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Book of the Week: Knight And Squire #1

By | October 14th, 2010
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Written by Paul Cornell with art by Jimmy Broxton

Just as Gotham City has Batman and Robin, London has Knight and Squire — the British heroes and frequent allies of The Dark Knight! In a secret bar within the city where peace is kept magically, heroes and villains gather to enjoy a pint and talk about their day. But what happens when the magical barriers that disallow fighting are dropped and a building full of heroes and villains confront each other all at once? Knight and Squire have to keep the peace and save both friend and foe in this 6-issue miniseries from hot writer Paul Cornell (ACTION COMICS, Captain Britain and MI:13) and up-and-coming artist Jimmy Broxton (THE UNWRITTEN).

What did we at Multiversity think of the first issue of Paul Cornell’s latest (and hopefully greatest) foray into British superheroes? Check behind the cut!

Matt’s Thoughts: If there is one thing in this life that I love without question about 90% of the time, chances are that something came out of Britain. Such is the case of Knight and Squire, and such is the case with Paul Cornell. Of course, when you give us an entire issue devoted to the world overseas, then you pretty much have a shoe-in candidate for book of the week.

That’s precisely what the first issue of this mini is. Grant Morrison redefined Knight and Squire, but Paul Cornell is already coming in and really making something of it. Specifically, he’s bringing the same love of the UK that he had with Wisdom and Captain Britain and transferring it here into an entirely hilarious romp through a knight at a hero pub. Now, DC does not have a large cast of popular British characters. In fact, to be honest almost every DC hero that has a major starring role in comics today was born in the states. So having a comic entirely centered around an evening in England means a lot of new faces, and a lot of culture jokes.

One might think that, to a certain extent, a lot of the comic’s humor would be lost on American audiences. To be honest, I can see that happening. In the same way that a book like Phonogram lost me with a couple obscure references, there are some things about this that I simply did not get. What’s important to note, however, is that despite all of this the comic made for an enjoyable read throughout. It’s a rather hilarious comic, and the language used is wonderful. I like reading Brit comics, and Paul Cornell is the only writer at DC right now who really wants to share his life with the unfamiliar American audience, to the point a glossary is needed in the back of the issue! And that? That my friends is pure awesome.

At the end of the day, it’s a book that focuses less on the snarky wit of the Brit’s and rather excels in the category of pure satire, except the satire is more on us. I love that it’s not a book that you have to read seriously, yet it still features a good set of action at the end. Knight and Squire will become a popular duo quite soon, I can tell, and I can hope that DC decides to do more with them and with Paul Cornell, because he’s probably one of the best assets they have right now.

David’s Thoughts: Paul Cornell’s star has been rising recently thanks to his run on Action Comics, but he’s more than just that. His work on Wisdom was what first drew me in, and his work on Captain Britain and MI:13 just continued my adoration of his work. The former series is more similar in tone to Knight and Squire, but I’d say this: if you’re a fan of either of those series, odds are you’ll like this book.

This book springs from the pages of the Bat-books, and it finds Knight and Squire out for superhero night at a bar called The Time in a Bottle (which, according to Rich Johnston, actually hosts an evening for comic writers, not the characters they write). Thanks to something called Truce Magic, it is impossible for the heroes and villains that proliferate the bar to harm each other, and it also manages to send everyone who comes in far away so they can’t go outside and harm each other. It makes the dynamic in the bar one that is very intriguing and fun, possessing a real energy that Cornell takes advantage of. His plot is Squire walking a new villain to the bar through the characters that are there, in the mean time giving us a rundown as well. The characters that Cornell creates are massively entertaining, and I love to see him include Wildcat (from the JSA) in the mix. I love how Cornell depicts all of the heroes and villains gravitating towards Wildcat – it seems logical that the American heroes would be very esteemed given their high profile exploits.

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Cornell does a phenomenal job, as he quickly makes me care and be interested in this list of characters I’ve never really cared about. Squire has a ton of personality, and Knight is quiet but a good pairing with the more vivacious Squire. The other characters, like Jarvis Poker (the British Joker who doesn’t understand the humor in violence but enjoys the Clown Prince’s style), are fantastic creations by Cornell and Broxton, and I love looking in the background for little things that Broxton hides in the corners. His art is a sharp fit, as it is very lively and reminiscent of Terry Dodson (but in a way that is significantly more focused without losing the energy).

While I can’t recommend this book entirely because it is, for all intents and purposes, a book that has no purpose whatsoever, it is a well crafted and entertaining read. If you’ve liked Cornell’s writing in the past, this is definitely a worthy pick up, especially with the very capable Broxton teaming up with him.

Gil’s Thoughts: I mean that in the best possible way, but this book was also not what I was expecting. That part isn’t so good. I know it’s not fair to put my expectations on a writer to deliver exactly what I expect, but while I was expecting a mystery set in London or Great Britain in general, we got a one off story set in a pub where violence is expressly forbidden, by magical decree. But somehow this spell is interrupted and pandemonium breaks out in the bar.

Sure it’s fun, but I would expect this to be a one-off after a big arc or mini like the one we should be getting. Perhaps this is what Cornell is going for, however; creating a universe in the DCU’s England, giving it a new characters in the arc while having one-offs that are meant to be a lot of fun. I just hope issue two helps me connect a little more.

I’m just glad it’s not nearly as dark as Batman; or as sketchy as another Knight & Squire created by another writer from the British Isles. I’m talking about the pedophiliac satire created by Garth Ennis of course.

Josh’s Thoughts: Oh British humor (or rather, humour), I understand you only about half the time, but love you almost 100% of the time. There’s no sense in trying to avoid it, this is a VERY British comic book…not entirely surprising given that it stars British characters, takes place in England and is written by a prominent British writer. Which isn’t to say that it doesn’t or can’t appeal to those on this side of the pond, far from it…though there was a SLIGHT bit lost in translation.

To make something clear right now, I pre-ordered this book…and I literally NEVER pre-order mini-series’ right from the start. If anything, I usually buy the first issue or two and THEN put my name down for the long haul…but not this time, this time I signed on as soon as I heard the book was coming out. And why, do you ask? Two simple words: Paul Cornell. The phenomenal work he did on Wisdom and Captain Britain over at Marvel and with his current Action Comics run at DC combined with the fact that he would be working with his native mythology and characters created by Grant Morrison was more than enough to pique my interest. So…does the first issue meet my admittedly high expectations? In short: more or less.

My main gripe is that, effectively, nothing really happens. We’re introduced to a sliver of K&S’s world through the eyes of a neophyte character, get the condensed backstory of England’s super hero/villain community (including a wonderful Joker knockoff named Jarvis Poker who views committing crimes as dreary), a fight ensues, K&S save the day and the issue ends. That’s it.

But honestly? That was enough.

The charm oozing out of this book is infectious, as Cornell channels fellow brits Benny Hill and the Monty Python crew to inject some very traditional avant garde funnies into the book. On top of that, he also delves into a fair bit of the intriguing mysticism and mystic content that he’s been known for throughout the years, creating a surprisingly self contained story that leaves you curious for more, but doesn’t LEAD into anything else, at least on the surface. Frankly, if this book turns out to be six one shot adventures of Knight and Squire and they are all written with the same wit and bravado, I will be pleased as punch.

On the art side, I can’t help but feel that Jimmy Broxton had a helluva lot of fun creating some of the characters appearing in this issue, as the designs are just silly and self-indulgent enough to work. His line work is crisp and his proportions are correct…ultimately, he draws a GOOD super-hero reminiscent of Frank Quietly or Cameron Stewart. I can’t find any info whatsoever about him or his past works online, but something tells me given the consistency of his work, that we’ll be seeing a lot of him moving forward.

So that’s that, one issue in the can of what promises to be a thoroughly entertaining, if not entire coherent, miniseries. I wonder what manner of hijinks we’ll get next month? Til then, cheers!


Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

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