(Panini)

THINGS have gone very wrong indeed… The mad mutant MP James Jaspers has transformed the UK into a military state where superheroes are hunted down and executed and the general population live in a state of oppression - shivering, hungry and scared. Meanwhile, the unstoppable Fury has returned, the same creature which previously killed Captain Britain and survived the destruction of an entire universe.

Although the Captain has been resurrected by the manipulative Merlyn, he has little confidence in being able to stop either his killer or Jaspers, even with the support of the time-travelling Special Executive.

But as he proves time and time again, Captain Britain is a hero, and he will never surrender. Thus the pieces are set in place for the greatest, most desperate battle of his career, and who knows whether anyone will survive the endgame?

And even as the UK recovers from the devastating effects of the Jaspers Warp, Cap and his allies must deal with a host of new challenges, including the return of his brother Jamie, and the sudden outburst of mutant “Warpies” created by the reality-twisting effects which turned the country inside out.

This fifth volume of CB strips collects his final solo stories from the pages of Mighty World of Marvel and Captain Britain Monthly, produced by a who’s who of comics legends including Alan Moore, Jamie Delano, Paul Neary and Alan Davis.

With his career as a member of X-Men spin-off Excalibur waiting in the wings, these tales truly represent the end of an era, not just for Cap, but also for Marvel’s UK offshoot, which would never again produce comics of such high quality and impact.

A fitting finale to this exceptional series of reprint graphic novels, and kudos to Panini for making the entire run available for the first time since they were originally published.