Knights of X #2 Review/Spoilers - Imperative

[JB]

This issue lets me add a bunch of my own reference caption boxes. Fun!

We open with Merlyn throwing a fit at a meeting with all of the kingdom leaders at the Lunatic Citadel. He's angry because they had the "witchbreed on the ropes" until Betsy was able to bring in reinforcements last issue.

He's grilling Mercator's ambassadors about Mister M, since he's also a mutant, and demands to know what Mercator is up to since his kingdom is sealed off from outsiders and he won't show his face. The ambassadors remain silent so angry Merlyn turns his attention to Jaspers, demanding he answer for his fellow mutant. Jaspers is like "Mercator is nuts, I don't know what he's up to." Unsatisfied, Merlyn orders the Furies to seize Jaspers and they slap a collar filled with Blightswill around his neck, neutralizing his powers as they drag him away.

We get the preview pages where Betsy and her team of telepaths (including the swan) update the council of their quest to find the Siege Perilous. We get a data page about the SP and how it transforms any mutant who goes through it. Foreshadowing.

The knights are sparring and Kylun is accusing Mordred of playing with his mind while they're sparring. Mordred says he is doing no such thing and Rachel comes over, assuring Kylun that Mordred is not messing with him. Kylun is unsure. More foreshadowing?

Suddenly Betsy and Rachel telepathically hear Jaspers calling out for help. They lock hands in focused totality of their powers. With Jaspers captured, the Crooked Market is in danger.



Gambit volunteers to take a team as he's familiar with the residents of the Crooked Market. The first one we see is Geraldine, who is quietly sneaking through the town which is now dark and dreary.

*We first met Geraldine in Excalibur #14 when the little pickpocket steals a pop-tart from Gambit's coat.

She is leading Gambit and his team (Rachel, Meggan, Kylun, Bei) to a trapdoor where mutants are supposedly hiding. He questions her to make sure it isn't a trap but she's silent, waiting for her pop-tart. She gets her pop-tart and down they go. Gambit empties his bag of snacks and protein bars for the hiding mutants who have been rationing food. Meggan praises him, gives him a hug, and says Rogue would be telling him what a good man he is if she were there. He says he misses her, Meggan says Rogue misses him too, he says "she busy..." and they embrace. It's sweet and he's not complaining this time.

Rachel is updating Betsy telepathically and tells Betts that the folks of the Crooked Market are scared of something called Blightswill and asks why it rings a bell. Betsy says "because it's the only drink I've ever seen knock Logan and Storm on their asses."

*In Wolverine #7 during XoS, Jaspers gives Logan and Ororo Blightswill for their drinking contest. It turns out to be punishment by Saturnyne for Logan trying to kill her. It neutralizes mutant powers.

So this is something Merlyn is using on the mutants of Otherworld.

Betsy and her team (Rictor, Shatty, Mordred) meanwhile are in Roma's kingdom, dropping off Shogo.

*Betsy and Jubilee first took Shogo to Roma's kingdom in Excalibur #24 and he loved it there.

I'm not sure if this is a good idea as I don't fully trust Roma but we'll see. They discuss Merlyn's use of Blightswill and how it only comes from the kingdom of Blightspoke. Roma tells Betsy that Sheriff Whitechapel, the leader of Blightspoke, has been absent from the court meetings. They need to find out if Whitechapel has turned on them or if something happened to her. No longer having the Shogo express, Roma teleports Betsy and team to Blightspoke where they fall into the middle of a horde of Vescora.

The Vescora have taken Whitechapel and her posse prisoner and have taken control of the Blightswill refineries. While the others battle the horde, Betsy finds Sheriff who explains that even though she's not a mutant, her posse is and she won't ever leave their side. Betsy breaks them out of their cage which is high up in the air. Whitechapel is about to fall and Betsy is like Spider-man, hanging upside down trying to hold Whitechapel from falling in the burning quarry of Blightswill below. Whitechapel however has a plan and says because the Vescora have a hivemind, if some of them witness her fall and think she's dead, they all will. So Betsy lets her go and says they need to seek out their other allies - it's time to confront Death.

Back at the Crooked Market, Gambit's team is fighting Furies. Gambit is still using the magic tarot cards and he flashes the death card. Oy vey.
There's some nice teamwork as Kylun uses his sound mimicky powers to audibly pose as a Fury, asking for assistance. An actual Fury comes to help and is ambushed by the team. We get to see Meggan use her elemental powers and they work together to take it down. More Fury appear and one has Jaspers.

Gambit immediately recognizes that this a demoralization act as the Fury want the residents of the Crooked Market to witness the humiliation and abuse of Jaspers.



He charges his Mutant Justice card and takes the head off the Fury.

Data page of an email from Doug to Rictor. He sends Rictor a translation of •-[A]-•'s Grimoire and mentions that there's some strange symbols that he had trouble translating but with the help of Bei, they've concluded that they represent something •-[A]-• was hiding, "and hiding very well." Hmm.

On the final page we see Betsy's team sneaking across the border into Sevalithi, where Death has been residing.

[JB]

I'm still not loving some of Tini's dialogue but I'm used to it after 2+ years. I love the artwork here and I like the high stakes feel as Merlyn takes out Betsy's allies one by one and takes over their kingdoms.
Gambit shined here for me and his compassion for the people of the Crooked Market was nice to witness.
I'm very much looking forward to Death and eventually Mercator entering the fray, and Jaspers hopefully will stop financing the enemy and finally help the mutants.

[WallStreeter]

Merlyn does not need anything from Jaspers. So yeah, Jaspers won’t be financing him.

As for aroma, it’s obvious her intention all among was to use Shogo to defeat her father.

Saturnyne must be planning something to retake the Starlight citadel.

[Nicoclaws]

This sounds like a vast improvement over Excalibur, doesn't it ?
Like there are character moments, team bonding, action and exploration of the lore.

[JB]

This sounds like a vast improvement over Excalibur, doesn't it ?
Like there are character moments, team bonding, action and exploration of the lore.

Having a more focused plot is definitely helping. Tini has sweeping ideas that I like when they're contained like this. And I like her callbacks to past events.

[CGAR]

It was alright.

[Malachi]

So all signs still pointing towards Gambit dying. With the delays and all I just want that plot finished. Like ripping off a band aid. With Gambit dying one good thing will come: no more talking about himself in third person. It’s been mentioned that Tini’s main exposure to Gambit comes from XTAS and I think that might be right. It would explain some things.

Mad Jim Jaspers was a an insane formidable threat and ever since he has come back I keep asking myself: Why did he come back? Talk about diminishing returns. He is such a character that if you bring him back you must have something clever planned. Something insidious. So far nothing pointing towards that. More like checking off boxes in who is who from Marvel UK. Well the Excalibur part of it at least.

The rest of the issue I skipped so no thoughts or feelings about that.

[Hi-Fi]

Killing Gambit before he could wear his Dauterman's outfit for the Gala will be Tini's biggest "f#*k you" to date.

[Master of Sound]

Wait wait wait....! Mister M is alive and is now leader of one of the areas of Otherworld...?

When did that happen?

[Milici]

Wait wait wait....! Mister M is alive and is now leader of one of the areas of Otherworld...?

When did that happen?

It was revealed in X of Sword Destruction.

[Luckystar.]

This Merlyn arc has been dragging on for so long. It's boring me to death.

[JB]

Wait wait wait....! Mister M is alive and is now leader of one of the areas of Otherworld...?

When did that happen?

It was revealed in X of Sword Destruction.

Yeah it was a kingdom made up of light beings but when Mercator arrived, the kingdom went dark and no one has been able to go in. And he doesn't attend court meetings, just sends his hammerhead looking ambassadors.

This Merlyn arc has been dragging on for so long. It's boring me to death.

I see what you did there and even if you didn't, I'm pretending you did.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I've been digging Knights of X so far. It still displays Howard's strengths (some of the quiet scenes, character relationships) and weaknesses (action scenes) but it benefits immensely from having a narrower focus than Excalibur.

So if I understand correctly, the Siege Perilous is the mutant Holy Grail because it contains every version of everyone and would therefore help with the botched resurrections that follow death in Otherworld? And Remy is likely getting killed and then resurrected "right" at a later date as a proof of concept, I predict?

It's not a bad idea but the resurrection process per se is already a way of decreasing the stakes, at least in-universe. Between the Waiting Room and possibly the Siege now I see the stakes further diminishing as suddenly almost everything becomes possible and all sense of danger goes away. I like the idea of resurrections but I'd rather it had some limitations to be honest.

[Saithor]

So remember how I talked in the previews for issue #1 how disapointed I was at the devalueing of the Fury as a villain in the books? Well now we can add Mad Jim Jaspers to that list as well. Honestly they should have stayed dead after their initial appearences.

[Saithor]

I've been digging Knights of X so far. It still displays Howard's strengths (some of the quiet scenes, character relationships) and weaknesses (action scenes) but it benefits immensely from having a narrower focus than Excalibur.

So if I understand correctly, the Siege Perilous is the mutant Holy Grail because it contains every version of everyone and would therefore help with the botched resurrections that follow death in Otherworld? And Remy is likely getting killed and then resurrected "right" at a later date as a proof of concept, I predict?

It's not a bad idea but the resurrection process per se is already a way of decreasing the stakes, at least in-universe. Between the Waiting Room and possibly the Siege now I see the stakes further diminishing as suddenly almost everything becomes possible and all sense of danger goes away. I like the idea of resurrections but I'd rather it had some limitations to be honest.

Wait, if that's the case, are we going to see Gorgon the "feed kids to pigs" "Supreme leader of Hydra version" come back? Because it's not like they've done anything else with the idea of essentially bringing one of the most iredeemable people in Marvel back as a blank slate. He was in one issue of Way of X iirc?