Captain Britain and MI13 #10-15

Captain Britain and MI13 #10-15

Originally released in 2009

Written by Paul Cornell

Art by Leonard Kirk and Michael Collins

I chose this set of issues for two reasons.  One, I don't know much about Captain Britain, so I've been meaning to look into a comic featuring the character. Two, it gives me an excuse to type the following sentence.

Dracula has a diplomatic meeting with Doctor Doom on the moon. After guaranteeing that Doom's allies in the Cabal will allow him to take control of Britain, Dracula launches vampires at Earth from his moon castle. I love that I get to write about stories like this.

This catches MI13 (Military Intelligence 13 - like James Bond's MI6, though presumably much more secretive) off-guard, with Brian Braddock (Captain Britain, a guardian of the multiverse) and Pete Wisdom (his boss - from what I've read, he's a Han Solo type, and X-Men fans don't seem to be fans of him) are having a night on the town when they're hit by a vampire orbital strike. Meanwhile, Dane Whitman (the Black Knight) and Faiza Hussain (a doctor who currently wields Excalibur) are on their way back from Wakanda when they're hit in midair. Once they land, they're surrounded by vampires, though the duo makes short work of the undead hordes.

The other two members, Blade and Spitfire, don't seem to be targeted yet - Spitfire seems to have been recently turned into a vampire, with Blade helping her to adjust, and the two of them have entered a relationship, even if they aren't sure what stage they're at.

Dracula's attack on Spitfire is more personal, sending her vampire son to find her and bring her to him. Meanwhile, Blade is left to find Dracula's declaration of war, which is as formal as it is bloody and highlights Dracula's dislike of the Daywalker.

Dracula also kidnaps Faiza's father, prompting her to take on a more active role along with the codename of Excalibur. I'm not sure why, but when characters say things like "it's Dracula's fault", it's unintentionally hilarious to me.

Spitfire is taken to Dracula's moon castle, where the numerous problems with this idea are pointed out only to be explained away with the most elegant simplicity.

The skull of Quincy Harker has been enchanted to make it so Britain can't be invaded by vampires (they would have to be invited in on an individual basis), which makes finding and protecting it a top priority for MI13.

Unfortunately, Dracula is well aware of the rules surrounding vampires and knows plenty of loopholes, allowing him to enter and destroy the skull before leaving to rally his forces. Britain quickly finds itself cut off politically (Dracula has vampire agents embedded in several governments) and physically (by a barrier that mixes magic and technology).

At this point, Spitfire arrives on Earth, now fully under Dracula's control thanks to his nature as the king of vampires.  Things quickly reach their darkest hour - Faiza makes a charge towards Spitfire, hoping that killing the squad leader will weaken the rest of the horde, only to have her throat cut.

Captain Britain is magically transported outside of the barrier, leaving him unable to get back to his homeland, and Pete Wisdom and the Black Knight are seemingly killed, leaving Blade as the sole form of resistance.  I'm hoping that none of them are dead, and this is all a part of a plan that Spitfire cooked up with the others; Faiza's been a likeable character, and with her apparent death being the least ambiguous, I'm hoping it's a fake-out.

It is revealed to be a fake-out in issue 14, though not in the way I expected.  As it turns out, Pete Wisdom made a deal with some kind of being fittingly called Plotka that has the ability to trap its victims in a vision of their heart's desire; I feel like I would have seen it coming if I was familiar with the character or read issues 1-9.

The true exchange between Britain and Dracula is a mixed bag.  One of Dracula's allies is defeated, damaging his invasion ships in the process, but Faiza's father is still a hostage and slowly being turned into a vampire.  Doctor Doom gives Dracula a prisoner to use against Captain Britain, in exchange for a favour.  The prisoner in question is the Captain's believed-to-be-dead wife, Meggan.

Naturally, a gift from Doom is a double-edged sword.  Sure, having Meggan as a prisoner might stop Captain Britain, but she's also a powerful sorceress whose very presence is weakening Dracula's control over his forces. Also, she doesn't stay a prisoner for long.

Watching from Earth and hoping that his plan worked out, Pete Wisdom reveals that he's manipulated Dracula, hiding Quincy Barker's real skull and having the vampire lord destroy a fake.  Out of the vampires in space, only Faiza's father is given permission to enter Britain; as soon as any other vampire tries crossing into the space above it, they burst into flames.

Dracula quickly finds his escape routes cut off one by one, and Blade kills Spitfire's son (Drac's trusted lieutenant) on Spitfire's request, so Dracula retreats to his personal escape craft, where Excalibur and the Black Knight are waiting.  Refusing to go down without a fight, Dracula tries to fend off the two of them, but the holy power of Excalibur proves too much for him.

While part of me wishes I'd taken the time to read the earlier issues to get the context for who some of these characters are or what they can do, this was a fun arc with a straightforward premise that took some interesting twists and turns. It's a little late for Halloween, but as my introduction to Marvel's British side, I had a good time with reading it.