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[The Australian Panther]

Well, the  New Marvel 'British' Superhero Team comic has just been published.

The Union. 

Its writtem by, of all people, Paul Grist. 
Penciled by Paul grist and Andrea De vito
Not recognizable at all as Paul Grist's usual style.

Here are the characters.   

Britannia [Female] [Captain America/Wonderwoman]
Union Jack
Well those two figure.
And then we have :- Wait for it! 
The Choir [female] - Welsh/  Voice power
Kelpie Female [Water powers] Scotland? [In Australia a kelpie is a dog. Just sayin.]
and
Snakes - Irish ? [Power unknown] [Maybe he just disappears things. Buy issue two to find out.
They are 'sponsored' by a businessman, ala Max Lord, who goes by Steve Darwin and is reminiscent of Richard Branson.
So, not the lineup as originally proposed. Maybe Paul Grist had a hand in those decisions. He's the reason I'd keep an eye on this title.

   

On-line comment

I mean, seriously: where's Wisdom? Where's Brian Braddock, Meggan, Dane Whitman, Death's Head, Faiza Hussain (wielder of Excalibur), Blade, hell, even Lionheart? I'm a long time Marvel geek and aside from Union Jack, I have no clue who any of these people are... and they haven't done a very good job of making me care about them, either.

Some of those characters are busy elsewhere in Marvel. If they series has legs, you would expect some of them to turn up in this comic eventually.

Comments?
   

[Florian R. Guillon]

Pete Wisdom and the Braddocks are currently used in the X titles.

[misappear]

I got to page 16 and gave up.  I think they should be paying ?The Boys? creators a royalty. 

[paw broon]

Holy mascarponi, it's all very unimaginative. 
As for Kelpies, these are they
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Kelpie/
http://www.visitfalkirk.com/things-to-do/family-days-out/the-kelpies/

I've only read a review and seen a couple of pages.  That might be enough for me.

[Captain Audio]

Holy mascarponi, it's all very unimaginative. 
As for Kelpies, these are they
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Kelpie/
http://www.visitfalkirk.com/things-to-do/family-days-out/the-kelpies/

I've only read a review and seen a couple of pages.  That might be enough for me.

I prefer the myth of the Selkie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie

I'm of the opinion that most myths have a root in real life events.
The female Selkie shedding her seal skin and becoming a land dweller and wife to a human may be an allusion to northern sea folk, perhaps Eskimo or Norse. Seal skin cloaks were common wear of Norsemen during the time of Beowulf, later wool cloaks became preferred. Seal skin was about the only material the Eskimo had available, at least for those who spent almost all their time hunting on the ice cap or at sea.
If you read Beowulf closely the description of Grendel's mother as an old Sea Wolf would suggest she was a polar bear. The Norse and early dwellers in Britain considered bears to be a form of wolf. Beowulf in fact means "Bee Bear" or Honey Bear.
Beowulf may be in part based on a Norse hunter's tale of dealing with a rampaging Polar Bear. In the 70's sunken fortresses that match the description of the lair of Grendel and his mother began to be found as water levels dropped in lakes in that region.

I suspect the legends of Were Wolves could be based on the Norse and Germanic tradition of Outlawry of those who had slain another of their people and could not or would not pay the "weregild" settlement to the family of the deceased. The outlaw was declared a "Wolf's Head" and any man could kill him on sight without legal consequences.

[The Australian Panther]

Captain Audio,

I'm of the opinion that most myths have a root in real life events.

I like your thinking.
Thank you for a very informative post.

NB, if we apply that thinking to all myths and legends, and I think we should, we can end up with some very controversial conclusions.

We should never imagine that our ancestors were more ignorant and stupid than we are today. But they did lack the framework to understand and explain things,  that we have now.

Cheers!   

[paw broon]

Captain, just as long as you're not suggesting the Scots legend is wrong. In Scots lore, that is what a Kelpie is.  It's one of our myths/legends.
In the Arthur Askey film, Back Room Boy, the Kelpie on the island is depicted as a female siren, luring boats/sailors to their doom.

[Andrew999]

The same is true in Cornwall - the original rather fearsome water horse, a huge sea snake in effect, has become mollified into a mermaid (Lenora) off the coast enticing fishermen.

We know little of the oceans, surprisingly, and sightings of sea snakes are relatively common. Here are some chosen at random:

In 1846 Captain Christmas of the Danish Navy reported sighting "an enormous, long-necked beast pursuing a school of dolphins" somewhere between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. He described the creature as having a horse-like head and a neck as thick as a man's waist "moving gracefully like a swan's".
On 6 August 1848 an officer of the Royal Navy corvette HMS Daedalus noticed an unusual looking animal swimming towards the ship. It was said to look similar to a sea serpent with a 1.2-metre-long (4 ft) neck. Its head was about 38 or 41 cm (15 or 16 in) long. It was reported to have no visible fins/flippers or tail, and it had what appeared to be a horsy mane on its neck with seaweed washed over its back.
In late 1883, two horse-headed beasts, one of them smaller than the other (suggesting or implying a juvenile), were reported off the southern coast of Panama. The crew of the American whaler Hope On reported seeing a 6-metre-long (20 ft) creature submerge. It was brownish coloured with black speckles and four legs/flippers with a tail "that seemed to be divided into two parts" (implying the whale-like tail appearance) and all four limbs and tail were exposed when it reached the surface. A second creature that looked just like it only much smaller tagged along behind it. In the same year, a sighting of a similar looking creature occurred in the Bristol Channel. This creature was reported as leaving behind a greasy slug/snail-like trail.

[Captain Audio]

Captain, just as long as you're not suggesting the Scots legend is wrong. In Scots lore, that is what a Kelpie is.  It's one of our myths/legends.
In the Arthur Askey film, Back Room Boy, the Kelpie on the island is depicted as a female siren, luring boats/sailors to their doom.

Kelpie, Selkie and Mer Folk are all separate mostly unrelated creatures of myth. They are all shape shifters but with very different motivations, strengths and weaknesses.

[paw broon]

I knew something was annoying me.  Kelpie was an ongoing strip in Wham, around '65.  Kelpie The Boy Wizard was drawn by John Burns.
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-new-year-wham-1965.html
Original, eh?
You'd have thought Marvel might have checked.  I assume they weren't bothered.

[The Australian Panther]

Doesn't look too bad. Do you know if there is a collection somewhere?

Cheers1