Knight & Squire #6, out this week; 1 to 5 in review

                                                                      

"Knight And Squire" by Paul Cornell & Jimmy Broxton, a 6 part limited series, starring a pair of British superheroes initially dreamt up as an English counterpart to Batman in the zany fifties,.has been the best UK comic produced for the US market I've ever read. Knight & Squire, along with the group they belonged to the 'Batmen of all Nations/ Club of Heroes' had long been disposed of, consigned to the dustbin of DC  history that is labelled 'pre-Crisis', before Grant Morrison's revival and renewal of them in an evolved state made them the current ambassadors of UK comics culture within the DCU. The duo have been  pivotal characters in Grant Morrison's still ongoing, DCU spanning Meta-epic, first in JLA Classified #1-3, then as part of the revived "Club Of Heroes" concept, in the Batman:RIP prelude, "The Black Glove". Most recently they appeared in "Batman & Robin #7-9", which introduced readers to villains based on uniquely British concepts, like Smooth Eddie English, The Pearly Prince and his arch-rival, the Geordie kingpin of crime, Old King Coal.
  Grant Morrison has done a great job portraying the UK as Knight & Squire's home in "Blackest Knight" by having Batman race through London, into the Underground,  later ending up in an abandoned coal-mine which had been built over a Lazarus Pit; another neat touch was blending legends of the Thatcher years with echoes of  David Peace's disturbing Red Riding books to give the story a hint of the darker side of our culture. For Knight and Squire's own title, Paul Cornell has decided to retain the lighter elements established by Morrison, and has also injected more of the absurdly anarchic spirit of , now sadly defunct, UK classics such as  Buster, Eagle, Lion and Tiger, as well as the entire DC Thompson line. Yet, for all its references to a bygone age of Boy's Own adventures, the story is still firmly set in the 21st Century of DC comics and Post-Millennial Britain. A wannabe bad boy/love interest for Squire is a conflicted posh kid who talks street gibberish("U Feel  Me, Blud?) in a bid to impress the crowd in a pub that uses "truce magic" to allow heroes and villains a chance to rest up after a hard day's night of whatever it is they do. This is very much like the Oblivion Bar that is frequented by the magic types elsewhere in the DCU. Although, this is a limited 6 issue run, the first three parts were mostly self-contained stories, connected mainly by character growth and development, and fun explorations of the excellently portrayed hybrid society of Anglicised metahumans.
 The Knight, aka Cyril Sheldrake, The 4th Earl Of Wordenshire has led a chequered existence;  from titled nobility to tragedy, addiction, mental health problems, financial impoverishment and recovery. He has somehow been allowed  to move back to the  Wordenshire Estate he calls home. He first met his sidekick, Beryl Hutchinson, when she and her mother took him in off the streets at his lowest ebb, following the death of his father, the 3rd Earl( who was also the first Knight  alongside Cyril as the Squire).
   The generation and gender gap between Cyril & Beryl are a natural grounding for a fresh exploration of  the mentor/pupil relationship, most pronounced when Cyril is caught up in self-doubt and Beryl is applying her natural intelligence to the varied dilemmas.This is, after all,  the girl Batman trusted to search for, and retrieve,  the JLA from inside a baby universe by hand, for goodness sake. Another new spin on a familiar idea is apparent with  the duo's butler, Hank, who is basically an American version of comics' most famous butler.Alfred, and who, despite initially feeling very cliched, doesn't appear in the book often enough for my liking.
  The duo also each have relationships which handily  provide plot points and avenues to explore, such as Cyrils highly public date with starlet Cerys Tweed, which leads to a confrontation with Richrd III, and, perhaps most significantly, Beryl's burgeoning relationship with "The Shrike" aka Dennis Ennis, who isn't quite sure himself whether he's a villain or hero. Speaking of villains and heroes, there are some memorable ones on either side in "Knight & Squire", such as Jarvis Poker(The British Joker), The Morris Men and The Milkman. In fact, in amongst the various characters and places Cornell and Broxton(whose art is perfect for this concept) have brought to life, I got real, genuine shock when an extremely well known face from the DCU at large popped in, just in time for a good old fashioned cliffhanger at the end of issue 5. Now I'm just waiting for #6, the last in this series, but no doubt not the last of the adventures of "Knight & Squire". I would suggest the series so far to anyone, and for those yanks who are worried about some of the more absurd and eccentric Brit references and phrases, I  am happy to report that there is a well designed and amusing glossary, which even I, a lifelong resident of the UK, as well as rabid consumer of British comics, benefited from on occasion!