It's a Black Knight/New Excalibur themed post.Well, don't everybody squeal with excitement at once.
- From reading Avengers #264 (one of the first comics I got, and the first appearence of the lady Yellowjacket), I know Dane Whitman spent five or six years in the 13th century fighting in the Crusades. So I'm wondering, did he pass the sword on to the someone while he was there? I mean, the Ebony Blade gets passed from teacher to student right? So did he have the opportunity to teach someone, then leave the sword there, so he could receive at whatever point in the future it was he got it?
- Is the Ebony Blade a family thing? If so, that might raise the question of whether Dane - like Philip J. Fry - is one of his own ancestors. Must have had a least a little time for relaxation, and by understanding the concept of bathing, he'd probably have a leg up on all the other blokes.
- On second thought, let's not raise that question. Sorry.
- Idle artistic note. On page 10 of this issue, Sir Percy is wielding both Excalibur and the Ebony Blade. I think it's kind of amusing that in his right hand, he holds a sword with his pinky extended. I kind of figured that was a later cultural trait for beverages, not something you'd see in the 6th century. Or is there a practical reason to do that when holding a sword, similar to how when you punch someone, you shouldn't have your thumb tucked inside your fist?
- Second idle artistic note. Sage has these lines, one from the outer corner of each eye, that curves down and around the outside of her cheek to her jawline. So what's up with that? Could just be some weird idea of makeup, but that doesn't seem much like her style. Knowing her it probably hides some top-secret nano-tech scanning/info retrieval devices. I can't remember if she had them in X-treme X-Men, but she's had them pretty much in every issue of New Excalibur Michael Ryan has drawn.
- Last thing. Reading Thor #400, Black Knight's there helping the Asgardians fight Seth (the Serpent God of Death) and his forces, while Thor fights Surtur. Except partway through, Black Knight falls to the ground completely stiff, because of some curse bond between his sword and the armor(?). Apparently he'd spilled so much blood he'd become a manifestation of the sword.
From this I can tell you two things: 1) For Black Knight to be able to get in the middle of a fight between gods, and hold his own means he's pretty cool. Or can be, which is why I'm kind of hopeful he joins Excalibur. 2) The curse lead to one of the coolest things ever, when Hogun the Grim, realizing that Black Knight is now as indestructible as his sword, throws him like a javelin at Giant Serpent Version Seth, with the Knight going completely through his head. I'd say that's cold, but hey, that's just how Hogun rolls, son.
- I do wonder how they fixed that curse though.
5 comments:
I remember the curse as well, but can't get my head around when it was lifted.
But the Black Knight is cool; I believe he was created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema in the Silver Age.
The only time I thought he sucked was when he sported stubble and a lightsabre and helped Marvel wreck the Ultraverse.
Another great "innovation" from the '90s.
fortress: Ah yes, the "leather jacket/5 o'clock shadow/photonic sword" years.
Truly a high point.
Dane had the Ebony Sword for quite a while after he came back to the Modern Day. But he was always worried the 'curse' would manifest itself and turn him into Elric or something ("I've got this feelin'... that my luck is not so good... this sword here at my side don't feel the way it should... keeps callin' me it's master, but I feel like it's slave... hurlin' me, faster and faster to an early early grave...") so eventually he put it away and started running around with the lightsabre and the antigrav 'horse'.
Oddly, WizKids seems to have combined two eras with their Black Knight figure; he has the Wundagorian hoverbike thing, but he also has the Black Blade. Go figure.
I liked the bomber jacket era of AVENGERS. It was like reading some really bizarre version of the Champions, with all those hosers in the team, but I thought the jackets looked good. Pity Steve Epting was drawing with a sign post back then.
highlander: well, I'd guess that's a pretty good reason to dump an 'invincible ebony blade'.
Yeah. When your sword howls like hell and was forged a billion years ago, and tells you it's your duty to fight against the law, that wizardry's your trade, and you were born to wade through gore... that would be time to dump the fucker. Definitely.
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