Written by Paul Cornell
Illustrated by Jimmy BroxtonThe Joker is going to kill all British heroes, and he’s going to make Jarvis Poker watch. The Knight and Squire and their whole community have to stand together — or lose everything — as a chill wind blows through their cozy world.
This is it. Staff and fan favorite title Knight and Squire has reached it’s final issue, and the Joker has come to rain chaos down on merry ol’ England.
So as this jolly good series comes to a close, how does the finale play out? Find out after the cut.
This is by far the worst issue of Knight and Squire. Why? Because it’s the last issue. Paul Cornell has proven in between this and Action Comics that he is quite a catch on DC’s side, and it’s such an absolute shame that this is the last issue of Knight and Squire we’re going to see for quite some time. Knight and Squire, in it’s six issue, has managed to be the perfect pairing to Morrison’s Batman Inc, and if anything deserves the ferverent fan outcry for an ongoing in the same way that Batman Beyond had.
See, Knight and Squire is essentially pure fun. In many ways, this comic actually follows the same set up as Cornell’s Wisdom mini did at Marvel. It established the DC UK community (which, let’s be honest, is severely lacking) and with five issues told five different one shot stories before culminating in the sixth which established the heroic community overseas as a viable one with 130 new characters, designed under the great pen of Jimmy Broxton. What other comic from DC – let alone Marvel – goes out of it’s way to establish a whole new culture within a fictional universe? And how sad it is to know that some of these characters may never be seen again. Jarvis Poker would have been a fantastic character to see pop up in other places, despite his untimely demise, and who wouldn’t have liked to see the collective adventures of Leatherchap, Fork, Bayfrentos, Bullfinch, Doctor Retina, Hilt, The Hooded Hoodie, Spangle, and more? To be honest, as much as Action Comics starring Lex Luthor is fantastic, I’d rather see Cornell on a DC UK ongoing. It’s sad to think that our trips with these assorted characters are at an end.
Suffice it to say however, Cornell and Broxton knock it out of the park for the last issue. Cornell has been inserting the entire series with the best of British humor, mixing some of the most insane elements of BBC hits like the Mighty Boosh with his own superheroic style. Even when Cornell was writing the Marvel British sect, he had a very distinct flair for sarcastic humor that is often present in most British comedy. This issue in particular has a lot of great moments, including Ally the Cat’s demise (which featured him “pinned to a tin roof that was then heated beyond survivable levels”) and Kryptonite Fritters (you’ll believe a man can fry!). The book is also hilariously self referential in that Cornell knows this is the first book published by an American company overtly not made for American audiences, as not only evidenced by the annotations in the back, but the following line for the only major American character to make an appearance:
I’m getting SO tired of double meanings and wordplay and things one just implicitly understands. Could you people PLEASE just say what you mean?! You know. Like us YANKS do?
So no, the book wasn’t made for people in America, and maybe that’s why this mini hasn’t gotten the same treatment others have. However, if there ever were a chance for Knight and Squire to live on beyond this mini, it’s one that we as comic fans should embrace. It’s one thing for a comic to come out from a company like DC and work with characters who stand on their own with no interaction with DC proper (Xombi, for example, or THUNDER Agents), but few creators legitimately try to create new characters to help inhabit these massive universes. While some never truly get the chance to shine (The Great Ten, anyone?), it’s still important that fans embrace them while they can, especially when so many people clamor for a more diverse cast of supers.
Continued belowThat’s why this is the worst issue of Knight and Squire. Who do Cornell and Broxton think they are, creating this universe only to just now walk away? What’s all this about, eh? If you ask me, it’s one thing to write a mini series that is ultimately long box fodder, but it’s another to write a fantastic mini that is infinitely re-readable within a massive universe (away from the creator owned world) only to have it be a mini. How rude is it to us fans to take the time to create such a fun universe of characters, only to then end it with a hug and a smile? Very rude, that’s how.
Which I suppose is a round about way of saying: this was one of the top comics of the week, and you’d be rather foolish not to get it for your collection. If you didn’t follow the series, go back and find the issues (it can’t be that hard), or at the very least, get the trade in the summer. Your comic collection deserves this book.
Final Verdict: 9.7 – Buy
