Showing posts with label Black Knight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Knight. Show all posts

Thursday, 19 November 2009

70 Years of Marvel - 2008


The department of the UK government which deals with supernatural and metahuman affairs, had been around since 1996, under one name or another, but in 2008, Paul Cornell used MI13 as the setting for the latest attempt at giving Captain Britain his own book again. Cornell had Cap heading up a team of superhumans, including the Black Knight, vampire-hunter Blade, and golden age heroine, Spitfire. One of the few books not to be directly tied to any of the major franchises, the title lasted just over a year, after which the good Captain and friends slipped back into limbo. We look forward to the next revival attempt, in a year or so.

Captain Britain & MI13 spun out of the events of Marvel's big event of 2008: Secret Invasion. This jolly romp showed the Skrulls, wiped out almost to a man a couple of years back by the Annihilation Event, still more than capable of infiltrating human society , kidnapping and replacing vital figures such as Hank Pym, Spider-Woman and Elektra, before launching a mass attack on New York, and presumably, London. Another classic from Bendis, this just seems to have been intended to tidy up the mess left after Civil War, whilst leaving things in more of a mess than before. But we'll get to that tomorrow.

Other new comics of 2008? Well, there were some. After being around for, depending on your opinion, 43 years 3000 years, Hercules finally got his own ongoing title, inheriting his book from the Hulk, who, turfed out of his book, immediately got a new one, restarting from issue #1. If you think that was confusing, you're right, and it'll take a finer man than me to explain it. Sorry.

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

70 Years of Marvel - 1968


The third of Marvel's late-60s twin-books was Strange Tales, in which Nick Fury shared the spotlight with Dr Strange. The issue above, the Fury portion of which was created by Jim Steranko, featured all sorts of super-spy hijinks, with Fury taking on the Yellow Claw, or a reasonable fascimile, whilst Dr Strange was entering the domain of Yandroth, under the watchful eyes of Denny O'Neil (in one of his few jobs at Marvel) and Dan Adkins.

1968 also saw the arrival of Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, as well as the Vision, two heroes who would henceforth appear as second-stringers within the pages of the Avengers. Over in the X-Men, Polaris was being unveiled as the daughter of Magneto. That wouldn't last.

Elsewhere in 1968, Bobby Kennedy was, briefly, standing for President of the USA. Czechoslovakia was invaded by its next-door neighbour. And Enoch Powell became the most notorious politician in England.

At the pictures, Oliver! was winning the Best Picture Oscar, while Planet of the Apes and 2001 were becoming sci-fi cult classics. On TV, Dad's Army was gearing up for its 9 year run, whilst Philip K. Dick was writing sci-fi cult-classic-to-be Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?.