COMIC BOOK REVIEW - Black Knight: The Fall of Dane Whitman
Look at me churning out reviews like I’m being paid for it. Well I’m not, but if someone does want to start giving me money, please let me know! Ahaha! So I was in the mood for something new and to read a character I’d not read before so I thought given the hype about the Eternals film, I’d focus on a character from the upcoming movie; Black Knight. I actually knew nothing about the character, but heard that he was in the Avengers, which was new to me!
‘The Fall of Dane Whitman’ sees our titular character, Dane Whitman, aka the Black Knight in a mystical realm full of magical creatures and monsters. In the small amount of time that he’s been there, he’s manage to unit a number of the different magical kingdoms against a common enemy. The novel then moves back and forth between the past and the present showing us how Whitman managed to end up here. The story starts with Whitman concerned that his weapon, “The Ebony Blade” is getting more powerful. Confirmed by his Avenger colleagues, Whitman reluctantly decides not to inform them that he is getting visions from the sword about what he should do next. During one Avengers mission, Whitman appears to lose his mind and fatally injures one of their enemies. Outraged, Old Man Steve Rogers attempts to bring him in, when Whitman escapes and finds himself in “Weirdworld”. The Avengers are not particularly a team to be trifled with, and the Uncanny Avengers line-up arrives in Weirdworld to bring in their former teammate. Naturally the people are not happy and defend their new king from his old friends. Things begin to get messy, however, the Avengers finally triumph, only to let Whitman rule but take his Ebony Blade with them. The power of the blade is more than they bargained for, and when Steve Rogers begins to go mad, Weirdworld and the Uncanny Avengers are left with very few options but to release Whitman and let him reclaim his destined weapon. Can Dane Whitman wrestle the cursed sword from the former Captain America? And just how tied are the fates of the Black Knight and Weirdworld?
Completely honestly, I did not think I was going to be remotely interested in the Black Knight. I don’t mind medieval based characters, but I find them to be a tad boring sometimes. Dane Whitman is not that. He is an extremely layered character and I’d be pretty interested to see how Kit Harrington manages to portray him on the big screen. I also liked the inclusion of the Uncanny Avengers who have a pretty interesting roster. I think my only qualm with the novel was that I’m not a massive fan of the whole kingdoms of monsters and although I can see why the Black Knight belongs in the place like this, I hope that in the future we see him returning to Earth and re-joining the Avengers!
The artwork was fairly average in my opinion and was likely the only disappointing aspect of the novel. Some of the illustration of character faces seemed a little lazy in my opinion. The covers were also okay. That being said, the novel is a decent start in a series that I will be interested to continue!
Favourite Panel:
Inspiring stuff! We could well see something like this panning out in the MCU
Favourite Character:
Even though he’s got a dodgy character arc, it’s probably Dane Whitman! What a cool new character to read!
Rating:
Story Arc: 13/20
Character Development: 15/20
Artwork: 10.5/20
Enjoyability: 13.5/20
Re-readability: 7/20
Overall: 59/100
Level: Advanced