Hello and welcome to another edition of Ye Olde School Café! This week, we’ll be finishing up our look at the Black Knight limited series from 1990. So far we’ve seen that Dane Whitman, the Black Knight in the modern age, has been turned to stone by the Enchantress. His long time friend, Victoria Bentley, has used magic to try and revive him, but brought the spirit of Sir Percy of Scandia into the body of Whitman instead! She, along with the courageous knight, must figure out the plans of Morgan Le Fey and Mordred, and stop them before they bring about the destruction of the world!
As Sir Percy, Victoria, and Sean Dolan whisk through the skies of Manhattan, the night is ominously dark. They seek out the sanctum sanctorum of Dr. Strange to see if he can help with this magical mystery. As they approach, they are flung back by a powerful force field, but remain unharmed. Inside, they explain to the Doc that Morgan Le Fey and Mordred are planning an all out mystical assault on Earth, and they have no time to spare in finding out their next move. Dr. Strange agrees to assist them, and begins an incantation to take them to the dimensional gateway to see what is afoot. Victoria stays behind to anchor them, but Sean jumps through at the last second to join them.
As the three men travel through the ether realm, they quickly come upon a disturbance. It’s Castle Le Fey, and Morgan and Mordred are waiting for them! Le Fey quickly pulls out the Evil Eye and lashes out at them. She conjures up a demonic beast named Balor (once Dane Whitman fought this very beast in Avalon), and the fight is now even more dire than before! They fight valiantly, but the beast knocks both of them out cold. Morgan and Mordred then bind them both, and just as Balor is about to deliver a killing blow, Valkryie swoops in and stops him. She then battles the beast, but has little luck against his might. He swats her out of the sky, but when she falls to the ground, she grabs the Ebony Blade and tosses it to Sir Percy. He swings the enchanted blade and smashes the Evil Eye, thus rendering the beast an afterthought as he disappears back to the realm from whence he came.
Afterward, Valkyrie tells Doc Strange that Victoria allowed her to take over her body and return to the realm of the living. The group then follows the trail left behind by Mordred and Morgan Le Fey, but when they arrive in none other than Arizona, they are greeted by the two devilish mystics, as they’re opening a gateway and releasing demons into the Earth! The Black Knight is given pause by this, because he doesn’t know if they can undo this terrible deed!
The horde of demons that are now invading the planet look ominous, but Dr. Strange, Valkyrie, and the Black Knight are going to give it their best to try and stop them! One of the demons attempts to kill a woman and her child, but the Knight swiftly beheads the beast for his attack. Sean Dolan then calls out Satan himself, and Sir Percy then silences him. Meanwhile, Dr. Strange is using his magics to try and stop dozens of demons from going berserk. He thinks he’s making some headway, but then the backlash of a spell from Morgan levels the Doc. Valkyrie then gets blasted too, and it looks like Morgan and Mordred are about to win.
When all appears lost, the Black Knight is the only one left standing. Morgan and Mordred tell him to kneel and swear to serve them or the others will die. He then kneels and swears to do their bidding, and his word is his bond! As he prepares to attack the good people of Arizona, he realizes that if he removes his helmet, Dane Whitman will again be in charge of his faculties. He removes his helmet and begins to fight Morgan and Mordred. We then see the spirit of Sir Percy inhabit the Ebony Blade, and that removes the curse that had Dane living as stone for a time. He thwarts the plans of the evil duo by rending the castle into pieces, and then they’re transported back to the realm of which they came!
Well, that’s it for this epic tale! Dane Whitman and the Black Knight persona are incredibly underused in the Marvel U, but he did have a great role in the series Captain Britain & MI13. Definitely check that series out if you haven’t yet, because Paul Cornell did a fantastic job on that. See you next week!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
