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Comic Book / Captain Britain: A Crooked World
aka: A Crooked World

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A Crooked World (also known as Jaspers' Warp), is a Captain Britain storyline published in three Anthology Comic titles released by Marvel UK between 1981-1984. The first few issues were written by Dave Thorpe, who was later replaced by Alan Moore. Alan Davis was the artist for the full storyline.

Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), accompanied by new sidekick Jackdaw, is equipped with a new costume and powers, then sent to a parallel universe (later named as Earth-238) by Merlin. Once there he’s confronted by a range of weird happenings and encounters the enigmatic Saturnyne, who requests the Captain's help for "The Push" - her plan to give this "primitive" world an evolutionary boost and make it less irrational.

The scheme is successful, but draws the attention of the creature who created the weirdness and chaos - Jim Jaspers, an insane, terrifyingly powerful Reality Warper. Jaspers sends his most lethal creation, the Fury, to deal with them. And it does, easily killing Jackdaw and Captain Britain, while Saturnyne flees back to her own reality.

Merlin resurrects Captain Britain and returns him to his own world (Earth-616, the 'main' Marvel Universe). But Earth-616 has its own variant of Jaspers, who's now starting to manifest his powers. And this version is even more powerful.

If Captain Britain couldn’t beat the other Jaspers, what hope does he have of saving his world from this stronger version? How did his own Earth-238 variant, the mysterious Captain U.K., end up living on Earth-616? And, back on Earth-238, what will the Fury do when - despite everything it's witnessed - it realises that Captain Britain still isn't dead?

This story is notable as some of the only comics work (outside of a handful of strips published in Marvel UK magazines such as Star Wars and Doctor Who) that Moore did for Marvel, and it's also really where the Captain Britain stories really came into their own, with an iconic costume change for Captain Britain himself, a much darker tone, and some very memorable, formidable adversaries.

Along the way, it introduced elements that later became staples of the Captain Britain mythos: The Captain Britain Corps, and the Omniversal Majestrix Saturnyne. It's also the storyline where the main Marvel Universe gets its Earth-616 designation from.

The events of the storyline didn't stop with its conclusion, as the effects of "Jaspers' Warp" continued after his defeat, somewhat averting No Ontological Inertia, and the Crazy Gang existed on Earth-616 as well, not to mention a series of "Warpies", a strange baby-boom of young children who were affected by Jaspers' reality-warping, developing powers not unlike that of mutants, emerging some two decades later (in real-time).

The storyline was initially coloured and reprinted as an "X-Men Archives: Captain Britain" limited series in 1995, with a trade paperback in 2002. It's also been reprinted in other formats, mostly for the UK market as part of licensee Panini's various Captain Britain collections.


A Crooked World provides examples of:

  • Adaptive Ability: The Fury. Apparently, ridding the world of superheroes has made it very powerful. The Fury is so powerful that it survives the destruction of Earth-238 and even battles the 616 Jaspers to a standstill, eventually managing to kill him.
  • Airstrip One: Captain Airstrip-One appears at the end of the arc, and seemingly comes from a world very similar to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
  • Alice Allusion: As well as the Crazy Gang, the Fury itself takes its name from Alice in Wonderland (where “cunning old Fury” is judge, jury and executioner in the Mouse’s Tale).
  • Apocalypse How: The "Crooked World" (Earth-238), thanks to Jaspers' reality-warping, became an Class 2, moving onto Class3a. In fact, even before it had a chance for everything to get annihilated, it transitioned into an Class X-4, caused not by Jaspers, but by Mandragon to prevent the reality distortion from spreading.
    • Before Captain Britain confronts his own Mad Jim, Merlin warns him that even erasing a universe won't contain him before long, and Jaspers ends up becoming an Class Z threat.
  • Arm Cannon: The Fury has one, which is mostly used to kill its targets.
  • Artificial Human:
    • The Fury is described as a "cybiote", which isn't given much clarification as to what it is beyond being "part-machine/part-animal/beast". So basically, some form of a Cyborg.
    • It turns out that the Crazy Gang was literally created from the ground up by Mad Jim Jaspers. Fittingly, he explains his creation to them in a manner that describes him as God.
  • Back from the Dead: Captain Britain is killed by The Fury midway through the storyline. There shouldn't even be much left for Merlin and Roma to work with. Fortunately, Merlin likes a challenge, and successfully reconstitutes his body and mind, when he resurrects him.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Fascination of the Special Executive is usually seen just sort of dreamily floating around and getting into people's personal space. But when she's roused, she is one of the only characters capable of slowing down the Fury for even a moment.
  • Big Bad: Variants of Mad Jim Jaspers fill this role on both Earth-238 and Earth-616. The Earth-238 version is the Fury's creator and behind all the chaos on that world. The Earth-616 version takes control of the UK and S.T.R.I.K.E. and is behind both the Vixen and (indirectly) Slaymaster.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: Aside from Jaspers, there's a motley of antagonists during the arc that pose a threat to Captain Britain, such as Mandragon, Mastermind, and Vixen. Jaspers easily eclipses all of them in time. The Fury would count... if it was anything more than a robot that beats up and shoots things.
  • Bigger on the Inside: Mad Jim Jaspers doesn't care for the laws of physics anymore, and often creates rooms like these. Captain Britain is naturally disorientated by these. One particularly impressive example is when Captain Britain chases him into his office in 10 Downing Street... only to find himself floating in space met with a massive Jaspers, who's assumed a godlike form.
  • Boomerang Bigot: Sir James Jaspers thinks that superhumans are a public threat to the United Kingdom, and the world at large. He even starts a campaign to get them out of the UK, and in Earth-238, orchestrated their extermination. However, Jaspers himself turns out to be a mutant, even boasting about how his mutated brain allows him to warp reality. Of course, by that point, he's too crazy to see a contradiction between the use of his tremendous powers and theirs and only cares about turning the world into his personal playground, with everyone as his clay dough.
    • Sebastian Shaw is Jaspers' political ally and financial backer. It's not mentioned in the story, but any reader who knows him from X-Men will realise that he's a mutant cynically backing an anti-superhuman politician.
  • Break the Cutie: Betsy sees her friends and colleagues die because of their psychic powers, she gets mind-raped by an extradimensional psychic, and gets put in a concentration camp once Sir James Jaspers takes power.
  • Break the Haughty: When Captain Britain is brought to Otherworld to defend Saturnyne during her trial, he witnesses her bound in chains kneeling on the ground, fearing execution. Despite her manipulative and self-serving nature, she's in such a sorry state that it elicits pity from even Brian.
  • Broken Bird: Linda; Betsy.
  • Came Back Strong: Downplayed with Captain Britain. His powers were originally activated by the Amulet of Right, and the Star Scepter which enabled him to fly. During his time on Earth-238, Merlin changed his suit, and fused the equipment that gave Brian his abilities with it. Also, after the Fury killed him, Roma recreated his body with Captain Britain's powers already in him - the suit only allowing him to better control them.
  • Canon Welding: Wardog and the Special Executive were originally created as supporting characters for a Doctor Who comic before being imported into the Marvel Universe. Wardog is the only surviving team member from the original stories, though - all of the rest are new characters.
  • Cape Busters: Sir James Jaspers as Prime Minister makes it illegal to be a superhero, so there's a Stormtrooper-esque group of these. STRIKE also becomes these once it's taken over by Vixen.
  • Captain Ersatz: With the exception of Captain U.K. herself, almost all of the Earth-238 superheroes slaughtered by the Fury seem to be direct equivalents of older British heroes published by other companies.
    • Miracleman is Marvelman - a hero who was actually renamed to Miracleman when that series switched publisher a couple of years later.
    • Captain U.K.'s husband Rick was based on Young Marvelman, whose real name was also Richard.
    • The Iron Tallon is based on the Steel Claw.
    • From context, the Arachnid (who's never actually seen) is presumably based on The Spider.
    • Android Andy is based on Robot Archie.
    • Tom Rosetta, granted invulnerability by his magic stone, is based on Tim Kelly, wearer of the Eye of Everlasting Life and star of the adventure series Kelly's Eye.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Slaymaster is somehow capable of immobilizing Captain Britain's right shoulder, by hitting its pressure point. This is despite the fact one of Cap's powers is Nigh-Invulnerability. More so, he did it faster than Cap could react.
  • Chess Motifs: Merlin has chess pieces representing the characters on his chessboard, observing their actions. What's weird is that the events are so great that he can't even control the chess pieces, and he seemingly dies when the Fury makes an unexpected appearance again.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Sir James Jaspers, after using his reality-warping powers on a wider scale, eventually becomes loopier than a corkscrew. The name Mad Jim Jaspers becomes very apt afterwards.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • The Black Knight, who fought alongside Brian through the previous Otherworld arc, reappears at Merlin's funeral.
    • Gyrich and Sebastian Shaw, both well-established X-Men antagonists, appear at a political gathering with Jaspers.
    • After Betsy is released from imprisonment in Jaspers' camps, Doctor Strange's associate Victoria Bentley is mentioned as providing her with the support she needs to heal.
  • Dare to Be Badass: Saturnyne has a moment with Captain UK, resembling this.
  • Day of the Jackboot: Given the presence of "stormtroopers" soon after Sir James Jaspers became Prime Minister, one could say this happened. Over time, concentration camps for superpowered people are set up.
  • Dirty Coward: Saturnyne deserts Captain Britain on Earth-238, and leaves him to the Fury once she learns of the cause of the distorted world.
  • Dramatic Irony: When Captain UK (sans superhero identity) warns Captain Britain of Sir James Jaspers' campaign, Brian thinks that, as he's technically not the same one as the Jaspers on the former's Earth, there's not much to worry about. Captain UK insists that he should be worried, however. Sure enough, during a gala, James uses his powers to change white wine into red wine - revealing that the 616 version is a Reality Warper as well.
  • The Dragon: Slaymaster, to Vixen. The Fury is technically this to the Jaspers of Earth-238.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • Captain Britain's force field can be extended as a telekinetic hand or barrier in the Earth-238 stories. Dialogue suggests that this was deliberately removed by Roma, at Merlin's request, when he came Back from the Dead.
    • Saturnyne's speech pattern in the Earth-238 stories is very different. At times she sounds like an American film noir vamp, whereas her later appearances are far less informal.
  • The '80s: Comic-Book Time is averted, the events are clearly set in between 1982-1983, and to emphasize this, Sir James Jaspers mentions President Ronald Reagan pardoning The Hulk.
  • Enemy Civil War: A very brief one. When Vixen realises just how crazed Jim Jaspers is, she decides to assassinate him. Her team doesn’t stand a chance.
  • Evil Only Has to Win Once: When Captain Britain arrives in 10 Downing Street, Merlin in a telepathic message explains that against Mad Jim Jaspers, with his reality-warping powers growing exponentially, losing is not much of an option:
    Merlin: You mustn't fail. This version of Jaspers. Is too powerful. Too dangerous... His counterpart could at least be halted even if it meant to destroy an entire continuum. This one is not so easily containable. And if he cannot be defeated, then the omniverse shall fall into chaos. And a new and hostile god shall play dice with matter.
  • Expendable Alternate Universe: Downplayed, and played with in-universe.
    • Brian and Saturnyne don't see Earth-238 as expendable (although Saturnyne is willing to cut her losses and run when confronted by Jaspers).
    • Mandragon, on the other hand, is entirely happy to annihilate the entire reality with the flick of a switch, to Brian's horror.
  • Extradimensional Emergency Exit: Captain Britain and Saturnyne find themselves witnessing the alternate Earth on the receiving end of an apocalyptic breakdown of reality courtesy of Mad Jim Jaspers. Realizing that all her work on uplifting the world has been for nothing, Saturnyne decides to cut her losses by teleporting herself and her staff into a safe dimension - leaving Captain Britain behind to face the music.
  • Fake Arm Disarm: The Fury effortlessly tears Wardog's artifical arm apart.
  • Fantastic Racism: This time not just towards mutants, but all superhumans. Britain becomes a Police State during the premiership of Sir James Jaspers.
  • Forced Transformation: Vixen, after confronting Mad Jim Jaspers, is turned into a female fox.
  • Funetik Aksent: Oxo, of the Special Executive, is a humanoid insect who seems to be written with a very strong Glaswegian accent.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Mad Jim Jaspers (Earth-238) explains that he created and programmed the Fury. In other words, he didn't even use his powers and outright built the thing with nothing more than his own brilliance.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Saturnyne continuously insults Linda on her supposed cowardice, until the latter snaps and slaps her. Linda is made to realize that she still has some fight left in her, and she slowly dons her Captain UK uniform.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Mad Jim Jaspers. Particularly the first one Captain Britain encountered (the one from Earth-238). His reality-warping had ruined his world beyond repair. Eventually, the universe is destroyed, but his creation, the Fury, continues to menace the heroes. The story moves along with Sir James Jaspers' policies affecting events, and the targeted killings of psychics. But Jaspers himself comes into the forefront near the end.
  • Hero Killer: The Fury. It slaughters a whole world of superheroes, and even kills Captain Britain himself. But Cap is brought Back from the Dead.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Mad Jim Jaspers, thanks to his exponentially growing multiversal powers, comes to the point that he is no longer even regarded as anything sounding like a human being anymore. Otherworldly beings end up using other terms to describe him such as, "the reality butcher", "the Jaspers monster", or "the Jaspers thing"...
  • Jerkass: Mandragon.
  • The Juggernaut: The Fury. Not even universal annihilation will keep it from hunting its target.
  • Kangaroo Court: Saturnyne's trial has her accused of failing in her mission to preserve the omniverse and sentenced to death. The judge abiding the sentence is Mandragon... who also happens to be the prosecutor, and her successor if she is found guilty. He notably destroys Earth-238, which while preserving the omniverse, erased all possibility of her even defending herself. Captain Britain (our one) gets fed up, and simply busts her out, fleeing back to his world with her.
  • Killer Robot: The Fury.
  • Loophole Abuse: The Fury being programmed to kill all superhumans, is also forbidden to do the same to James Jaspers. However, this only applies to the James Jaspers of Earth-238. The Fury has no problem targeting the 616 Jaspers.
  • Master Computer: Mastermind.
  • Mauve Shirt: Tom Lennox, Betsy Braddock's companion.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Anyone calling himself Slaymaster is not a guy you want to be around. Regardless of how pleasant he seems to be. There's also Mandragon, and Saturnyne is something of this.
  • Nightmare of Normality: During their final showdown, Mad Jim Jaspers plunges Captain Britain into a world in which he's been in a coma for years and all his adventures were just dreams... and then awakens him from it just as quickly, just to mess with his opponent's head.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Jim Jaspers owes much of his look and mannerisms to actor Terry-Thomas, who made a career out of playing upper-class English cads.
  • No-Sell:
    • Saturnyne's Avant Guard turn their umbrella-beams on The Fury. Which has absolutely no effect.
    • The Fury has multiple sensory capabilities, but Zeitgeist no-sells them all. Even as he is phasing through the Fury's body and ripping chunks of it away, the Fury is absolutely unable to detect him.
  • Parasol of Pain: The Avant Guard use umbrellas that fire energy beams.
  • Perpetually Protean: Downplayed. When Mad Jim Jaspers finally reveals himself as the Reality Warper behind the ongoing apocalypse, his hat keeps changing to fit his mood - and given how demented Jaspers is, he ends up wearing something new on every single panel. Later played straight in the case of his main universe counterpart - who in one scene shapeshifts from a giant-sized version of himself, his ordinary size, The Grim Reaper, the Devil, a stereotypical Sadist Teacher and a farmer driving a combine harvester.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Mad Jim Jaspers. Given time, he could render the world virtually uninhabitable, eventually expanding this to the entire universe.
  • Police State: It's implied that the Great Britain of Earth-238 had become one. The same eventually began happening on Earth-616 during Sir James Jaspers' premiership.
  • Private Military Contractors: The Special Executive. Zeitgeist takes it the most seriously; he seems to find it morally repugnant to fight a battle he's not getting paid for.
  • Psycho for Hire: Slaymaster, who had been hired by the Vixen to kill all former members of STRIKE's Psi Division.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: Saturnyne's Avant Guard; The Crazy Gang; Special Executive.
  • Reality Warper: Mad Jim Jaspers. An extremely powerful one at that too.
  • Sacrificial Lion: Jackdaw.
  • Sanity Slippage: Captain Britain experiences this when he's brought back by Merlin, seeing visions of his dead parents, and his past. It's assumed that he Came Back Wrong. However, it turns out to be Mastermind manipulating him.
  • Save the Villain: Special Executive infiltrate Braddock Manor believing that they must abduct Captain Britain, and get into a fight with him. When they clarify that they've been sent by someone who knows him and needs his help, Captain Britain is a lot more compliant and asks who this 'friend' is. After it is revealed that it was Saturnyne who asked for him. Captain Britain is so furious that they are forced to incapacitate him to take him to Otherworld as a witness in Saturnyne's trial.
  • Shapeshifter Showoff Session: Shortly after the two of them successfully return Captain Britain to his home dimension, Roma demands to know why Merlin doesn't just show himself and explain things, if only to spare poor old Brian Braddock a great deal of pain. Merlin cheekily asks "which self?" and abruptly shifts between no less than five different forms over the next few panels; among them are a malevolent-looking sorcerer, a benevolent druid-like figure, and even a giant anthropomorphic spider... all to drive home the fact that Merlin may be Captain Britain's benefactor, but he's also a Shapeshifting Trickster.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: Jackdaw and Dimples are promptly killed off when the Fury makes its first appearance.
  • Smug Smiler: Mandragon smiles almost all the way through Saturnyne's Kangaroo Court trial, because the deck is stacked so completely in his favor.
  • Superman Stays Out of Gotham: During the whole Jaspers saga, the absence of the X-Men is... rather conspicuous. They dealt with a reality-warping mutant named Proteus only over a year before in real-life. Here's one creating chaos all over Britain, and that's before he starts actually using his powers to mess with reality. You'd think that they give the Captain Britains (both Brian and Linda) a hand. Guess that they only go to Britain to help out Moira in Muir Island, but never down in London.
  • Supporting Protagonist: Truth be told, this story is as much about Linda McQuillan, aka Captain UK, as it is about Captain Britain - for her, the events are far more personal.
  • Transformation Discretion Shot: Late in the story, Vixen makes an ill-advised attempt to assassinate her former ally Mad Jim Jaspers following his descent into reality-warping madness, only for Jaspers to retaliate by turning her into a fox (in other words, a real vixen). Instead of showing the transformation in full view - as was the case with Vixen's unfortunate henchmen - the scene is displayed through two panels of Jaspers seen from Vixen's point of view as she shrinks down, then a third-person view of Jaspers bending over to pick her up; in the fourth panel, we finally see the now-transformed Vixen being cuddled helplessly in Jaspers' arms.
  • Taunting the Transformed: Shortly after revealing his true nature as a Reality Warper, Mad Jim Jaspers unleashes his powers on the Vixen after she attempts to betray him, transforming her into a fox. He can be seen gleefully cuddling her and singing "A Four-Legged Friend" immediately afterwards.
  • Tuneless Song of Madness: Prime Minister James Jaspers finally unveils himself by hitting 10 Downing Street with a reality warp that transforms the Vixen into a fox - all while singing "A Four-Legged Friend."
  • Unseen No More: Vixen, whose gang opposed Captain Britain in some of the first Captain Britain Weekly stories, finally makes an appearance herself.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Played with, but ultimately subverted with Saturyne. She's manipulative, yes. But she's also doing a job that sometimes requires not-so-nice choices, to maintain stability in the omniverse. She at least thanked Captain Britain for helping her accomplish her mission. Which mind you, was to make a world a more ideal place until Mad Jim Jaspers screwed with reality. And she was sentenced to death. She also got Captain UK to find the fighting spirit hidden within her again. Pretty much being Majestrix of the Developmental Dimensional Court requires ruthlessness and a thirst for power as personality traits.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: James Jaspers used his reality-warping a few times too many, and quickly went insane as a result. This is true in both Earth-238 and Earth-616. Considering that he could bend a universe to his whim by thinking about it, it's not surprising that he went crazy.
  • World Gone Mad: What the Jaspers Warp does to reality. Apparently, with enough reality-warping by Jaspers, the universe becomes irreparable. Earth-238 was considered a lost cause and destroyed simply to prevent it from spreading.
  • Your Worst Memory: Linda McQuillan is badly traumatized by the murder of her friends at the hands of the Fury, and her very first appearance features her reliving the experience in her nightmares.


Alternative Title(s): The Daredevils, A Crooked World

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