After an excellent first volume, Paul Cornell doesn't drop the ball as he heads into this series' second (and penultimate) installment. Hell comes to Birmingham, as MI13 tries to combat the various demons unleashed by Pete Wisdom's actions in the first volume. Cornell's character work is excellent-- one story in, and I already like and care about the Black Knight, Spitfire, Faiza, and the rest-- I'd really like to catch up on some of the older stories involving these characters. The only lowpoint is the subplot featuring Captain Britain himself: though it gave me some previously unknown insight into his character, a person being tempted by a lost loved one in a dream sequence pretty much has a no-brainer resolution. Or does it, given the way that both this story and Captain Midlands' ends? (What does Cornell have against his Rudiments of Wisdom characters anyway?) I would be remiss to not mention Leonard Kirk's artwork, which continues to be effortlessly brilliant and attractive.

831