It’s taken a good while for everyone’s favorite all new, all improved edgy goth king to reach the final leg of his journey, but here we finally are: having overcome almost all the odds through the power of “my name’s in the book’s title”, Knull now has one measly little obstacle to get past, namely a second round with Thanos. If you remember last time, that didn’t go too well for the mad titan at all, barely an inconvenience for a Knull who was basically depowered. Will things be different now? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha, remember whose book this? It’s the grand finale with Knull #5.
This issue in particular serves two clear purposes: to effectively set up the upcoming Queen in Black event for this summer, while also capping off Knull’s latest status quo shift to prepare him for that confrontation with Hela. It works effectively to serve both purposes, but things, once again, move way too conveniently for our precious emo light-force princess to get to his goals. But if you’re in it for the sheer comical stupidity of it all and love some gorgeous art in the process, this book probably won’t disappoint you in the slightest. And for all 3 of you Knull superfans out there (including Donny Cates), you’ll probably enjoy this more than most.
White Knight Shining Bright
We start our finale in issue #5 not with a fight but a quick cut away to the one who started all of this in the first place: the new Queen in Black, Hela. Now fully empowered with Knull’s essence, Hela reigns supreme as his successor. But she still feels doubts about the current situation and demands that Tyr, her most loyal and honest servant, to give her an appraisal of the situation. Tyr rightfully points out that while Hela’s plans did work out beautifully in depowering Knull and enforcing her own dominion, Knull’s own unexpected tenacity was definitely proving to be a problem. And while Hela’s plan of forcing a second conflict between Knull and Thanos might work in her favor, it was still best to have a backup plan, to which Hela agrees.
Next we get the much awaited (?) rematch between Knull and Thanos. Both our combatants are prepared in their own way since the last conflict: Knull now armed with the sparkly powers of All-Light and the eternal brightness or whatever, while Thanos comes with some vague “upgrades” and the power of sheer pettiness. Early on Thanos gets the upper hand (like he did last time) and starts beating the paste of out Knull (like last time) while talking his usual nihilistic jargon with a few odd MCU references thrown in because Marvel loves its synergy – especially when it’s not needed. These references in particular of course, enrage Knull – who can’t stand someone being pettier and more of a meta reference for shallow edginess than he is – so he mounts a totally-not-shocking comeback (AGAIN!) before turning Thanos into the biggest Yakitori skewer ever. Big surprise there.
After that the big finale of the book moves into the “setting up Queen in Black” portion of the story: Hela and Tyr, while arguing over Thanos’ “death”, decide to move their forces to a staging ground of that will benefit them before Knull shows up. Meanwhile, Knull takes control of Thanos’ orphaned Outrider army, transforming them with the power of bright lights into sparkly white space dragons that he needs for his next goal: to go and wipe out all the heroes who cost him his powers in the first place. Not Hela. Not anyone recently. But Eddie Brock and all the other dweebs back on Earth are at the top of Knull’s hit list. And of course, conveniently enough Earth is also where Hela is heading. Cue big dramatic event music!
A Veritable Smorgasbord of Convenient Chaos
Al Ewing and Tom Waltz have done their fair share throughout this series to establish Knull as a revitalized threat to the galaxy, even as his plucky little journey to new found levels of hater-energy and atomic-weapons grade pettiness remains unchanged. Does Knull develop as a character? Can’t really develop something he never had. Is he amusing to follow? Sure, without a doubt. Is there a compelling storyline here? Kinda, but it’s just 5 issues of a Skyrim-style fetch quest chain. What is interesting and will keep readers steady to the bitter end is the sheer insanity of everything going on here, for the most part.
More than a lot of the previous issues, we get more background for Hela’s own plans in this one. As the chief architect of Knull’s fall and rise to new power, Hela has naturally taken a bit of a back seat to the titular edge-lord for most of the series. As we circle back to conclusion, its important to still frame Hela as a threat, even if she herself doesn’t have the full picture despite all her newfound powers. I appreciate how Hela has been framed and for the most part her plans have made sense and worked out in her favor to nudge Knull in a certain direction while also strengthening her own newfound dominion at his expense. As far as setups for major players go when it comes to future events, this could’ve been much worse but it’s perfectly serviceable. And having Tyr be her trusted advisor, who she actually listens to, was refreshing. It could’ve been so easy for Ewing and Waltz to just have Hela brute force her way through her own plan, since she was a goddess with power over the realm of the dead once. But having her as a monarch who is willing to play ball with people who might know better, especially considering new marvel cosmos where Asgard no longer exists is an interesting take. Will this trend continue into Queen in Black itself? That remains to be seen.
Knull himself doesn’t have any particular revelations in this issue that he hasn’t already developed over the last few issues. Ultimately, the void of silence works just fine, regardless of if he has enough money to pay the electricity bills or not. So the harshness of his new status as the lord of light isn’t something particularly character defining for him either. In fact, there’s little room for Knull to really think in this issue, when he’s got Thanos barrelling towards him for round two. As far as in-fight banter goes, there’s nothing spectacular. Between the painfully forced metaphors and the MCU references, there’s the back-and-forth about who’s the bigger hypocrite: Knull for giving up his darkness to embrace the light in his quest for power or Thanos for doing the bidding of someone else? It’s a pointless argument in all honesty, and just like before Thanos is almost near-effortlessly taken down by Knull’s latest shiny cosmic toothpick. It was hard to watch Thanos be smacked around this badly the first time two issues ago, and it’s just about the same here. Thanos has been a punching bag in most books for a while now, but this series in particular has been the most egregious beating he’s gotten, reducing him to an almost z-level villain of the week who gets his cheeks clapped by every 90s anti-villain ever. It’s a hell of a fall from grace, with fans and readers alike definitely having to make peace with that fact if they want to enjoy the great art, because the writing really will make you want to infinity snap the universe in half.
Power scaling issues aside, Knull #5 serves its purpose at somehow getting all the players in position for the next big event. As played out as the “chessboard” references have been throughout the book, it’s a bit more obvious here when there’s no real scope for tactics other than convenience. With both Knull and Hela racing towards Earth for their latest climactic finale, despite having strangely opposing goals – the resolution to this event feels less like anything worth saying about the series itself and more by the numbers set up for Marvel’s mandated summer event. But in all honesty, that’s probably for the best. Because what more can you say about a book where the titular character truly has no real character to speak of?
Art Above All Else
The one thing this series and this finale in particular has excelled at, however, has been the excellent art by Juanan Ramirez and Erick Arciniega on lines and colors respectively. They really have gotten the perfect platform with this series to flex their grimdark use of light and dark shades in some truly vibrant ways, and this issue is the culmination of that artistic vision – as bloody and dark as it is.
Ramirez’s opening to this issue is a particularly strong one, with a gorgeous shot of Hela looking the part as the new Queen in Black in all her dark glory. There’s so much regality going on here that captures the core of Hela’s character while also playing up her newfound status quo expertly. For the rest of the book, Ramirez gets to work on a lot of epic framing with splash pages galore and brutal fight sequences in all their majesty. There’s a very heavy metal feel to the art that’s been the best part of the series, from Knull with his teeth and tongue flapping around to the bloody space-operatic levels of grim dark violence in this one on one conflict. There’s more than enough to enjoy on the art front.
Not to be outdone by his partner, Arciniega continues to show everyone why he’s one of the best colorists in the business, by expertly showing the clash between light and dark shades in stark fashion. He really manages to make Knull’s new light-based cosmic powers feel just as intimidating and deadly as his shadow ones of the past, with harsh colors at play and crackling energy saturating the pages. The interplay of blood and light and shadow within Ramirez’s splash pages is one of the best sights to behold in this book thanks to Arciniega’s deft hands and eye for color.
Ramping Up Towards the Next Summer Event
To put it bluntly, Knull #5 ended exactly as it should have: with the titular evil-prince charming locked and loaded to show the universe that he’s back and he’s a bigger hater than ever before. It concurrently positions his adversary Hela as setting her own goals in motion – two pieces on a cosmic chessboard that are somewhat unintentionally yet incredibly conveniently hurtling towards each other with Earth caught in the middle. It’s a fun finale that hits every note it setup since its first issue, and for better or worse it achieves its bare bones goals rather effortlessly.
If not for the incredible art, this would’ve been a relatively forgettable title in the long list of Marvel cosmic titles that have fallen into the abyss of memory. And especially for a bland character at Knull that felt almost inevitable, but this creative team has done the best they can with the hand they’ve dealt – as tired, by-the-numbers and infuriating as some of the story beats have been at points. But the end is now upon us, with this wacky little title ending as ramp towards the next big event. Nothing more, nothing less but more than expected when you have Knull as the big money maker for a character led-title like this.
Final Verdict: Knull #5 caps off a serviceable little reinvention for everyone’s favorite titular edgelord, with exquisite art and some comical levels of plot armor that serve its only real goal to set up the next big summer symbiote event in Marvel’s calendar.