Thursday, December 01, 2005


A world exclusive for ye. A first look at Jon Haward's pencils for next year's Spider-Man/Captain Britain v the Fury. Our first Captain Britain story published earlier this year in Panini's Spec Spider-Man sold 42,000 issues in the UK alone, created quite a buzz, was reprinted in (deep breath) Marvel Milestones: Captain Britain, Psylocke & Sub-Mariner, and was talked about a lot in my house. I'm sure this new story will be talked about just as much. I plan to begin early next week.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks good so far! I picked up a copy of your Cap'n Britain/Spidey story here in the states... I'll admit I was put off by the fact that it was watered down a bit and "out of continuity" ... but I like the fact that there are original Marvel comics coming out of the UK and that you are helping produce them. I just hope Marvel starts printing more of these UK editions across the pond. Looking forward to it!

Jim Alexander said...

Yep, there are no 'House of M' tie-ins with these stories. As I've said a few times the stories are based around introducing Marvel characters to guys an' gals in the UK who may only have heard of them from the movies, or Saturday morning cartoons, or their Play Station games - but not through comics! If these stories then persuade people to search out these characters in the continuity-based Marvel US books, then I feel I've done my job. Would love the opportunity to write some of those Marvel books, though :-)

Anonymous said...

Right, but you can write a story for someone who's never read a comic before without all of that back story and still be in-continuity. Take Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up for example. You don't need to know what Skrulls are, who Ms. Marvel is or why the Ringmaster has hypnotic eyes - and yet if you do know that backstory, it adds a new element.

Same goes with CB and Spidey. Going over CB's origin is great since he hasn't been in comics for a while (at that point) but there's no reason to have him and Spidey meet for the "first time." New readers can just assume they knew each other and the story would have worked just as well.

Still, this isn't a negative critism, just a comment with my feelings on the matter. No reason to bog down stories with continuity unecessarily, but it's still nice to have recognition of past stories.

Is it possible to at least put CB in his current Excalibur costume (even if I preferred the original, blue face-mask and all)?

Anonymous said...

Forgot to add...

not having a House of M tie-in? That's a good thing!

Jim Alexander said...

I agree with you, Mr echh. However, it's worth bearing in mind that Panini/Marvel UK's Spec Spidey actually takes its inspiration from the 80s Spider-Man cartoon series. The writer's bible takes the cartoon episodes as its starting point. So I might take my inspiration from the comics but I'm mindful that's only part of the picture.

I have to say when writing for DC's Birds of Prey and writing for Panini I feel like two different people. I wear two entirely different hats - you can tell by the indentations in my hair they leave behind!

Couldn't possibly comment on your 'House of M' observation, though ;-)