Knights of X

Knights of X #1-5

by Tini Howard (Writer), Bob Quinn (Illustrator)

The gates to Otherworld are closed — and Captain Britain has found herself trapped on the wrong side! Usurpers Merlyn and King Arthur are now in control of the Lunatic Citadel. Furies the size of Sentinels raze villages to the ground in their hunt for the “witchbreed.” Cut off from Krakoa, Betsy Braddock is Otherworld’s only hero — and to save her people, Betsy must recruit a round table of her own! The Knights of X gather to restore the rightful order and rescue desperate mutants — but their quest is about to get so much bigger than that. Can they locate the holy grail of mutantkind? The fate of Otherworld lies at the center of mutantkind’s future. Don’t miss this essential piece of the new Krakoan era!

COLLECTING: Knights of X (2022) 1-5

Genres: Comics, X Men, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Superheroes, Fantasy

152 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2022

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gambit leads half the team to try and save Jaspers from public execution as Betsy leads the other half on a quest for the Siege Perilous; and yes this sounds as banal as it sounds. Marvel looks to deeper expand to its Merlyn-Arthur omniverse; and, yet again manufacture a same-sex relationship out of thin air! I have to advise all x-men universe readers to skip anything UK-centric such a Captain Britain, Wisdom, Excalibur, Knights of X etc. as it all feels rush-written gap-filling and has little resonance with the wider x-men universe reality, with the exception of the character and background development of Rachel Summers. A 5 out of 12, Two Stars for yet another waste of my reading time, even a guest appearance by Jubilee can't save this one for me. Although if this is read as a stand alone I suppose it is OK, as there are multiple points of back story recollection.

2024 read

[johnny ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i expected too much. love the lesbians though. hell yeah betsy!!!

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of fantasy but I feel like there comes a point where superhero and fantasy shouldn’t mix. This mixes the genres too much it makes things far too convoluted. Especially since I have literally never heard of Otherworld until I started reading the Excalibur series that preceded this. I’m just grateful this was only a 5 issue series that I did like more than anything over in Excalibur. This isn’t bad, just not for me and requires solid knowledge of the workings of Otherworld before reading.

[Khurram · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not expecting much from this book. So I could not be disappointed. In fairness, this is probably the best book in the current Excalibur series. It does a decent job of trying up all the loose ends in the series. The trouble is there is so much going on it just feels too rushed. The one big fight is done in one double page.

Betsy Braddock (Captain Britain), is trapped in Otherworld. Which has been taken over by Merlyn. Who has a hatred for all "Witchbreeds" (mutants). The only thing that can help them is storybook magic or a quest. She can make one-stop to recruit who will become the Knight of X.

An ending to this run. It was good to see Gambit more in this book, but I did not really like this series. It is a bot hard to follow and I had to keep checking back and re-reading pages as I seemed to have missed something. The book finishes with a great variant cover gallery (the artwork to this is my faverite part of the book apart from Gambit).

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something editorial is going on here. This was a retitled ongoing book, then it was a mini series. Half of the narrative takes place in Krakoan dossiers. It feels like an entire series is being crammed into exposition between characters. This is a disappointment to see because the previous series worked so well.

[Michael Church · Rating 2 out of 5]

This felt rushed. It felt like there was some dictate that came down saying that this story line, which started back in 2019 as a launch title for Krakoa, needed to be wrapped up and that was that. The story itself is still interesting, it just felt like nothing had enough time to breathe.

The cast was an excellent ensemble, but none of them got to shine. Bei is a breakout star and barely got any emphasis. Kylun is a relatively deep cut who gets zero chance to develop. Even main characters like Remy barely have much time on panel, and I suspect it’s because the book was being canceled to be rebranded as Captain Britain in the next wave of titles. Which seems like a weird move, because if I know my Marvel history, Captain Britain didn’t get much notoriety until joining the cast of Excalibur (I know Moore’s run is celebrated, but I think it was limited in circulation at the time).

So yeah. Everything feels rushed, even plot threads from the last book like Betsy and Rachel’s romance. It is so rushed in fact that if I hadn’t been aware of it and forcing myself to remember all the buildup in Excalibur, it would almost feel forced. I know it’s not, but when the two are stuck on separate teams with mostly separate quests for this entire mini series, that kiss kind of comes out of left field. Partially because this already feels so disconnected from Excalibur and the previous build up.

Which is another concern of mine going forward. I loved seeing Rictor and Gambit and Jubilee and Meggan (and previously Brian) in these issues. I’m nervous for where we will even see them showing up now with the shift to Captain Britain likely focusing more on Otherworld characters, Betsy, Rachel, Brian, and Meggan. I know Jubilee spins off into Exterminators, which is another miniseries. I guess there’s a new Rogue and Gambit series. Change just makes me sad, ok. Sue me.

The art is solid throughout, but with the other concerns I have, that’s more of an afterthought. I do dislike some of the designs. Like Betsy barely looks like Captain Britain when she’s in Otherworld. Rachel’s costume is kind of neat, but it’s also pretty plain.

So the value of this is really going to depend on how much it becomes required reading for the next series and how good Captain Britain turns out to be. Like some other series (cough Marauders cough), what was once one of my favorite books has swiftly fallen off. I’m still hopeful and still think there’s more good than bad in the X-Lineup, though.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never really enjoyed Tini Howard's overly wordy, painfully complex Excalibur series, but I appreciated the world-building, especially as it played out in X of Swords. Knights of X builds on that mini-series, finding Captain Britain and the Britain Corps stuck in Otherworld, hemmed in by Merlyn and Arthur's forces. All gates to Krakoa have been closed off and life for mutants in Otherworld is looking extremely dire.

Roma crafts a quest for Captain Britain that draws in a few old Excalibur friends for help finding a magical doodad that can re-open a gate. Like all quests, the plot points are predictable, but the characters are well chosen and have smart arcs, and the many realms of Otherworld offer intriguing backdrops. As was the case in the initial Excalibur run, I sometimes felt like I was missing crucial backstory, but overall, Knights of X worked well on its own. The conclusion promises potentially more Otherworld adventures, but this was also a nice one-and-done X-verse read (with swell art!). Surprisingly recommended.

[Aisling · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75
Not nearly as good as the Excalibur series that preceding this one. The quest felt a little generic and unimportant.

[Mads ✨is balls deep in the Animorphs reread✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

I had such high hopes for this, but it's a bit of a hot mess. The script struggles for space, and we hop through the realms of Otherworld so quickly that there's no time to appreciate and explore the rich world building, or do more than skim over the story arcs jostling for page space. Arthur vs Mordred? Rachel as Askani? Court intrigue at the citadel? Apocalypse's legacy? The spiritual quest of the Knights of X?? The battle for control of 12 different Otherworld realms and all the side characters therein?? Whatever the fuck Brian is doing right now? The relationship between Otherworld and Krakoa?? Betsy's life and the future of the Captain Britain Corps??? Shogo and Jubilee?!??!?!?! Yes all of this and more, and everything is happening RIGHT NOW ON TOP OF EACH OTHER IN 2 SECONDS!!!!!!!

This culminates in an ending that's really rushed and a key battle happening mostly off page, with Gambit a touch OOC throughout and his semi-death feeling unearned (though fortunately immediately reversed). Meanwhile Betsy gainfully tries to provide a throughline of just being there and moving foward without any distracting character development of her own, whilst she and Jim Jespers clunk their way through awkward "Briticisms" (seriously, just get ONE Brit to check read!!!) in a script that's trying to cover so many cool ideas at once that it can't do any of them real justice.

The art is gorgeous, there's no question about that, and overall that's what this is riding on. Particularly Yanick Paquette and Alejandro Sánchez's covers -- they're absolutely stunning. There are delightful little touches studded throughout the panels, including Shogo's wailing and cute crayoned thought bubbles, one of Betsy's corps being a swan (adorable!!!) and the absolutely gorgeous panel of Betsy and Rachel making out in the sky surrounded by pastel rainbow butterflies. LET'S GO LESBIANS!!! 🌈🦋💜🌈🦋💜

(Haters still reaaaally hate it when hot and also made up same sex characters with incredibly gay hair cuts make out, to which I say, I'm very sorry that your brains are so tragically hetero and your lives are so devoid of queerness and joy that you couldn't imagine this happening. Get better soon!)

See what I mean? This is unabashed fantasy, there's SO much colour and frothy goings on, and so much of it is delightful, but it's also all a total mess which needed 3 more episodes and a story with room to stretch its legs.

Ultimately I'm just never going to like the post POX and HOX, LAVA MAGIC ISLAND RESURRECTION MUTANT COUNCIL!!!!!! X-men as much as things were back in the classic good old stories which were tethered to the real world and foregrounded contemporary social and political themes. I would have enjoyed this more if it had cut out Krakoa all together, and actually really focused on the narrative implications of a genuine old school style medieval quest and court intrigue within a 100% fantasy Otherworld narrative.

Nonetheless, I love Arthurian fantasy, I love when worldbuilding goes absolutely ham, and I will forgive literally anything for Betsy in every single one of her guises, ESPECIALLY the more recent Captain Britain ones.🙏

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my favorite volume of this new Krakoan-age Excalibur. Here, the same group we remember are back and in Otherworld trying to save mutants. This version of Otherworld is much cooler than the old Excalibur days and filled with less nonsense as the X Of Swords event. Things have a weird way of making since. I loved Betsy here as well as Rachel, Gambit, and Meggan. The antagonists are who we've come to expect but the inclusion of some old school X-Men story devices were interesting. I think the book won't be easy to pick up without a bunch of X-title reading but I enjoyed it. Bob Quinn's art was very good. Overall, this book is a weird but enjoyable mutant adventure.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is basically vol. 5 of Excalibur

[Jonathon O'Neal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly Written Fanfic

I have been reading X-Men for 30 plus years and the line has turned to utter garbage in the last few. Knights of X is probably the worst of the lot. The story makes no sense and barely explains what it is trying to do. It jumps around. It makes up a lot of its own continuity. Comic art is intrinsic in telling a story. On a surface level the artwork here is beautiful, but it lacks storytelling focus. It is a large part of why the story sets up a lot of non-sequiturs. Things happen without explanation or proper setup. I do not recommend.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvel can dress this up however they like, but this is basically Volume 5 of Excalibur, drawing on all the story threads from Tini Howard's earlier run to move those plotlines forward.

There's a sense that Howard had a bigger plan in mind here, but had to wrap up quicker than she intended. The story is going to continue elsewhere, so I'm not sure if that was entirely necessary, but it does mean that the pacing is off as we go through. The set-up's fairly slow, then everything kind of explodes in issue 3 and doesn't slow down until issue 5 comes to a screeching halt. It's not bad, per se, just a bit of an unnecessary roller coaster ride.

The plot itself is fun, I'm all for a mystic quest type deal, and the whole idea of the Siege Perilous has always intrigued me even if I've never read a story with it in. That said, there's definitely a sense that this might actually be a story that Howard wants to tell and kind of has to force the X-Men characters into at times, especially when Mordred shows up and steals the spotlight for like an entire issue.

Bob Quinn's on art for these issues, and he's fine? It's not my favourite work of his, but it does the job well enough, especially for such an off-kilter X-book.

Knights Of X has a lot going for it, but it also seems to work against itself at times. I'm not sure if it's the limited issue count or something going behind the scenes, but it definitely doesn't recapture the magic that the previous Excalibur run had, even if I'm still invested enough to want to know what happens next.

[Trevor Dailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the Tini Howard Experiment has finally failed. This was fine, but you could definitely tell the book was cancelled as everything was suddenly resolved.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another journey in Otherworld!
With the Avalon Gate closed Earthside by Merlyn, the mutants currently trapped in Otherworld are stuck there till another way to the outside can be restored. Betsy goes to see Lady Roma (daughter of Merlyn, but opposed to his hatred of mutants (called witchbreed in Otherworld)), who gives her a quest: She must find the Siege Perilous so that a way back to Krakoa can be restored. Briefly giving her a portal to Krakoa, Betsy brings help back with her: Askani, Meggan, Bei, Rictor, Shatterstar, Gambit, Shogo, and a younger reborn version of Mordred. Dealing with a resurrected King Arthur, as well finding and conquering the quest of the Siege Perilous is the majority of the story, but it really only serves two purposes:
1) Captain Britain is now a protector of the multiverse and is no longer a bound subject to Lady Saturnyne, along with the rest of the Captain Britain Corps. (Betsy is also now in a relationship with Rachel!)
2) With a mutant controlled portal to Krakoa reopened, resurrection from a death in Otherworld is no longer a hassle or a problem. (This is a huge thing!)

Overall, the book was good, and a fun read. Glad to see the Betsy stuff heading in a new direction...
Recommend.

[Sam Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man I do not know how to feel about this book. On one hand, issue three is some of the best and most positive Shatterstar/Rictor development we’ve gotten in at least a decade (which I appreciate the HELL out of) but also this story was just SO RUSHED. We didn’t get enough time with this story at all. The ending was rushed as all hell. Gambit dying didn’t seem to be really resolved (yet again more hinting but doing little to nothing with Gambit’s Death Persona) we didn’t get a farewell with the other characters except for Betsy and Rachel. This is a terrible “team” book, in that regard. But I really do appreciate how well Shatterstar was written, I enjoyed Rictor’s depression being a focal point of his character, I just don’t KNOW how I feel about this book. But at least I’m done with it. I do think it should have just been a continuation of the Excalibur series instead of a mini series, because it makes no sense without having read those books before this.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

What do you do with a plot that nobody cares about and characters that have had no sense of purpose since the start of Krakoa? Throw them into Otherworld and rename them.

Excalibur or the 'Knights of X' = where stories go to die

This feels like it should have been another volume of Excalibur. Why rebrand it, unless you needed to take excessive time away from the project? It's essentially a continuation of where things were at the end of last volume. All the players came back AND we got some deeper cuts into the larger history of classic Excalibur characters. We end up finally connecting Otherworld back to Krakoa and perhaps putting an end to the whole Rictor as a shaman spiel.

Also, Mister M still looks WAY too much like Xavier.

Bonus: Did you blink and miss it? It's an Adam X cameo!
Bonus Bonus: Shoutout to '198'! Decimation is a deep cut and welcome back Mr. M

[James Flemming · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rushed, confusing

Rushed, confusing, and a few 'what.' moments.

It was a bit hard to follow what was going on and probably would have been better off stretched out into a longer series.

I love Rictor and Shatterstar, and I still don't understand and am not a fan of Rictor's adoration for the mutant formerly known as Apocalypse.

The Betsy/Rachel thing also seemed a bit rushed. They didn't seem to have had that much time together yet are already madly in love.

I'm also a bit confused about what happened to Gambit and Rogue at the end.

[Allaiyah Weyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoyed Xcalibur, Knights of X picks up where it left off & tosses you headfirst into a war between Merlyn's royal army & mutants with a slight roster change, & the slow build-up to the romantic tension between Betsy Braddock & Rachel Summers finally culminates, a long-dead character not previously known to have been a mutant is resurrected, & an old fan favorite will die & eventually be resurrected changed.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok so my listening to 'Jay and Miles Explain the X-Men' podcast (old episodes explaining/recapping the Captain Britain stuff before Excalibur) helped me understand a lot of what was going on in this, since before this I never picked up a Captain Britain book or dealt with the Marvel Arthurian stuff, so weirdly enough I just listened to those episodes within the last few days (just started listening to the podcast a few weeks ago). Before the podcast (which i started because i really wish I had more real life friends that are obsessed with X-Men: I've been on a kick recently) and book I never really dealt with Captain Britain, just Psylocke/Betsy and I've always really liked her, so when I stumbled upon a Tumblr post scan of her and Rachel Summers together (also one of my favorite characters) from the series (you know the scene!!l) I had to give it a try. While the romance was a surpise for me, I always thought Rachel would be with Kitty, but then again I'm just picking up all these most recent Krakoa era after years of not really reading any new stuff, so I may have missed stuff. But it was a very cute surprise and I can't wait to see more of it.

Anyway, the book is pretty good, writing was easy to understand with at least an old-ish/some knowledge about Meryln, Roma, Arthur and Saturnyne.

I think I have vague memories of Mr. M, but not really, but it was nice to see Rachel, Betsy, and Meggan again. I'm not really a Gambit fan, but I'm sure people are happy to see him in this, he has a few good moments. It was nice officially meeting Rictor and Shatterstar for the first time outside of fansites/wikis/TCGs - I wouldn't mind more of them. Second time, but officially meeting Bei in this book (recently read '21-'22 Inferno) since more of her personality is shown here was nice, wouldn't mind a little more background on her but it's nice to know she really does love Douglas. Shogo may be my new favorite character though. He's a dragon! But also a baby? I don't know, but I will be doing research and more reading because he was adorable and I love it.

The art is amazing and I think my favorite page is the Rachel & Betsy one ❤️ (you know the one!🦋🐦‍🔥😘)

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Merlyn, King Arthur and their Furies have deposed Saturnyne from the Starlight Citadel, and renamed it the Lunatic Citadel. The mutants of Otherworld have been cut off from Krakoa since the events of "X of Swords", and so the new Captain Britain assembles a new team (basically a reskinned Excalibur) known as the Knights of X. Coming from the ashes of Tini Howard's Excalibur run is Knights of X, and it's a marginal improvement. The dynamics between Saturnyne and Betsy Braddock remain a delight, and this book does a better job fleshing out individual team members a bit better than before. And though Knights of X starts off pretty strong, it doesn't take long before the series gets the same rushed pacing that the previous Excalibur books had going for it. There are lots of crammed action sequences, sudden deaths and jumps in the narrative that make the final few issues difficult to digest. This is has much stronger ideas than the previous four volumes of Excalibur did, but it's hampered by pacing issues and overall execution. Bob Quinn's artwork is mostly serviceable - it works for the book but doesn't do much to stand out amongst the other X-titles currently running.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

At this stage, I find myself asking who is the bigger idiot; Tini Howard who wrote this nonsense, or me for continuing to read it. The answer is probably both.

After dozens of issues of comics under the belt you’d think this writer would have improved, but if anything she’s gone backwards.

At this stage someone should be tapping her on the shoulder and pointing her towards another career, but no, Marvel and DC will continue to destroy their properties that built up followings over decades by stubbornly giving work to creators who are completely out of their depth.

If you are an X-Line completionist and feel you must read this, read the summary at the start of issue 5 on Marvel Unlimited and skim the issue.

Very little of worth happens here and it’s not worth the pain. In fact very little happens between issue 1 and 5 at all.

The dialogue in this run is particularly awful, written by someone who does not seem to have lived any sort of life offline. No-one speaks like this

[Ernesto Jun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can tell that Tini Howard intended the storyline in these five issues to go on maybe 3 or 4 times longer, but unfortunately, this series was canceled before readers could see how the tale would have originally unfolded.

First, the team's lineup is maybe one of my favorites of all time. I'm glad they brought back Kylun. I'm glad that Rictor and Shatterstar are in a team together and lovers again.

But, a lot of things happened, developed, and resolved abruptly. Kylun was given nothing to do. Gambit was seemingly killed and came back a few issues later. The Captain Britain/Rachel Summers romance came out of left field. The enemies, hyped up to be supremely powerful, were defeated easily.

I'll be nice and give this 3 stars.

[Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do I say about this other than AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GAY SCREAMING

*coughs* ok, now that that's out of my system... This is an incredible story. Tini Howard's Excalibur was one of my faves of the Krakoan era, and this doesn't disappoint as a follow-up. The team is fantastic, the story is well told, beautifully drawn and paced, and so much fun to read. Highly recommended to anyone deep in the Destiny of X looking for a great segue into Otherworld for an old fashioned magical quest!

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feels like the ending we should have had back at the end of X of Swords, even. Nothing all that amazing happens here save for there’s no more core power in Otherworld and Mercator (Mr M) is fully back and able to help the mutants resurrect who die in Otherworld, meaning the one interesting narrative caveat there is gone now beyond the setting itself. There were some fine character beats for the Excalibur crew too, but otherwise I think I’m overeating this just out of appreciation that it wrapped up some threads finally.

[Clint · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Krakoa completionism is the main thing keeping me reading Howard’s X-men comics at this point. I’ve found her Otherworld thread to be consistently promising in concept and disappointing in execution, and this limited series continues the trend. These issues in particular feel like a bad attempt at a Kieron Gillen comic (Die or Once and Future especially), except with none of the charm or cleverness that make his distinct style work so well. Howard writes so much dialogue and so little of it is interesting or engaging. Solid art and a fun team composition, though.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is straight up a continuation of Excalibur, which is good because Excalibur denied us an ending. We do get that ending here, but it's super-rushed as if the author suddenly discovered that #5 was the final issue.

Nevertheless, it's a fun melding of fantasy quest and X-men with a good focus on all of its characters and a fine (though rushed) finale for the big Otherworld story that Howard has been telling.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series always LOOKed good because of Bob Quinn. Too bad I never, ever needed an X-Men book going ALL IN on Arthurian legend. I know that's Excalibur's thing, but it's been avoidable until the Krakoan-era where so much of the sci-fi high concept of House/Powers became magic stuff and Otherworld is mentioned sooooo much. I wish I could have been into this book considering the cast and art, but it never happened.

[Thomas Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ending that Excalibur should have had. A satisfying resolution for a lot of the arcs set up in that series, and I appreciate Howard finally making Rachel textually gay after decades of it being (barely) below the surface subtext. Also, I liked Bob Quinn’s art in Legion of X, and this feels like a level up for him. Another solid entry into the best era of the X books.