Books: Captains Britain, Gravity, and Marvel

Captain Britain by Alan Moore and Alan Davis

This is the prequel volume to Captain Britain by Alan Davis and Jamie Delano (yep, same title), and collects Alan Moore's mildly legendary run on the title, in which the Captain dies and is reborn under Merlin's care to serve the wizard's complex scheme (which seems to eventually materialize near the end of Davis' run on Excalibur, volume one, many years later). Across the rest of the book the Captain deals with the threat to his universe from encroachments from other worlds of madness. While neither Moore nor Davis are quite as brilliant here as they will become, they're still quite brilliant enough, and never has the notion that superhero comics should be about "mad, beautiful ideas" been more clearly expressed. Highly recommended (though be warned that you'll be joining the story very much in the middle, just as Moore did).

Captain Gravity and the Power of the Vril by Dysari, Velluto, and Garcia

A story in the mold of The Rocketeer, this is about Captain Gravity, a film crew member who acquires control over gravity from an alien power source, and uses it to fight Nazis around the world. It's got that pulp flavor going for it, but the only bit that I'd truly call original is that Captain Gravity wears a full-face mask to hide the fact that he's black. The importance of a secret identity has never been quite so clear. Moderately recommended.

The Trials of Shazam! by Judd Winick and Howard Porter

The wizard Shazam died fighting the Spectre during the Infinite Crisis, and Captain Marvel (Billy Batson) has been elevated to his station. Now Captain Marvel Junior (Freddy Freeman) must face six trials in order to prove himself worthy to drop the "Junior" and become the new Captain Marvel. The trials are each set by a mortal incarnation of the six mystic beings that make up "SHAZAM" — Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. Solomon, for example, is a (female) tattoo artist, while Achilles is a special ops soldier in Iraq. It's a nicely told tale of magic and power, and I'll be picking up volume two when it comes out. (DC has done their standard thing of making it as opaque as possible that this volume is just V1.) Mildly recommended.

Two Sentences About Life

Two sentences I find myself using a lot lately . . .

"Our lives are not like other people's."

"I love my life."