Captain Britain: Where Do I Start?

Although his name might seem to pigeon-hole him to the British Isles, Captain Britain is far more than that. A magical super-hero with powers gifted from the magician Merlyn (you know, from Arthurian legend), Captain Britain became not just a hero for Queen & Country but for our entire world – and a few other worlds, if you’ve read his stories over the years.

Originally introduced to be a British equivalent to Captain America, Captain Britain became something more as time went on and creators added to his mythos. Although Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe created him back in 1976, it wasn’t until Alan Moore and Alan Davis took over the character in the early 80s that the character evolved past being a default patriotic hero. The character went on to be a founding member of Excalibur, an X-Men splinter team that went on to over a hundred issues written by the likes of Claremont, Davis and even an early Warren Ellis. Captain Britain – aka Brian Braddock – last appeared in the short-lived Captain Britain & MI-13 series, and in the coming months he will appear in both Secret Avengers and Uncanny X-Force.

We’ve assembled four quintessential volumes that will get you up to speed with Captain Britain, touching on everything from Jaspers’ Warp to the Captain Britain Corps and even one of the most bizarre Marvel teams ever, TechNet.

Captain Britain Omnibus: This is where the legend was forged. Although created in stories prior to this, this tome collects the early 80s revamp that redefined everything from the costume to the setting and even the Captain himself. This collects Alan Moore’s entire run on the character, as well as co-creator Chris Claremont and even later work by Jamie Delano. The highlight of the book is Moore & Alan Davis’ story of Mad Jim Jaspers, a madman with a mad-on for setting the world with him at the center of it all.

X-Men: Excalibur Classic, Vol. 1 – The Sword is Drawn: You can’t mention “Captain Britain” without mentioning Excalibur, the long-running squad of heroes based in the UK. This collection features the team’s first stories, putting the Captain with Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, Rachel Summers and Captain’s own elvish girlfriend, Meggan. Claremont and Davis quickly set up a new niche for Excalibur with liquid-metal Warwolves, dimension-hopping widget called, well, Widget, Mojo, and even a bizarre homage to Monty Python called the Crazy Gang. Come for Captain Britain, stay for the company he keeps!

Captain Britain and MI:13, Vol. 1: Secret Invasion: Captain Britain’s led teams before, but this work by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk show him at his finest as a hero leading the charge into a thoroughly British kind of adventure. Although the title borrows from the event of the time Secret Invasion, it’s it’s own story of British magic going wild with Captain Britain and an hastily-assembled group of heroes standing in the breach. Cornell’s work here shows Captain Britain coming into his own as a hero and is a benchmark for the character going forward.-

Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis, Vol. 1: Alan Davis could easily be called the definitive artist for Captain Britain, but in the early 90s he took that further by returning to Excalibur to both write and draw the series. Davis returned to the fertile heights of Braddock’s stories to date, putting the Captain on trial against the inter-dimensional Captain Britain Corps while the murderous Technet have taken over Excalibur’s home base. This is fun storytelling with top-notch art, and truly a hidden gem for people who love this era of X-men lore.