Captain Britain & MI:13 #4 review

The Guns of Avalalon conlusion

Captain Britain faces off against the big ass magical Super Skrull! Faiza Hussein rushes to save the life of the Black Knight! The Big Evil Demon Guys that Pete Wisdom released last issue go on a big fucking Skrull killing spree after John the Skrull is shot in the face and killed. And oh just pick up the damn book.

Wow, what a fantastic series this is. I do feel the need to get one complaint out of the way,. the finale to this arc felt rushed. I think the final battle here could have gone on for one more issue, but then I imagine Marvel and some of the writers are getting sick of Secret Invasion and it's time to move on, which the ending of this issue does. Otherwise, this title has rocked. This story has been a great introductory story, it's set the stage wonderfully and goddammit all I'm in an unfortunate position that I have to drop the title. FUCK!

Cornell has made a very dry, very witty, very English book and this issue wonderfully expressed all those strengths. I love how Cornell has managed to just take these silly concepts and embraced them, running with them as far as he can go and I really want to see where he takes this book. He's taken the Secret Invasion idea and used it as a springboard for something bigger, crafted a sort of mission statement for the book. "This is what you can expect, and this is the major threats these characters are going to have to face." He does it well, if a little too quickly. I'm, sadly, oh so sadly, not going to be picking up the next issue but if I may suggest that he take the time to slow things down long enough so that we can get to know the characters a little better. I'd like to know Spitfire better, I'd love to know Faiza better (she must be a new doctor, cause she seems to think the NHS can work miracles when in fact the Black Knight would have been forced to wait nine to fifteen months before receiving an appointment). We've seen them in a crisis situation taking a liiitle bit of time to decompress wouldn't hurt.

Speaking of Faiza, I really liked how this issue ended. It was a nice little twist to add to the book and one more reason I wish I could stick with this series. And what about John? Goddammitt! Dude, what the fuck!?!?!? I was flipping back to that page expecting him to come back. Ah, fucking shit, man! Okay, and even though I'm mildly complaining about the ending, I do like the resolution they come up with for expelling the Skrulls from Britannia. You could argue it's too easy, I say it fits quite appropriately with the feel of the title and gives a glimpse to the threat this new team is facing. "No more Skrulls." Jesus...

But please, if you're not reading this series do yourself a favor and get on board! It is indeed worth your hard earned two dollars and ninety-nine cents (plus tax).