Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Vasco Georgiev
Colorist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Cover Artists: Erica d’Urso & Matthew Wilson; Aka
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 29, 2023
While Rachel Summers searches the multiverse for signs of Morgan Le Fay, Betsy Braddock babysits her niece so Brian and Meggan can attend a West End musical. But instead of a quiet evening with Rachel, her brother calls for help fighting a Fury in Piccadilly Circus. Can Betsy prevent a slaughter of theatergoers? Let’s teleport into Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #3 and find out!
Story
Abandoning Rachel to solo adventures in babysitting, Betsy travels to London. Amid the smoking rubble, the Fury announces it’s the nation’s new defender. Its first order of business? After placing mutants and witches in protective custody, it plans to apprehend Brian Braddock, protector of Avalon (also known as Otherworld), and Krakoa.
There are a few things that I didn’t get, such as a reporter’s statement about Ambassador Reuben Brousseau and how he fares later. Nor did I appreciate yet another issue without Britannica Rex. (Hey, a T-Rex Captain Britain: what could be cooler than that?) But this story delivers on so many levels that the good far outweighs the bad.
Along with the battle of Piccadilly, Tini Howard relates the history of the Furies and their Everforge. Morgan Le Fay wields her magic. Betsy checks in with Pete Wilson and Faiza Hussain. But really, the best part of Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #3 is how hard Betsy and Rachel work at their relationship, even while Morgan Le Fay cooks up another next-level threat to gain unrestricted control of Britain's magic.
Art
Vasco Georgiev takes us to the Braddock family kitchen, where even as Brian tries to talk her into coming with them, Betsy tries different tricks to sneak a spoonful of food into Maggie's mouth. We witness Betsy’s concern for Rachel’s excessive chronoskimming in the mansion's monitor-filled control center. We see Brian take up his sword and fight the red-and-blue Fury hurling threats and cars across Piccadilly Circus. We also visit Pete Wisdom's posh restaurant and Morgan Le Fay's medieval headquarters.
While I've mentioned Ariana Maher's tiny lettering before, what impressed me in this issue was how much dialogue she delivered. Vasco rarely devotes a single page to one scene, and each page averages four panels or more. He never works across multiple pages, so readers of later trades and hardcovers won't lose anything to guttering. As Ariana packs narrative boxes and dialogue balloons with lowercase lettering into each tiny panel, Vasco hits back with incredibly detailed art. He rarely shows a character against a blank background or fills space with direction lines. Whether large or small, nearly every one of his ninety-four panels delivers a fully realized scene in Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #3.
While the Braddocks and Pete Wisdom are partial to checkerboard floors, Erick Arciniega loads up his palette with full spectrum color. I'm no more a fan of Rachel's flaming head than of Michael Jackson's burning hair, but Betsy's long purple tresses blend well with her Union Jack costume. The red, blue, and black Captain Furious takes center stage in London's smoking West End district as a green-and-gold-clad Meggan wields arcs of energy in the hazy red sky. Even after the battle, as the sun sinks into the rubble-strewn streets and Rachel and her warwolf puppy step through a red portal in a nearby park, nothing is lost to the invading darkness.
Final Thoughts
Filled with witchcraft, Fairie, mutants, and robots with dreams of greatness, Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #3 delivers an interesting and exciting day in the life of Britain's courageous and caring defender. While short on mega-powered villains and world-ending threats, readers can expect a three-paragraph introduction, a report from The Reflector (the UK’s most trusted news source), a datafile, and twenty pages of story and art that impress, even when magnified at 150-200%. It's a substantial read that focuses on family, celebrates diversity, and contrasts what heroes and villains care about. Even without a T-Rex Captain Britain, expert Marvelites and mutant newbies should enjoy this National Treasure.
Rating 9.6/10
To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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