Editor's Note: Captain Britain & MI-13 #13 arrives in stores tomorrow, May 13.

"Vampire State: Part Three"

Kelvin Green:
Dave Wallace:

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Kelvin Green

This issue, Dracula and his undead army set sail from their base on the moon, in vast metallic space galleons, intent on a decisive invasion of the British Isles.

Why more people don't read this comic, I really cannot fathom.

It won't be very exciting or enlightening, I'm afraid, but I find that I can only reiterate my comments on the previous issue. Such are the pitfalls of reviewing serialised product, I suppose, yet this comic is good enough that it needs to be mentioned, so here we go again! Dracula, then. Here we have a villain who is perhaps even more flamboyant in his arrogance than Doctor Doom himself, and on top of that he's standing on the deck of a steel sailing ship as it flies through space (I imagine that if there were a soundtrack to this, it would be by Queen). And yet Cornell makes us take him seriously, not least because for all the Silver Age absurdities of Dracula's plan, it's actually working. Britain is backed into a corner, cut off from the rest of the world, and there is no obvious way out for our heroes; Cornell does an excellent job of conveying the sense of peril and overwhelming odds, putting more across in one issue than Skrullabaloo managed in a sprawling crossover.

Yet, even with the apocalyptic events, Cornell ensures that the characterisation shines through, and even chucks in a couple of gags both at the expense of the unchecked proliferation of Avengers teams, and the utter nonsense concept of Norman Osborn as a state-sponsored hero. The humour doesn't detract from the menace, nor do the grim happenings overwhelm the lighter touches, as Cornell shows a real deftness in balancing the mood. One might say that he's captured something of the Blitz spirit, of the British sense of humour prevailing even in the face of adversity, but I may be reaching a bit there. I'll also spare you my usual churlish whinging about the art. It all looks good, and the storytelling is clear. It could do with a bit more "oomph", but I'll leave it at that.

I digress a bit, but I liked, nay loved, nextwave because, in a period when superhero comics seemed devoted to the twin idols of misery and "seriousness", here was a comic which wallowed in a gleeful celebration of asburdity. Captain Britain isn't nearly as off-kilter as that, but there's enough of that crazy creativity which, combined with the characterisation and plotting the former title lacked, makes for a title which is fun and suprising and dramatic and compelling, all at once.

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Dave Wallace:

You know those superhero comics where nothing ever really changes, characters are never really allowed to develop, none of the events of the book have any kind of long-lasting consequences, and everything returns to a constant status quo at the end of the issue?

Captain Britain and MI-13 isn't one of those comics.

Since the very first story arc, Paul Cornell has made it clear that no-one on this team is safe, and there's no such thing as a regular status quo. Team members have come and gone (often violently), creating a rare sense of genuine jeopardy for its characters and giving stories like this one a sense of urgency, danger, and unpredictability.

The plot of this issue is fairly straightforward: Dracula's plans to invade Britain come closer to fruition, as he launches his invasion armada from the moon. However, in amongst this we get character-based scenes that add extra dimensions to the bare bones of the story.

The book's subplots have a history of veering off in surprising directions (whoever would have predicted the Blade/Spitfire romance?), making for compelling "soap-opera" elements that don't feel trite or cliché. Here, we see Spitfire's descent into darkness, Captain Britain's crisis of confidence, and Faiza's personal motivations for fighting the vampires, all of which help to closely link the more personal elements of the story to the larger plot machinations. This has a beneficial effect for both: the smaller character-based elements are given added importance due to their relevance to the larger plot, and the overall story gains dramatic weight from the more human aspects of the book.

The issue's artwork is pencilled by both Ardian Syaf and Leonard Kirk. Regular readers will be used to Kirk being partnered with another artist, and some have been better than others. Thankfully, Syaf is one of the better artists to have worked on the book, with a style that's not too far removed from the look and feel established by Kirk. It's possible to tell their pages apart, but the transition isn't jarring, and both artists provide some impressive moments (which I won't describe in detail for fear of giving key plot points away).

It's interesting to see a consideration for wider Marvel continuity here that hasn't been as obvious in previous issues, with cameos from both the Mighty Avengers and Norman Osborn helping to reinforce the book's status as part of the same shared universe as Marvel's American books. However, Cornell never gets so sidetracked by these "Dark Reign" related elements that his own story loses its way, acknowledging the relevance of these aspects of shared continuity without letting them overwhelm him.

The issue really makes its mark though with its ending. I believe that the current vernacular describes endings like this one as a "gamechanger" -- and what a change it is. Without wanting to give anything away, it gives the title of the "Vampire State" arc a whole new meaning, raising the stakes (no pun intended) for the entire country of Great Britain and leaving the fate of several key characters in question. It's also a very well-written final few pages: one of those rare occasions where the mood of the story is created as much through the text as through the artwork, with both items working in tandem to create a strong sense of atmosphere, making the conclusion of this issue truly feel like MI-13's darkest hour.

I don't doubt that Cornell's team will bounce back from Dracula's attack in some shape or form, but I'd be lying if I said I could predict where the story was going to go from here. In a marketplace full of derivative, repetitive storytelling, that's quite a selling point, and one that ensures that readers are bound to come back for more next issue.

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