After the cancellation of
The Black Knight in 1955 no single story with the character appeared for over twelve years.
After the demise of Atlas and the rise of Marvel, the Black Knight character was dusted off and brought back as a villain to confront Giant-Man and the Wasp in the pages of
Tales to Astonish in 1964. This Black Knight had no apparent connection to the classic Atlas version, but rather was Nathan Garrett, a scientist with criminal tendencies who used his talents to create weapons and breed a flying horse and so fashion the guise of the Knight. Later he appeared in The Avengers as a founding member of The Masters of Evil.
This Black Knight though died a few years later after a confrontation with Iron Man in the pages of
Tales of Suspense in 1966. His death left the role open, but only briefly.
Dane Whitman, a scientist too and nephew of Garrett discovers his uncles materials and continues his work along similar lines but with a different motivation. This Black Knight who debuted in the pages of
The Avengers was a hero, though the reputation as a villain served him well when the Masters of Evil recruited him. He was able to turn the tables and eventually earned a spot on the roster of the team. But not before the true origin was revealed in the pages of
Marvel Super-Heroes in 1968.
In this yarn by Roy Thomas and Howard Purcell, we discover at last that the Black Knight from Camelot does indeed connect with this more recent techno-knight. Whitman goes back to the the family castle and learns that it was his destiny as a descendant of Sir Percy of Scandia to become the Black Knight, and he gets a boon, the Ebony Sword which Merlin presented to Percy way back in the heyday of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
Modred returns too, but somewhat changed. The read this fabulous origin tale check out this
link to the habitat of the Groovy Agent .
I was aware that the Black Knight was appearing regularly in the Marvel UK comics, specifically in issues of The Hulk's comic book.
But back then getting hold of such material was not realistic. I've always wanted to read those stories and some years back Marvel reprinted them as part of their effort to put the Captain Britain stories in a more permanent form.
The Knight's story is rambling one, told in three and four page bits over the course of many weeks. His mission, his quest is a mystery but he soon enough hooks up with a stranger who is pretty much obviously an amnesiac Captain Britain. The duo stumble along for a few chapters, hooking up with a peculiar chap called "Walker". It's at this point that similarities to another great fantasy saga begin to surface in the series, specifically the Middle Earth tales of J.R.R. Tolkien.
There's no out-and-out theft of ideas, but the Knight and Britain find themselves battling elves and trolls and such, many with names which evoke the classic fantasies by Tolkien. A master villain called Necromon appears after a time as do mysterious riders and other echoes of the Tolkien mythos.
But the Black Knight's focus is on his quest which takes him ultimately into another dimension dubbed "Otherworld" where he battles against his old foe Modred, somewhat redesigned for this storyline and now a servant of Necromon. Without spoiling it too much, it's sufficient to say that eventually the Knight and his ally Captain Britain save the day as heroes ought.
It was neat to finally read this storyline, one of the few which the Black Knight was offered over the decades, at least solo. He doesn't often sound like the Black Knight I know from the U.S. appearances, his Dane Whitman identity largely ignored, but he's the Knight nonetheless.
This storyline and much much more are available in the second Captain Britain reprint titled
The Siege of Camelot.
NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post.
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