Deadpool Team-Up ft. Captain Britain
Daredevils, a black and white British monthly comic from 1983, probably changed my life. I was 12 and liked comics but I picked up issue one of Daredevils and read, for the first time, Frank Miller’s reprinted Daredevil run and Alan Moore and Alan Davis’ Captain Britain, and they both blew my tiny mind. I’m fullly aware that Moore has done more sophisticated work since, but – that run on Capt. Britain – The Fury, The Special Executive, Mad Jim Jaspers, the blatant Tory bashing – it remains one of my favourite comics over a quarter of a century later. I love Captain Britain and thoroughly enjoyed Paul Cornell’s MI:13 book of recent years. I was sorry to see it it go.
So, getting the chance to write Captain Britain is an absolute thrill for me. In DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #893, coming in May, the merc with a mouth comes to London to steal Slaymaster’s old assassin tech, and Brian Braddock isn’t about to let that happen. Yes, this is the Slaymaster I read in Daredevils back in ’83 – it all comes back around.
Lots of fun writing Deadpool too. I’ve never read a lot of Deadpool comics but it occurred to me that he’s pretty much Low Life’s Dirty Frank in the ‘batshit crazy for comedy’ stakes, and I enjoy writing those sorts of strips. And the art by Matteo Scalera, an Italian artist I wasn’t aware of prior to working together here, is pleasingly great. He’s got a nice attitude and energy about his pages which suits Deadpool really well, I think. I’m sure you’ll see him on other Deadpool books in the future. And a cover by Humberto Ramos too!
February 17th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Great to see your getting a chance to write Cap.. and a call back to Slaymaster! Awesome… with this and Cornell writing a MI:13 story in an upcoming Heroic Age tie-in gives me hope we will once again see Cap/MI:13 ongoing in the future.
Hope it sells well and the Humberto Ramos cover is great
February 17th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Loving the Ramos that cover. It’s great to see Captain Britain being used in the wider Marvel Universe. We don’t see that nearly enough, so top marks!
I too was a huge fan of Alan Moore and Alan Davis’ Captain Britain strips, and of Daredevils, Hulk Comic and Marvel Superheroes – all those anthology books which kept Captain Britain in print in one form or another. I always liked Marvel’s characters and universe, but as a kid growing up in the 80s New York seemed a world away. That world never really effected me, so far away it was. But here we had stories using that same universe of characters, but in London, or Liverpool. That was the hook that brought me in, and gave birth to an obsession with Marvel UK, which I’ve never shaken.
I think it’s great that you’re building a story using Slaymaster’s stash as a focal point. Man, there’s a character who died too young! Although quite definitely – death by big rock is not THAT easy to come back from. Some of those Jamie Delano written issues were actually pretty nasty…
I really look forward to reading this.
February 18th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Thanks both. Glad you like the sound of the issue. I love the character of Brian Braddock and have a huge soft spot for Slaymaster, so the story’s respectful of both within the context of Deadpool’s madness. And two other MI:13 cast members make cameos, which I spoke to Paul about.
Must buy the Cap Britain Omnibus to get those Delano issues again. I’ve not read them for years.