Captain Britain And MI:13 #12 – Review

By Paul Cornell (Writer), Leonard Kirk (Pencils), Jay Leisten (Inks), and Brian Reber (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: A story about Dracula attempting to take over Great Britain could easily come across as silly unless the tension and drama manages to set the tone both early and often. Fortunately, Paul Cornell is aware of that fact. He proves it by using the story to both raise the stakes of his series as a whole and create opportunities to add more depth to his already compelling cast.

The Story: Captive under the power of Dracula, Spitfire is escorted around the vampire base by her son. She learns some things about Dracula’s grand plan and the preparations that he has made in order to carry it out. Meanwhile, Captain Britain and the rest of the MI:13 team try to find “the head” that may help them combat Drac’s plans.

What’s Good: Simply put, Paul Cornell is writing one hell of a vampire story. It puts the dense mythology about Dracula and his minions to very good use. In addition, the distinctly British flavor of Cornell’s writing keeps things from becoming too serious thanks to a healthy dose of dry humor and clever wit. As for the artwork, Leonard Kirk and his team continues to make sure Captain Britain is as much fun to look at as it is to read. The action hits hard, most of the vampire-related imagery is downright haunting, and each panel is filled with an impressive amount of detail.

What’s Not So Good: My only real complaint about Captain Britain and MI:13 #12 is that a few scenes come across as visually confusing. Either the action is a bit to cluttered or the perspective used for the scene makes things look a bit off. While it is a minor complaint (and some may not find it distracting), I figured it was still worth a mention.

Conclusion: I really can’t recommend Captain Britain enough. The writing is damn near perfect, the artwork is always pleasing, and the stories are a brilliant mix of insane and intelligent. It’s just good stuff all around.

Grade:  B+

-Kyle Posluszny

News: IDW Launches New Dr. Who Mini-Series

Fans of IDW’s first Doctor Who miniseries featuring the Tenth Doctor had one constant request — give us the past Doctors, too. In August, they’ll get their wish Tenfold, on the pages of Doctor Who: The Forgotten.

This new series not only finds a clever way to present a story featuring all of the Doctor’s incarnations, but it also features award-winning artist Pia Guerra in her first regular assignment since the acclaimed Y, The Last Man series came to a close.

Doctor Who: The Forgotten is a six-part tale written by Tony Lee (Starship Troopers) and featuring resident Doctor Who expert and colorist Charlie Kirchoff (Doctor Who Classic, Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur) adding hues to Guerra’s linework. Artist Nick Roche will again provide covers for IDW’s Doctor Who series.

In Doctor Who: The Forgotten, Dr. Who finds himself stranded in a strange Museum that’s dedicated to him; and with no TARDIS in sight. The Doctor and Martha must make sense of their surroundings, hindered by one small fact: the Doctor has lost his memories of every one of his previous incarnations! With items relevant to each Doctor in their possession, The Doctor must try to use them to regain his memories before it’s too late.

In the popular Doctor Who novel “The Eight Doctors,” writer Terrance Dick, of whom Tony Lee is a great fan, re-visited previous incarnations of the Doctor in the midst of adventures from the original series. In IDW’s Doctor Who: The Forgotten, Lee decided to take the alternate route and create all new adventures for the classic Doctors. “Although it’s always nice to revisit old friends,” Lee says, “I think we can give more ‘forgotten tales’ in these short flashbacks. We have the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan meeting Egyptians; we have the Second, Jamie and Zoe meeting space lizards; the Third, Jo and The Brigadier defeating aliens on Dartmoor; the Fourth and Romana in millennium Paris; the Fifth, Tegan and Turlough facing a more recent addition in a Village cricket match; the Sixth and Peri in a courtroom; the Seventh and Ace in an alien war torn city; the Eighth alone in a Count of Monte Cristo setting; and the Ninth and Rose in the trenches of World War I. And every single one of them has been an utter joy to write.”

The creative partnership between Lee and artist Pia Guerra was initiated after they met recently at the Earls Court VIP launch of the Doctor Who Exhibition. In a pub afterwards, they talked about what their favorite episodes were and how they wished certain characters could work great in a story together. “We formed a strong bond that day, I feel” Lee said.

Lee added, “The funniest thing is that in the UK I say I’m writing this book and suddenly everyone’s excited. In the US, I talk about the books to nods, and when I mention Pia — that’s when the squeals start.”

Doctor Who: The Forgotten #1 (JUN08 4045) will arrive in mid-August. Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur TPB (JUN08 4047), collecting the first IDW miniseries, will be available in August as well.