If you had told me Vandal Savage was going to be the breakout character of the New 52...

...that would've been hard for me to believe. And yet here we are, over a year and a half in, and Vandal Savage might be the only currently published character I even like. Sure, he's an immortal barbarian warmonger, but he's likable!

From Demon Knights #20, "The Stone Door" Written by Robert Venditti, pencils by Chad Hardin, inks by Wayne Faucher. After last month's battle with vampires for Paradise Island, Sir Ystin struggles to fight off the bite of Cain, Exoristos turns down Queen Hippolyta's offer to rescind her exile, the Amazons are shown to be nowhere near as nice or friendly as everyone thinks, and Vandal Savage cheerfully sets aside his "grudge" with Jason Blood. Blood, who was tortured for decades by Savage, seems less forgiving...I don't know if fans of I, Vampire or Wonder Woman are even aware of this series, but it ties in with both!

The Knights begin a new quest, or rather take up an old one; the search for the Holy Grail. Which leads to an encounter with a giant squid, because that's the sort of thing that should happen on a quest. Per the Beat, Demon Knights hasn't been setting any sales records, but I'm still kinda liking it--it's the only DC book I'm reading regularly. I've been meaning to re-read the whole series, but I misfiled two issues, which is driving me up a wall since I don't have time to dig around for them!

Demon Knights #20 just came out Wednesday, but you may or may not be able to pick it up at your local comic shop: many are probably just getting it for subscribers, and not racking any copies. Which isn't going to turn around sales on the book, although that's not on the shops. Maybe DC should do, I don't know, like ninety-nine cent issues for books on the lower end of the sales charts; I know Milestone did that way back when...