"Nitpick."

I don't think Kurt's ever actually seen Excalibur, the sword, properly; nor does he have any abiding faith in British monarchy: the sword is a powerful symbol of might for right, and it offends him to think of Mephisto all manhandling it. But has he bit off more than he can chew? Read more!

"Daughter."

"Do you like my sword?" "I do not." I'm positive I stole that cadence from Dr. Seuss's P.D. Eastman's Go, Dog. Go! It's a fun read! 

The OAFE review of Mephisto points out two things I probably should've caught: Mephisto's sword is a version of Excalibur, and that's a reference to Earth X continuity! If I recall, alternate realities are revealed as literally the devil's work, like he was causing them, possibly in the hopes of finding the one where he wins in the end. (Or, at the very least, forestalling judgment.) I'm not sure of the status of the 616's native Excalibur--the sword, anyway. Mephisto may have more jabs about Excalibur, the team... 

The Krakoan soul dilemma, well, that's pretty much fallen by the wayside; not unlike Kurt's soulless status there for a while. (Could he get back into heaven? Unclear, but he doesn't seem to be dwelling upon the issue in-continuity.) I may have mentioned this one before, but don't have it handy: Namor #12, wherein Namorita is a little freaked out since under Atlantean theology, a clone like her wouldn't have a soul. Captain America very gently explains to her, he'd seen a lot of people lose their souls (every Nazi scumbag ever) but he'd also seen a brother gain a soul: the android Human Torch, who earned one through empathy and good works. I still consider that one a lot, and I suppose it follows that I'm willing to concede a lot of goodwill to any AI that literally kills Hitler.

Also, hey, Mephisto has a daughter! Maybe, from Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #6. Mephista was using the name "Jezebel" now, and yeah, don't blame her.

Read more!

"Trickling."

Why is Mephisto behind this? If you've seen his accessories, you might have a clue; although his big one is yet another throne I don't really have room for. (I bought the big Super7 Silverhawks Transformation throne a while back: while it's eating a lot of shelf space, it is neat and a steal at that price!) Hell, I still have the Marvel Select Mephisto throne! Read more!

"Riddle."

So, maybe two things brought this strip about: first, an old post about two stoners contemplating lightsaber fights, with one asking why Jedis or Sith don't use the Force to boop! Switch their opponent's lightsaber off mid-fight. Because that would be a dick move, even for a Sith? (Deep, nerdy sigh: I don't think most Force-users are capable of that kind of focus in the middle of a duel; it would be like trying to do complex equations during a fight. That or "keeping your lightsaber from being switched off mid-fight" is like a day one class.) And while prop lightsabers are usually big enough to accommodate batteries, or a plastic blade; in-story aren't they relatively thinner? Whereas in other media, like comics, a legally-distinct-from-a-lightsaber weapon usually looks like a good-sized Maglite. 

Dane's photon sword maybe hasn't been seen in comics for a while--like since he came back from the Ultraverse? So far I don't think there's been any in-story reason for him not to have it, or to have not built another one if he left it in the Ultraverse. My first thought was he probably could, unless it required materials or components he couldn't easily get anymore--stupid chip shortage! I haven't seen an Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe diagram, so for all I know it could take plutonium, vibranium, dilithium, Kryptonite, and crack to build a photon sword. (To the tune of Queens of the Stone Age "Feel Good Hit of the Summer.") We've linked back to OAFE's Black Knight review a couple times, but as they point out, the blade on the Black Knight's photon sword is not removable, nor did Hasbro supply an off version. If you look real close at it, you can see the hilt has a little peg, that the blade fits on; rather than the blade having a peg that plugs into the hilt. Best guess, the plasic of the blade maybe wouldn't have supported a peg, or wouldn't cast properly? 

In-continuity, Dane had "the Sword of Light" and "Shield of Night" for a while: I can picture the Shield, I think one of the earlier Black Knight figures has it. Those were from Merlin, or a Merlin, anyway: it feels like there's a couple different versions of him kicking around the 616, who knows what you'll get? Two different versions appeared in Excalibur; that Merlin was eventually revealed as a manipulative dick and then never seen again, at least in that book. Or, there's the friendly grouch of Iron Man #250: England seems to be actively working against his efforts to save it, but still seems better than current England? I haven't seen the Black Knight's Merlin, he could be one of those or so different he's basically another guy entirely. But, I'm thinking of that seemingly brief stretch, where Captain America had just got his proper vibranium shield back, but still had his replacement photonic shield gizmo: why wouldn't you keep both? That thing can't be too heavy...I could see Cap deciding that keeping it charged was too much of a pain, didn't want to get into a situation where it failed maybe. For Dane, it could be the Ebony Blade exerting some influence: thou shalt have no swords before me. 

Oh, and "the riddle of steel" is almost a Zen koan, and might be if you want it to be; but it's from the Conan the Barbarian movie; and has nothing to do with anything!

Read more!

"Dane."

I still don't think Nightcrawler has met the Black Knight in comics, but like seven years back we saw Kurt vs. Dane. If it seems like Dane is getting the short end of it here, you're probably right; but this is the second--no, the third released!--Black Knight figure (from a two-pack with Sersi) and Hasbro still hasn't really done him justice? The head on this figure looks like he just smelt something awful and is furious about it. And I didn't realize until looking at that OAFE review again: the new figure only comes with one head, and it's actually one from the previous figure, which had three! One being his ancestor Sir Percy, the other being a more friendly neutral expression but with big bat wings on the helmet. That said, I'm glad they've never tried to do a removable helmet: it's pretty thin, and would either look awful or the unmasked head would be woefully undersized to accommodate it. 

 I might not love either Black Knight figure, but the Ebony Blades aren't bad! Traditionally swords don't change their looks, but here we are. Wait, the new figure only came with his lightsab--er, "photon sword." The fancier Blade Dane is using is from the even older Brood wave Black Knight. Man, good on Dane for getting three figures, but none of them are quite there. The other Black Knight was from Fortnite, and I just had to get up and take a look at him: there was a McFarlane version, but this one was from Jazwares and thus more in scale for around here. Say it with me: every time I have an action figure from a game I don't play, drink! Oh, and sadly, the Ebony Blade may currently be destroyed in Marvel continuity, which does seem to happen from time to time: Doctor Doom may have suggested it was too dangerous to be left out there, but that may have been self-serving, as the Blade could slice through his armor.

We might not be done with Dane yet, although I want to swap that head out, just so he doesn't seem so sour all the time.

Read more!