Battle of Britain (comic story)
Battle of Britain was a the second long-form comic in “Issue 3” of the Tales To Behold subseries of the webcomic The Cosmic Beholder. Written and drawn by Paul Hoppe, it was released both in webcomic form and in a limited print run.
It continued to feature “Jenny Everywhere” (really Jenny Nowhere posing as her) as part of Captain Evening's team of superheroes, the Odds.
Contents
Plot
Returning from a “conference for scientific geniuses”, Professor Madison and Rodney Rabbit find the Fortress of Evening empty. A phone call from Captain Evening soon explains that he and the rest of the Odds are on their way to England, having been tasked with dealing with an “odd” situation (a city being menaced by Insect People. He asks her and Rodney to house-sit for them in the meantime.
The Odds arrive at their destination to find a huge anthill overlooking the city, and Chief Inspector Dennis of Scotland Yard waiting for them. She explains that the Insect People are not barbarous or uncivilised, but have been joining human society and being purposefully as rude and irritating as possible, down to their leader refusing to answer phone calls or emails. The Odd climb and enter the giant hill, only to find a large airport-style waiting room with a cordoned maze. When they grow frustrated with the labyrinthine waiting line and try to move straight past, the Odds are attacked by the insect guards. During the scuffle, the Captain gets a phone call from Madison, asking for his and the Odds' help at the Nexus of Realities; he tells her to instead activate a program on his computer to summon some of his non-Odd allies, before carrying on with the fight.
Smashing into the office marked “management”, the Odds confront of the leader of the insect people, Insecto, who confesses that his plan is to annoy humanity in non-illegal ways until they abandon the city to the Insects out of sheer aggravation. Playing on his ego, Jenny convinces Insecto to instead try the democratic method and put himself forward as mayor. He is promptly defeated in a landslide election by a human candidate, in a large part because he had failed to take into account the fact that his Insect People are not legal citizens of the city and do not in fact have the right to vote.
Despite Chief Inspector Dennis hurrying them home, the Odds decide to extend their vacation in the U.K. a little longer with Merv the Griffin feeling that something isn't right.
Worldbuilding
Universes
- This story takes place entirely in Reality Z-25 31-H.
Other
- The Captain bemoans that he wasn't allowed to take his Skycycle with him on the plane to England.
Continuity
- The opening caption box explains Professor Madison and Rodney Rabbit's absence from “the Armagedda incident”, referencing the events of COMIC: Redistribution.
- Jenny restates that her powers are “totally drained” following the same, something she first claimed in COMIC: Shower Intermission.
- Jenny also recalls how Glow Girl turned down an offer to join the Odds, as occurred in COMIC: Glow Girl!.
- It is revealed that this story takes place concurrently with COMIC: Singularity War, showing the other end of the phone call from that story where Madison tried to get the Odds' help at the Nexus of Realities.
- COMIC: Encore follows directly from the events of this story.
Behind the scenes
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the London Metropolitan Police, indicating that Chief Inspector Dennis is showing them a situation in the Greater London area. However, the story never explicitly says so.
Read online
Battle of Britain is available online on the Cosmic Beholder blog.
