The Quest Is at an End in Knights of X #5

All the forces in Otherworld rush to the grand finale in Knights of X #5, but is this really the end? Written by Tini Howard, drawn by Bob Quinn, colored by Erick Arciniega and lettered by Ariana Maher.

Karen: Nola, we’ve made it to the end! Rachel and Betsy are in love, this issue has a totally badass cover courtesy of Yanick Paquette and Alejandro Sánchez, and the Knights have found the Siege Perilous at last. I feel like we’ve been hurtling toward the conclusion of this series. Do you think the pay off matches the stakes?

Nola: Y’know, when I heard this book was ending after #5, I have to say I was disappointed! I had expected it to run longer given the stakes of the quest and the sheer size of the cast involved. Now that we’re here though? I’ve really enjoyed every minute of the ride. There are so many story beats included in KoX that it really makes for a tight fit, but I found that once I relaxed, it really went down easily!

Is This Your Card?

Karen: Howard & Co. pick up directly where the previous issue left off, with the Knights having made it to the Siege Perilous in Mercator and trouble bearing down on them. Absalom Mercator (aka Mr. M) had been something of a blind spot for both of us, but in the past week I got to read through his every appearance and have to applaud the decision to include him in this role. Yes, he’s an Omega-level reality warper, but he’s specifically been tied to change and transitions. This is especially true in the House of M reality, where he is something of a spiritual guru who helps latent mutants “cross over” into their idealized, empowered selves. The limits of his powers in regard to resurrection is questioned in key story beats, and he appears to survive his own death with blatantly Christ-like imagery. His final words (until his reappearance in this series) are that “some things do not die … they evolve,” or you know, change. Sounds pretty applicable to what this issue is all about, don’t you think?

Nola: Not just the issue, but the whole miniseries! There’s a very clear throughline of new spins on old Marvel properties from the very start of the story until now — adapting and evolving characters like Mordred and Arthur, breaking Gambit out of his rut, and even remaking what the Siege Perilous is whilst still allowing it to fulfill its function as an agent of change. I know that Tini’s story-as-spellwork beat isn’t for everyone, but damned if I’m not a mark for it every time.

Karen: Fittingly, the issue’s opening narration marks it firmly as a story, both bringing the reader up to speed as well as setting the stakes. The third-person narration inhabits the viewpoint of Merlyn, the series’ mutant-hating antagonist whom I’ve come to understand as being as much a slave to story as anyone else. As Mr. M tells the Knights of X in the following pages, all denizens of Otherworld are beholden to magic and story. I’ve been hoping to get some deeper insight into the change in Merlyn’s character, but I suppose this is the explanation.

This is also the reason given why the Knights were able to access the Siege Perilous/Mercator, and why the terms of their magical quest have not quite been fulfilled. The party had to split out of necessity over the past few issues, but it’s time for them to come back together again. That means figuring out what’s going on with Gambit. I’d become really enamored with your theory from our talk on #3, Nola, but in a way I’m happy Howard isn’t pulling the same trick twice. Instead, we get a looming house of cards courtesy of Quinn and Arciniega’s atmospheric chiaroscuro. Seems like a good place to look for our favorite playing card-themed X-man, non?

Nola: Truly, I’m glad myself, given how things turned out! I know a lot of Gambit stans were pretty worried about his situation, having died in Otherworld, but I really enjoyed the way this played out. I have some reservations about seeing the interiority of folks’ trips through the Siege Perilous, because I frankly think that some things, especially arcane mythology-related things, should retain an air of inscrutable mystery. That said, I do love that Gambit’s whole situation is a kind of dark mirror of the Starlight Citadel, a castle for him to haunt as the specter of Death while he feels sorry for himself. It’s very dramatic, in the way that both Gambit and his wife have always indulged in.

You Always Fight the Ones You Love

Karen: Sunfire’s return to Otherworld has been telegraphed in X-Men for the past several months, but this isn’t really what I was expecting. I always appreciate when lesser-loved eras of X-history are given proper respect, so I’m very glad that with Death Gambit we also get a nod to Famine Sunfire. It’s actually just Askani replaying the memory in Remy’s mind, but the feel of the flames is enough to bring our boy home.

The one true Gambit awakening is the final ingredient to the spell. I love this reunion scene between Rogue and Gambit. Absence has made the heart grow fonder, and their time apart really makes this moment sweeter.

Nola: I really enjoyed it too, not the least the way it mirrored the start of Excalibur and Rogue’s being trapped in that crystal coffin. They’ve swapped places; Gambit has resumed his rightful role as the damsel in distress!

I’m interested in what the new status quo of death in Otherworld means for the characters who’ve been changed by it already. I don’t expect the X-Office to summarily restore them to their original forms, because that would be entirely too simple. I also enjoy that we have kind of a Tuvix-like situation with Rockslide now; the new Rockslide is his own person, his own identity, and to restore the original would mean his undoing! It’s a fantastic ethical question, and I really hope to see it addressed in depth.

Never For Ever

Karen: I really appreciate Howard’s long-game approach to her Otherworld story. In the first phases, the mutants had to find a way to open the door across, only to be faced with the life-altering dangers spilling out. Since then, Betsy and the Knights have been trying to find their way back to safety, and here they’ve finally succeeded. I love everything happening here, and it’s a grand epic full of pathos. Except … it feels a bit like I’m watching it happen in fast forward with key scenes missing. As beautiful and full of story as Quinn’s double-page battle is, it’s almost painful that it’s all we get to see of it. The narration describing it as a “story-book shaking battle” felt like a splash of cold water the first time I read through the issue, but I’ve since dried myself off about it.

This has to be at least the third series I’ve written about that got truncated somewhere along the way, forced to wrap up as quickly as humanly possible. At the end of the day, the disappointment doesn’t outweigh my general delight, but I still wish these comics could be told with as much space as the story demands. You know, I think X of Swords just really spoiled me.

Nola: I agree, the “oh yeah we had a battle, it was very dramatic” scene felt a little too much like seeing the strings on the puppets to me. I don’t know if the battle scene was actually cut for space but it felt like it was, even with that two-page spread, which is always a frustrating feeling when reading a comic.

I have to say, I’m definitely tired of interesting books falling victim to this “if it’s not an instant hit it’s a stealth mini” mindset that Marvel has going on. One would think Disney might have the patience and faith to relax the drawstrings on their moneybags and give these books a little room to breathe, given how much comic books have already contributed to their bottom line on adaptations alone. It seems very shortsighted and self-defeating to lean so hard on books in this way — if they don’t let a story grow and blossom, what are the odds they end a hit book before its time?

Karen: Exactly! Thankfully, this story isn’t over, and Betsy frees herself from the whims of Saturnyne, Roma and Merlyn at last (lethally, in that last case). There is a very sound and convincing critique for continuing to use “Captain Britain” as a name/symbol. A hero emblazoned with the flag of colonial empire is not defensible, and we’ve even wondered whether Betsy would continue with the appellation. I guess continuing to read Marvel is an endless task of negotiating where you draw your personal line. For good or ill, the Captain Britain mythos is some of my favorite within all of Marvel and I am excited at the prospect of a new volume continuing Howard’s epic, accepting however problematic it may be. With the promise that Askani will co-star, I’m even more sold.

Nola: I wish that there were a clean and easy way to solve that issue, but I don’t see one beyond Marvel making a firm commitment to retire the whole concept of superheroes-as-avatars-of-national-identity thing, which we both know they’re not going to do. I would like Betsy to at least do something meaningful with the role, in the way that Steve Rogers is meant to represent what America could be rather than what it is, but even then I’m not sure that the image of Britain can be rehabilitated — in fact, I’m certain that it can’t. Similarly, I don’t think that she should resume the identity of Psylocke; she’s grown beyond it. I can only hope that a new path presents itself, I suppose, but even then we’re not going to get there without some story in the middle. It’ll be interesting to see what that story’s going to be.

X-Traneous Thoughts

Best line of the issue: “Though he pains my ass…”
One of those Gambit statues is his Shi’ar “Trial of Gambit” outfit, right? I hope so.
Brian welcoming Mordred at the end was just very sweet! I like this gentler, happier version of him.
Ariana Maher appreciation: love that “GYYAAAHHHH!”
Gambit’s Castle of Cards also reminded me of that palace the X-Men visit in X-Men Annual #11 (1987) where they were individually tempted by their deepest desires. Another reference that feels resonant with this issue, whether intentional or otherwise.
Kylun and Saturnyne in Frazetta-mode!
I have to imagine Quinn really enjoyed the opportunity to draw some of his Way of X cast (and by extension, Legion of X) into the fray. I bet he’s become pretty attached to Pixie by this point.