Captain Britain and MI13 - Reception

Reception

Reviews of the first issue were largely positive, noting Cornell's solid characterization and tight plotting as well as the vein of black comedy that runs through proceedings and the smooth transition from his Wisdom limited series, despite the differences in the scale of the action, which may make the issue "a little new reader unfriendly." Comic Book Resources called it "a splendid new series," Comics Bulletin conclude "I haven't read a stronger first issue than this in a long time" and IGN agreed, stating "Captain Britain And MI: 13 #1 is as good a debut to a superhero story as I can remember." Given the good reviews and the tie-in with Secret Invasion (the first issue of which sold an estimate quarter of a million copies) the sales were high, with the first printing selling out immediately and being followed by a second printing with a variant cover based in Kirk's interior art which, in turn, sold out requiring a third printing.

The May 2008 direct sales estimates for the first issue were 47,527 making it the 51st top-selling comic title that month, more than twice the 20,000 sales for the first issue of the Wisdom limited series. Estimates fell for the second issue to 37,968 (55th place) then stayed fairly steady through issue #3 (36,934 sales estimate, 58th) and #4 (36,805, 63rd). Following the end of the Secret Invasion tie-in the sales dipped again to 32,989 (69th place) for issue #5, to 28,030 (96th) for #6 and to 22,185 (95th) with #7. Sales stabilised somewhat with issue #8 (21,233 sales and 130th ranking) but dropped further with issue #9 (18,478 and 101st in ranking).

When talking about the close of the title, Cornell stated "Our audience really left at issue four... People protest about events, but try and write a comic now without them. The audience is actually more concerned with what’s going on, with the big news, than they are with story. I’d be part of an event every issue if I could, if it meant I could keep the title going. ... after Birmingham I realised that the only way the book would survive would be huge event stories of our own." He also said he might've had the characters visit America early on if he'd known how long he had, or put more action into Hell Comes To Birmingham.

Following 'Hell Comes To Birmingham', issue #10 recovered sales (20,626 98th in ranking), but the issues releases after did not: 17,753 (108th) for #11, 19,989 (117th) for #12 and 17,947 (111th) for #13. In June, two issues were released, and sold about the same amount: 17,754 (124th) for #14 and 16,090 (135th) for the Annual. The last issue of the series, #15, was placed 122nd, with 16,544 sales.

Comic Book Resources placed the series at #10 in their top 100 comics of 2008, describing it as the "best thing to come out of Secret Invasion" and that it is "the best new superhero title of 2008." Newsarama named Cornell one of their "nine to watch in 2009," saying that he might be "the lead in the next British invasion of writers into American comics."

The appearance of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown got considerable attention from the press, contrasting the comic's heroic portrayal with the PM's current poor standing with the voting public. Cornell said "I'm quite a fan of Gordon Brown. I'm pleased we've given him a PR boost on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world. I feel quite sorry for him, so I'm glad I've contributed a bit."