The Black Knight

[badMike]

Steven --

Now that you've brought it up a couple of times, I was just curious about what specifically draws you to the Black Knight. The costume? The time period he evokes? Something else?

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Because at one point he was sleeping with 2/3 of the females on the team?

And due to the other 1/3 having dated everyone else, he'd probably been with her before?

He's playa no.1!
How can you not love him?

[badMike]

Because at one point he was sleeping with 2/3 of the females on the team?

And due to the other 1/3 having dated everyone else, he'd probably been with her before?

He's playa no.1!
How can you not love him?I haven't read a comic with the Black Knight in it for years, other than random '70s and '80s Avengers issues where he was just a background character and definitely not a playa.

I'm sure there's lots to love, but I was just curious.

[bartl]

I haven't read a comic with the Black Knight in it for years, other than random '70s and '80s Avengers issues where he was just a background character and definitely not a playa.

I'm sure there's lots to love, but I was just curious.
I just hope that this conversation doesn't degenerate into bad puns (and yes, this IS a cheap trick to make people think of them without actually having to say them).

[Steven Grant]

Steven --

Now that you've brought it up a couple of times, I was just curious about what specifically draws you to the Black Knight. The costume? The time period he evokes? Something else?

Hmmm... when he first appeared Marvel really had no other characters like him, plus John Buscema drew the costume really well (George Tuska not so much) and they used one of my favorite bits before I knew it was one of my favorite bits, having him faking being a villain. Just saw lots of possibilities in him way back when. Not sure I see so many now...

Then Steve Englehart dumped him back in the Crusades. As it happened, I was in the midst of reading all about the Crusades at the time, and realized I could fit what Englehart had done into the real history of the Third Crusade (the one with Richard Lionheart) and it gave me the opportunity to tell a true story from the Crusades, where Richard slaughters an entire city because Saladin hasn't agreed to his terms, while in fact Saladin did agree but the messenger didn't return until after the set deadline. Also gave me the chance to bring in Hassan ibn Sabbah and the Hashishin and various other things. That was the Black Knight story that ran, and I was hoping to convince Marvel to let me do what amounted to a sword-and-sorcery series set in the more or less "real world" of the late Middle Ages, tapping into legends of the time (like Prester John, who hd already been introduced into the MU in FF), little known events from history, etc. Basically, the idea of the mini-series was, as Al Milgrom put it, "A glass of beer only cost a nickel in the gay '90s, but who had a nickel?" The Black Knight, at the end of Englehart's use in DEFENDERS is thrilled to be in "an era of chivalry," since he always felt out of place in the 20th century, so my first task, in the mini that was published in MARVEL FANFARE, was to disabuse him of the notion that chivalry had anything at all to do with the 12th century, in real terms. Ultimately the series - I sketched out notes on a fairly lengthy run - would have found him exhausted and world-weary, but having to rediscover his faith in himself and his ideals in a "final war" against Irish gods, and sacrificing himself to win. Buried in what amounted to a state of suspended animation, he'd have spent 1000 years entombed, and revived in the 20th century. The conclusion was pilfered for the two parter in AVENGERS.

Basically, I liked the Black Knight because he was a good vehicle for saying things I wanted to say, and having a little fun doing it. I guess.

- Grant

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I haven't read a comic with the Black Knight in it for years, other than random '70s and '80s Avengers issues where he was just a background character and definitely not a playa.


It took Bob Harras to see the potential!

[badMike]

Basically, I liked the Black Knight because he was a good vehicle for saying things I wanted to say, and having a little fun doing it. I guess.Thanks for taking the time out to answer my question. I'll have to try to dig up those Fanfares sometime.

[GHalecki]

You know, if you juggled around the ending to mesh with that one Avengers story, that series could most definately still work.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would buy it.

[Steven Grant]

You know, if you juggled around the ending to mesh with that one Avengers story, that series could most definately still work.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would buy it.

Thanks, but, unfortunately, I doubt Marvel would. Late Medieval adverturism is a little outside their purview these days. But fitting it in with the Avengers story would be no problem, since that was the story, just with the Avengers added.

- Grant

[GHalecki]

Well if I ever run a comic company, I would sign you up for that in a hartbeat.

Some day....

[Steven Grant]

Well if I ever run a comic company, I would sign you up for that in a hartbeat.

Some day....

Thanks, I appreciate it.

- Grant