punching through the forcefield. With his whole "I'm Captain Britain, I can do anything" trick.

[janegray.insanejournal.com]

I predict that by the end of this, he'll be the most messed up and evil of them all.

That would be so very, very, very predictable. I hope the writers are better than that.

[(Anonymous)]

This last pannel of Young Avengers would have been awesome if Nite Owl popped up, fell to his knees and screamed.

[oddpuppets.insanejournal.com]

Marvel allowed Cornell a great deal of lee-way in MI:13, don't they? They just allowed him to *show* the entire English Parliament dead. Of course, as a US company, they obviously don't care that much, but it's like having Congress dead on-screen. In an Ennis or Ellis piece, sure - you have the President humiliated every second panel. But in a mainstream Marvel comic? That's pretty ballsy.

I have to say, more than anything else, that final page with Parliament slaughtered shocked me the most.

And how typical, Scotland being the last bastion of the UK. Some people just can't go down without a fight.

MI:13 started auspiciously. Vampire Invasion has pretty much cemented MI:13 as one of the most consistently entertaining and dramatic mainstream superhero comics out there.

[greenmask.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, the dead parliament made me :O for a moment too. I do wonder though if any of them are actually identifiable? I confess I wouldn't know many politicians by sight at all, but, I wonder.

(I'm also not sure what to think/to think anything about there only being two skirts in that shot. A good show, a bad show, or reality?)


Good old Scotland.

[(Anonymous)]

Y'know, technically that's only the entire House of Commons.

Back to an Aristocratic Oligarchy for us!

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Well, the actual House isn't nearly big enough to fit all its members, so perhaps some are still around.

[seawolf10.insanejournal.com]

That bit with Melter and the old lady is ridiculously cliched.

However, "tension as art" is an interesting idea.

[tragical_mirth.insanejournal.com]

Gah, didn't realize that his YA book was out this week. Must go back to shop now, d'oh.

Captain Britain was wonderful fun as always.

Also, Faiza is love, as always. I so love the way Kirk draws her.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Doesn't this end up meaning Dracula will get what he wants anyway, as everyone in the UK will be dead or a vampire?

And doesn't this also mean that the UK will now be dead in the Marvel universe?