Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent Series, But One Big Complaint... .
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2016
A stalwart member of The Avengers, the Black Knight's true identity is Dane Whitman. However, Dane Whitman -the current Black Knight-- is not the only Black Knight. There have been at least four earlier Black Knights, and not all were heroes. Some chose to be villains (like Dane Whitman's predecessor and Uncle) and others were driven insane by the magical weapon of the Black Knight: the Ebony Blade. The Ebony Blade started out as a very cool concept: a magic sword forged from a meteorite by Merlin the Magician. However, as the decades passed, Marvel writers attached a "Blood Curse" to the blade which would make the current user eventually go insane if he ever used the blade to shed blood. Fantasy fans will no doubt see a little thievery in this last development, taken directly from Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone and Elric's own "Black Blade" Stormbringer. Blame it on Roy Thomas, who detailed the curse in an earlier Black Knight miniseries. The Ebony Blade then became both the Mcguffin and the Deux Ex Machina of many Black Knight stories. It plays a similar role in this miniseries.
Marvel Comics' "Black Knight" character has a checkered past when it comes to being given his own series, with the majority of them having a hard time focusing on Dane Whitman without delving too far into the past and bringing in other Black Knights. This was especially true of Roy Thomas' previous series focusing on the Black Knight. The series of comics collected in this volume, written by Frank Tieri, has no such problem. Yes, Sir Percy (the first Black Knight) appears in spirit form, but he is a character in Dane Whitman's world, not a character in confusing flashbacks. Tieri does an excellent job focusing on Dane Whitman, but pulls in all the old Black Knight lore and weaves a very well-conceived and linear tale.
The artwork by penciller Luca Pizzari and inkers Kev Walker and Antonio Fabela is excellent and conveys the mysteries and wonders of Dane Whitman's section of "Weirdworld." Tieri has really hit it out of the park by transplanting the Black Knight into Weirdworld: a world that is medieval yet modern; an environment perfect for Marvel's first swashbuckler. The stories focus on Dane and his relationship to the Ebony Blade, but also his desire to use his position as Black Knight to do something good, even if it must be in an environment that is far from normal Earth. Dane appears as someone who has chosen to self-exile himself and is dedicated to bringing order and justice to his section of Weirdworld, no matter who gets in his way, even his old friends in The Avengers.
Tieri weaves a complex and compelling tale that will entertain comic fans in general and fans of the Black Knight in particular. I heartily recommend this series to fans of Marvel, especially fans of the old-school, "Non-Compressed" storytelling. I do, however, have one big complaint. In this collection, Marvel chose to include a standalone tale from "Original Sins" #2 featuring the Black Knight that was printed long before the five-part "The Fall of Dane Whitman" storyline. The story from "Original Sins" is good, but has nothing to do with the ending of Tieri's "The Fall...". So why did Marvel choose to place the story AFTER "The Fall..." storyline in this collection? To the reader, this makes it seem that the satisfying ending of "The Fall..." is not really the end. Let me assure you that it is. The story from "Original Sins" would have been better suited BEFORE "The Fall..." to provide more Black Knight backstory for the benefit of new readers.
So, just one big complaint that has nothing to do with the series itself, just a "heads up" to sufficiently address the correct chronology of the events contained in this collection. The series itself is excellent and well worth purchasing.
