CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI13 2 review

In which the Skrulls invade Avalon, Faiza manifests powers, Pete gets some naging from the missus, Captain Britain is 'seemingly' dead, the Black Knight splits, John the Skrull is not worthy, Spitfire deems herself not worthy and Britain's magical talismen are melded into a ruddy great chain.

Mind, at the start of his career Captain Britain wore a similar, if smaller, chain. Which likely isn't in the least relevant, so I probably shouldn't mention it. Brian, dead or alive, isn't in this issue, being seemingly dead, but his presence is felt, as Brits everywhere - and Dane Whitman too - feel that he's been lost. I suspect he's merely in Otherworld, the other-dimensional realm where he quested with the Black Knight in the pages of Britain's Hulk Comic to decades or so ago. Dane even references that time here, so maybe I'm right for once.

Faiza's powers are, it's safe to say, unique - she seems to have become Gray's Anatomy Girl, turning people into living medical illustrations. For a few moments she accidentally transforms Dane into a sectioned person, with various levels of skin, bone, muscle and organ on display. It's not a great look for him. Being a sharp woman, though, Faiza soon learns how to use her newfound powers against the Skrulls, while staying true to her Hippocratic oath and religious beliefs.

Reasonably, she posits that her powers are related to her person - she's a doctor, so she gets doctorish abilities. That may also be why she envisions Excalibur as a syringe - well, that's how I saw it.

This is another spiffing issue (that's how we Brits speak, you know), with events moving at a cracking pace. Paul Cornell's script remains seriously intelligent and huge fun, while Leonard Kirk and Jesse Delperdang draw up a storm. Colourist Brian Reber and letterer Joe Caramagna adding the cherries to the artistic cake. Bryan Hitch's cover wasn't half-bad either.

This has to be one of Marvel's best comics.

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