Knights of X #5: Goodbye to you..

Egads my fair Otherworlders! Welcome to the final installment of the Knights of X by X-alums Tini Howard and Bob Quinn, where we’ve been party to dragons, magic, mutants, and an end to the war that looked to overwhelm Otherworld, destroy the Witchbreed, and make the Star-light Citadel in their own dark designs, so let’s get down to business…

This whole mini has been uneven, and clunky, and the same can be said for this issue here. The storyline has been treading water, with the payoff being rather lackluster. The entire final battle is relegated to just a few panels, and felt more like an afterthought. The majority of the story centered around Gambit’s death from last issue, and figuring out how his death will affect him upon resurrection, and if he’ll end up like Rockslide after “X of Swords.” 

Inside the Siege Perilous, Mister M, an omega level matter manipulator, explains to the group of heroes, and escorts them to Gambit’s literal house of cards. See, Gambit died while trying to use the Death card from Saturnyne’s tarot deck, but as with all things in Otherworld, and magic, not all is as it seems. The death card in a tarot deck does not mean literal death, but change, and that’s exactly what happens. For new fans, there was a time around 15 years ago that Gambit was transformed into Apocalypse’s horseman Death, and that’s the character that the Knights are forced to deal with. While an interesting development that could have put some much needed growth in Gambit, but alas, it came to a close here. 

The best part of the issue came at the close of the story, where it was shattered, and felt like it became a kingdom within the Otherworld as well. With this development, it created a change that would end up fixing those who died within Otherworld, where they would come back as empty, soulless husks of who they once were. The other highlights of the issue was the art. Quinn’s art was really giving this mini and the characters some visual presence that made this somewhat mediocre and dull story some gravity.