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Vampire State This Week
Just to let you know that the Marvel collected edition of the final volume of Captain Britain and MI-13, Vampire State, will be in your comic shops on Thursday. The Panini edition, reversing the recent trend, won't be with us for a few weeks.
Meanwhile, boss of Marvel Joe Quesada is about to tell the world all the details of the Marvel/Disney deal. The folk at Comic Book Resources have set a ticking clock countdown to when it all goes public. You can see it all here.
Meanwhile, boss of Marvel Joe Quesada is about to tell the world all the details of the Marvel/Disney deal. The folk at Comic Book Resources have set a ticking clock countdown to when it all goes public. You can see it all here.
And I have only five whole working days before I'm off to Fencon (where I'm honoured to be toastmaster) and I have to pack them with work. So until next time, Cheerio.
Labels:
Captain Britain,
Comics,
Disney,
Joe Quesada,
Marvel
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Well that's good news for me. After buying the previous 14 issues I was away for the final ish and haven't been able to track down a copy yet.
I still don't know what happened! Oi! No spoilers you lot ;)
Paul -
I was extremely disappointed at the way you handled Dracula in CB. A military leader? Not much of a vampire lord anymore.
I've been re-reading Marv Wolfman's series from the 1970's, and the character of Dracula is now being portrayed as a joke.
I was really looking forward to this storyline, but left with a bad taste in my mouth. And vampires? Just take a look at Gene Colan's vampires in Captain America #601. Now THOSE are vampires.
Keith Geller
Florissant, MO
U.S.A.
I will miss CB.
I am very happy to se John Paul Leon drawing some pages of your Black Widow project.
is he going to draw just issue one?
Best.
I think I speak for... people who don't know the answer when I ask if either the marvel or panini release contains another brilliant foreword by you?
Thanks, Chris. You see, what happened in the last issue was... Sorry you didn't like it, Keith. I'm pleased to say I think we have John Paul on the flashback sections for the whole run, SHIELDboy, and he's delivered some awesome stuff so far. Flip: the Marvel doesn't, and I may have forgotten, but I don't think the Panini guys have asked me yet (or I've done it and forgotten), sorry about that, I have a terrible memory.
Thanks Mr. Cornell.
I cannot wait to read it!
It's brilliant. My brother (much mentioned) read the trade on the train "great, well told story. The reunion of Brian and Meggan was touching and that fight with Dracula brilliant" and "is Pete proposing to that woman at the end?"
(which leads me to ask - "IS Pete proposing?" I totally missed it first time around).
Ironically, according to the guy who owns my LCS, it's sucking in new fans because of the unique premise (Dracula, on the Moon, in a deal with Doctor Doom).
I even spruked for Wisdom in store, saying "it's kind of the start of the MI:13 story" and "it's all about the British subconscious - it's all faeries, Jack the Ripper and Martians. Ohh and the Beatles".
A couple of Wisdom trades and some more Captain Britain and MI:13 were sold.
Thanks very much, Daniel, your support is much appreciated.
Really looking forward to BLACK WIDOW, though it probably says something sad about me that one of the things I'm most pleased by is that you appear to have done your homework. Why? Well in a Marvel comic published this week, Bucky Barnes claims that he killed Hitler
when in fact in the MU it was Toro and the Torch; a few months ago in X-MEN we had Cyclops ask "What's a Celestial?" when he had battled them in an excellent X-FACTOR tale later collected in TPB form; we've had Logan shown out of costume using his claws at a time when no one knew they were a part of him; Peter Parker has been depicted in high school with Gwen and Harry when they didn't meet until college; and I've lost count of the times Sue Storm has been shown using force fields at the very start of the FF when she didn't discover she had that ability until FF #22.
Incidentally, in her first appearance, the Black Widow is paired with another Russian named Boris. I'm sure US readers will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Boris & Natasha were named in homage to the characters on The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. Which would mean our favourite female spy originally got her name from a cartoon starring a moose and a squirrel.
Gah! I forgot to sign the post above.
- Rob Hansen
I don't know, Rob. I wonder how important any of that stuff is. I do like to do my homework, but sometimes I wonder if internet fandom *only* likes my work because of the continuity. I wish 'is it a good story' was the most important question. And as you can see from the chap earlier, whether or not something 'fits' is often just as subjective a question.
"Is it a good story?" is definitely the most important question. I've certainly read tales where continuity was correct down to really obscure details that were nonetheless unreadable. However, obvious continuity howlers will pull me right out of a story, however otherwise well-written it might be. Case in point: a few years back there was a comic in which the Radioactive Man was a Russian named Ivan (he's a Chinese scientist named Chen Lu), the Black Knight had what some Americans fondly imagine to be a 'ye olde' English accent (he's American), Klaw was flesh and blood (he's been made of 'solidified sound' since 1965), and other stuff I've probably blocked out. When every other page has you going "WTF?!" it's pretty much impossible to enjoy a story. And don't get me started on howlers concerning real history.
- Rob Hansen
Paul,
I'm trying to keep my news straight but Dark X-Men and Black Widow are both minis right?
So do you have any ongoing work for Marvel coming up that I'm blanking on?
I sure hope so, at least.
looking forward to see some preview pages by Mr. Leon. I loved his Wintermen series.
Mr. Cornell, the Black Widow is my favorite character ever and I cant wait to see what you got in store for Natalia Romanova.
Ah, Rob, but you admit that it doesn't happen the other way. There's no story where you've gone 'hang the continuity, this is great!' And I think that's a shame. Matt: they're both minis, five and four parts. And not that's been announced. And thanks, SHIELD boy.
Guilty as charged, I'm afraid. If something is specifically announced as being 'out of continuity', then fine. If it's supposed to be in-continuity then I expect the writer to have done their homework. It really does affect my enjoyment if they haven't. This also works with real history. There was a Big Finish audio some years back in which the Doctor meets Orson Welles in 1938. It was mostly pretty good but, unfortunately, it also had the CIA in it - which wasn't formed until after WWII. If I hadn't known this I'd have enjoyed it more.
- Rob Hansen
Well, you know what you like!
Paul,
You've heard me say this before, so my apologies if it comes across as boring and repetitious. I think that in series storytelling, continuity is one of the aspects that determines the quality, not something that is totally divorced from the quality.
I think you and a lot of other writers underestimate how many people read a series for love of series in preference to love of individual story.
Jack Beven
But continuity *is* divorced from the quality of an individual story. To take up a fictional case: if the whole history of the work beforehand is terrible, does one really have to also be terrible in order to be 'good'?
I'm not sure I follow you here. By "whole history", do you mean all the backstory and built-up continuity of the series is horribly written, or do you mean that the previous individual stories in the series have been horribly written? I see a difference between the two, after all.
Jack Beven
Either or both. If continuity is more important than story, then one can't be better than the longer story one joins in with.
The best Black Widow cover, ever...
http://www.comicbookresources.com/images/solicits/marvelcomics/200912/13_BLACK_WIDOW__DEADLY_ORIGIN_2.jpg
I cannot wait to see some pages preview!
Sorry the link didn't work. I'll feature the cover in the blog today.
Hey Paul,
I was in a comic store today, and looking to pick up CB&MI:13 trades so that I don't wear out my singles, but they didn't have Vampire State and they were asking several dollars over cover price for the Secret Invasion trade, so I left with nothing.
But it got me wondering - has there been any talk of releasing an Ultimate/Complete/Omnibus collection of all 15 issues + the annual? In hardcover or softcover? I definitely want to get a collection, and that would interest me a lot more than the 3 small trades.
I haven't heard anything about an Omnibus. I'm currently writing an intro for the British Panini edition of Vampire State, which may work out cheaper for you.
Hi Paul
I have to admit that given the whole premise behind Vampire State - Dracula requesting a non-aggression pact with the Cabal Axis powers the story itself end rather pathetically and felt rushed.
Your storyshowed that Britain was never under any real threat as Wisdom had already guessed (somehow) that Dracula was going to ambush them once they had found Harker's head. Everything after was nothing. Dracula was doomed. For every magical or military asset Dracula had MI:13 had something better.
1. Harkers skull. The whole question of protecting an entire country with a single human skull of a person of no magical ability (if this was the case why doesn't every country have one or mentioned By Father Montesi?.)
Dracula has been in England since Harker's death. He simply arrives in an out of the way place and starts inviting vampires in. Then establishes a front DD Denham coalition of Companies as in the Last Dracula Hammer film for example and builds up his beach head from within.
2. Even if this was not possible you made Dracula do the most stupid stratgic decision by not sending in scouts before attacking. As soon as he broke free of Dr Plokta's magical room of wishes he should have sent just one scout to determine the coast was still clear. You had him dismiss this most obvious of decions by having him say "It doesn't matter." He had absolutely no reason to be over confident having just been manipulated for the past two days. You learn from your defeats and Dracula has lost more due to magic than any others. IMO its was unfairly simplistic.
3. The Vampires didn;t stand a chance - they didn't even kill a single SAS soldier - making Drac's army pretty pathetic.
4. Dracula is able to beat the Black Knight, a trained swordsman with a powerful magical weapon but a doctor wielding Excalibur is able to cut Dracula in two? How about turning to mist as he leaps? Or using his hypnotic ability. He was able to ensorcel Dr Strange and pull the fake death trick before. And he would not disrespect Husein as he had already dreamed that she was a great and brave fighter whom he could respect. It all seemed so rushed.
Dracula is potentially one of the great super villians and you even gave some acknowledgement by Dr Doom assisting in his downfall but please if you intend to resurect the Lord of Vampires again allow him to use all his powers. The Vampire has fought Thor and the entire X-men by himself. He has been shown in the past to be able to change into mist or bat in the blink of an eye and to control the weather rivaled only by Storm and inferior only to Thor. He has super strength and super speed and a master swordsman. He also shown in the past that he can be very quick witted in ensuring his own survival. You denied him all these most of the time.
Yes heroes have to win in the end but I felt that Wisdom had Dracula's number right after he hit the cab. He cheated and manipulated Dracula so easily the poor bugger didn't stand a chance. This was no desperate Battle of Britain with few against many. Wisdom's resources far outstretched Dracs and it showed. I hoe to see better in future.
regards
David
Oh well, each to his own.
Mr Cornell
I have to admit I was surprised you published my comments and I much admire you for doing so. I suppose I am just disappointed given the current Dark Reign situation which has all the other bad guys having a fine old time but poor old Drac got the short end. I did a study on the real Vlad for the Army focussing on how he fought and it got under my skin. The man was a brutal sociopath but he was a master tactician who nearly always won his wars but was then betrayed after he had suceeded.
My apologise if my comments became a rant. That was not my intention.
I suppose also I have not read a comic book (or graphic novel if you will) in over 20 years and I suppose my expectations were to high.
I hope Captain Britain will fly again.
regards
David Whitfield