One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Knight And Squire #6

GOOD THING: Things do come to a head in this issue, as The Joker starts trying to take out as many British superheroes as possible - preferably in ways relating to their superheroic identity, such as choking a superheroic teacher to death with chalk or nailing a cat-themed hero to a hot tin roof.






BAD THING: The ending is a bit predictable and the twist as to how the heroes stop The Joker is rather obvious.







The Final Verdict: A fiitting end to the series, if a tad anti-climactic in the final chapter. Still, I'd love to see more of Cornell's original British heroes, though!

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Knight and Squire #5

GOOD THING: Rather a neat story here with a Silver Age feel as Jarvis Poker, The British Joker (it's a Cockney Rhyming Slang thing), in ill-health and sick of not being taken seriously in the modern day, decides to go out with one big crime spree... with The Knight and Squire, well aware of his ill-health, playing along so the aged villain can go out in style.






BAD THING: Much as I do appreciate the list of all the different unique characters Cornell created for this series, I think it would have been more effective had this been posted in the first issue when most of these characters showed up.








The Final Verdict: One issue to go and this one ends on a cliff-hanger I dare not spoil. Suffice it to say there is a very special guest star who is sure to make the last issue end with a bang!

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Knight and Squire #4

BAD THING: The main plot of this issue is surprisingly standard stuff, given how unique this book has been so far. The old "hero must fight his own weapons" issue.


GOOD THING: Cornell still manages to give us some nice twists with this issue, such as the revelation that The Knight's butler is a Texan named Hank.





(Okay - he says in the notes at the end of the book that he was trying to write a generic American Southerner in parody of how Americans are usually portrayed in British television. But that "ya'll" is distinctly Texan. I'm just saying.)



The Final Verdict: A fairly standard comic plot but Cornell manages to make it interesting, though this issue lacks some of the quirky humor of the first three issues.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Knight and Squire #3

GOOD THING: This book has a unique spin on a classic idea: cloning an evil historical figure who makes another attempt and world domination. The twist is that instead of the usual "They Saved Hitler's Brain" scenario, the villain in question is Richard The Third. Who, as they are quick to point out, was probably not that bad of a king in reality but that he got a lot of bad press thanks to William Shakespeare's play, which sorta needed to paint Richard as a bad guy since he was fighting against Henry Tudor, Queen Elizabeth's ancestor, to take over England.

The best part? The super-villain habit of monologuing totally fits the character of Richard as written by Shakespeare, making his breaking the fourth wall to explain his schemes picture perfect for fans of The Bard and comics.

BAD THING: Much as I love this book, I must admit it is somewhat inaccessible to non-Anglophile Americans and other non-Brits. You do need to brush up on your Shakespeare and your British history to fully appreciate this issue.







The Final Verdict: It's a riotous treat for those of us who like British humor and culture. The rest of you will probably be totally lost.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Knight and Squire #2

BAD THING: Despite a glossary in the back that tries to explain away some of the more obscure in-jokes that American audiences are likely to miss (i.e. the nod to The Avengers and I don't mean the ones led by Tony Stark), there's quite a bit that can still be missed by your average American.

I had to explain to a friend, for instance, that Morris Dancing has a number of traditions behind it - among them the belief that the ritual of the dance causes certain things to happen, like the start of summer or the end of winter. So the idea of a group of men doing a magical dance in order to turn back time or open a portal to another reality is just an application of the ritual magic performed by cults in your average H.P. Lovecraft story being applied to what most see as a harmless folk tradition that is only practiced "seriously" in a few remote English villages.

This is also why the presence of a woman disrupts the magic. Because even if you don't believe that the presence of a woman can foul-up the masculine energy being drawn upon, the fact that the Morris Men believe that is enough to shake their faith in the spell. You see?


GOOD THING: Another fascinating plot, though one perhaps more worth of Hellblazer than Batman and Robin as The Knight and Squire investigate a cult of Morris Dancers.

The Final Verdict: Still an enjoyable series for an Anglophile like myself. I can't help but think that this is a bit much for the average American comic book reader, even with the glossary at the end.

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Knight and Squire #1

Okay . I finally got it!



BAD THING: There's really not much action here and not much of a plot to this issue. What little there is involves a setting (i.e. A magical bar that is enchanted to allow enemies to meet peacefully) that is just an excuse for a lot of jokes about superheroes and British culture.

GOOD THING: Thankfully, the jokes are very funny. It's a bit like Callahan's Crosstime Saloon meets Hero Happy Hour. That's meant to be a complement to all involved, for the record.

The Final Verdict: There's not much of a story beyond "The British Batman and Robin (who is a girl) go to a magical pub and have a few with their fellow heroes and a few villains." Thankfully, that's all the story it needs and all the set-up we need for a riotously funny comic. You have to appreciate anything which turns the Benny Hill song Ernie (He Drove The Fastest Milkcart In The West) into the basis for a superhero and a super-villain.