Union Jack: Clean

"Why is the first thing that you say that he's Muslim...?"

I’m afraid this episode is late- life and all that; I’ve had a few days of only being able to get online on my phone, and that’s not good for YouTube. I’m back now, though, so what of this new story arc?

Well, Vixen and Slaymaster are characters I know well from the Alan Moore and Alan Davis golden age of Captain Britain, and it’s good to see them- or rather have their presence, particularly Slaymaster’s, hanging over the episode to provide tension. I like the way Slaymaster’s coolness is slowly built up, the joke about the first thing Gavin mentioning about this “terrorist” is that he’s a Muslim, and the fact that we hear about him from two different, and probably equally reliable, narrators. Slaymaster may or may not appear (is that him Joe fights at the end?), but he hasn’t been this cool since he was leader of the Crazy Gang.

The regulars are likeable and funny as ever, too, from the banter between Joe and the long-suffering Romany to the opening scene of Joe shooting at a crude drawing of the Baroness- but it’s time for vampires to take a back seat. We also get a cautionary tale about the folly of trying to drive down in That London, but then southerners (even when one of them is sort of Mancunian but not) are all mad. But it’s all about the enigma of Slaymaster- mysterious, silent (“I love a bit of dialogue in a fight scene”) and itching for a proper introduction, which I suspect won’t be long coming.

Excellent stuff. Catch it now on YouTube.