Review by Win Wiacek

Diving straight into the business of saving our Green and Pleasant Land from the magical nasties released in Secret Invasion, the multiracial, multi-species, multi-purpose super-team promptly head out to England’s Black Country to tackle an invasion of wish-granting demons. Are they are worse threat than the team’s uniquely unpleasant boss Pete Wisdom?

Just to avoid confusion on the part of North American readers, the Birmingham in question is not the town way down in Alabam’, but Britain’s second largest city, one very rarely seen in comics despite that status.

Mutant spymaster Wisdom marshalls the regular team of Black Knight, Spitfire, Dr. Faiza Hussain and the good Captain Britain, here supplemented by local hero Captain Midlands and the spooky “Big Gun” Blade the Vampire Slayer. You may have forgotten he’s actually British, but writer Paul Cornell hasn’t. They unite here to save the day in a brilliantly traditional adventure that we just don’t see enough of these days, but with enough twists and turns to keep the most jaded fan fully occupied. Cleverly, almost the entire story takes place in an apartment block, which is experiencing a demonic invasion.

Patrick Olliffe draws the prologue, and Mike Collins contributes briefly to the finale, but main pencil artist Leonard Kirk isn’t best served by having six different inkers work on his pages.

This thoroughly entertaining and satisfying yarn balances drama with wit and tragedy with triumph that will have you hungry for more long before the shock “big reveal” on the final page leading into Vampire State.