Well, well. I haven’t read one of these in like a month. But I’m over a year ahead of when they post, so no one would ever know. But I’m back, and Captain Britain is here to celebrate. As the cover suggests, CB was, I believe, the first original creation for Marvel’s UK arm, and this is his first appearance stateside. That’s one of two reasons that can apparently run the price of this book up a bit, but as you can see, not at my local flea market. Still Claremont & Byrne on MTU, with Dave Hunt inking & coloring. Spider-Man is swinging to ESU, late as usual. He got a letter from The Dean telling him to be in his office at 9:30 this morning, and he has no idea why. He worries nonstop as he reaches campus and gets into normal clothes, arriving in The Dean’s office only an hour late, to be told The Dean has someone he wants Peter to meet.
And just like that, Peter has a roommate again. Temporarily. I remember reading about how Captain Britain was briefly Peter’s college roommate as a kid, but this is my first time reading the actual issue. But hang on, here’s the other reason this issue can get pricey:
This is the first appearance of Arcade, who will go on to frequently menace The X-Men and even reappear in this very series.
Who’s the lady in the car? Not sure. Brian having to sleep on Peter’s couch seems like a good reason they might not make him stay there. I mean, at least let the guy go somewhere he can have a bed. Also, if we can infer Brian is around Peter’s age, how old is his younger sister, Psylocke? I always assumed he would be older for a superhero (Meaning, like, late 20s/early 30s). Hm. At any rate, The Ol’ Parker Luck rears its ugly head, as Braddock catches Spider-Man leaving the apartment. And with Peter nowhere in sight and the nebulous nature of Spider-Man’s reputation, Brian feels he has no choice but to chase Spider-Man down as Captain Britain. Spider-Man knows Brian saw him, and now frets he’ll have to come up with a good excuse,
As the Two Heroes Fight Over A Misunderstanding, Spider-Man thinks he recognizes his assailant’s voice, but can’t place it. He also thinks he sounds “foreign,” but that “his mask distorts his accent.” Gee, Pete, not great detective work.
As Spider-Man ducks into the construction site, formulating a plan, his foe announces himself as “Captain Britain,” And Spidey takes a whole page of thought balloons to figure out who he is. Great job! Then he sneaks up on his opponent and simply webs the Scepter out of his hands. Don’t tell your enemy all your power comes from the stick in your hand, maybe! Cb goes plummeting to the ground, but Spider-Man webs and saves him, pointing out as he does that if he was the villain Cap thought, he could’ve just let him die. Then, when questioned, he explains he and Peter have an agreement for the Daily Bugle photos, and he stopped by to see Peter, who wasn’t home. Brian buys that, problem solved. Spidey wants to know his deal, so we get Captain Britain’s origin. He was fleeing some bad guys one night when they made his motorcycle go off a cliff, and a mysterious voice lead his injured form to The Siege Perilous, a weird gateway that Claremont would make use of a lot in the future in X-Men. He crossed over, and…
So you know. It’s a lot.
Alright. Took til the very last page, but our heroes have met the villain. Next time, the debut of Arcade’s ridiculous Murderworld.