Live and Let Dai…

Welcome to part 3 of

In a look back at some of the history being unveiled in this fantastic Alan Davis Strip…

We will take a closer look at Chief Inspector Dai Thomas

Dai Was created By Chris Claremont and Tony DeZuniga his first actual appearance was inside Marvel Preview #3 along with Blade the Vampire Slayer

Claremont liked the character enough that he carried him over to his very short lived run of Captain Britain, with Dai making his debut in issue 3 : Mayhem on a Monday Morning

And Dai was immediately placed into the role of a super hero hating cop

Problem was Chris Claremont left Captain Britain before he had a chance to develop Dai any further

Dai was left cast in a one note role of hating Captain Britain, the only attempt at development was the later introduction of Dai's Nephew who Captain Britain saved, but still Dai did not change

You could almost say the song "Live and Let Die" was written for him..

Dai was welsh in his first name only, there was never any explanation given as to how he would be working in London for the Metropolitan Police or any explanation or much reference to any of his heritage or history

In this comic by Alan Davis, Dai is given a great deal of character development, he is a real living person within these pages and we can understand how he feels and why its more profound when Dai's anger is left mostly unspoken

But at the same time everything that anyone could have known about Dai is unchanged (note how Dai's superiors clearly mention Dai's antipathy towards super-heroes as obsessive) and yet its clear that this is just a starting point and the promise for the character in the future is very strong

We see the story and the history in part very much through Dai's eyes, so we understand him much better

NEXT WEEK: I will discuss Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock