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.
