Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #1: Like Taking Milk Money from the Iron Lady

The champion of the Realm is back in action. After the all out war in Otherworld from the Knights of X, where we saw Captain Britain and the rest of the Knights as they take the fight to Merlin, King Arthur, and the army of Furies, and Betsy and Rachel officially come out as Britain’s new royal power couple. Tini Howard is back to kick off the next phase of Betsy Braddock’s life as Captain Britain, and the rest of the Braddock Clan, and she’s bringing in some familiar, and not so familiar faces. 

It’s been a long six months since the ending of Knights of X, where we saw that those mutants who would perish while in Otherworld would come back changed, and just a husk of who they were before (see: Rockslide & Gorgon, both of which died during the now classic “X of Swords” crossover), and it’s been just that. A very long time. I’ve had so many questions, like what’s going on with Otherworld? What’s the status of Mordred? Saturnyne? Betsy and Rachel? Pete Wisdom, and the resurrected mutants of STRIKE? Well, we get to see some things answered here. Betsy and Rachel seem to be getting along well, and while still not a fan, applaud the continued development of these two very prominent female characters in the X-universe, where we’ve been subjected to queer coding for nearly 50 years (1975, and the coming of Chris Claremont), it’s nice to see them take this huge leap forward.

Unfortunately that’s where my enjoyment ended. Tini’s hold on Betsy, Brian, and the rest of the Excalibur roster has become tired and stagnant. She has the chance to tell us something new with Betsy, and Rachel, but instead it’s just more of the same. Betsy’s still at odds with Coven Akkaba, Reuben, etc. Betsy hasn’t made any headway into becoming the champion of the British people, or why she wants to keep the Captain Britain mantle, and so on. The book was also billed as Betsy adventuring through the Marvel Universe, and Multiverse, but the Crosstime Capers seem pretty light thus far. The best thing about this book is the return of Morgan Le Fey, and her development as becoming the Big Bad of this series. I’ll give the book the benefit of the doubt, but Tini really has to wow me here.

Joining Howard is artist Vasco Georgiev, whose work I’m not overly familiar with. His style is reminiscent of Jocopo Camagni, which is well suited for the action scenes, just doesn’t land with the more quiet and intimate moments. I also really liked his take on Britannica Rex (I could read an entire maxi series about her, and the prehistoric adventures), and the Furies. Plus his Morgan pops. She’s going to be a handful. His Micromax is just… there. Not sure why they’re taking the direction they’re going with here, but I’m interested in finding out why. I won’t be overly critical for the rest of the cast, because nothing really jumps out at me as bad, awkward, or off, but I feel like the artist is just getting to know these characters, and we’ll see his growth as the story moves on.