Black Knight #2
Black Knight #2 is the second chapter in Atlas Comics' only dedicated medieval-adventure solo series of the 1950s — a short-lived but creatively audacious experiment by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely that grafted superhero secret-identity mechanics onto Arthurian mythology at a moment when costumed heroes had been effectively driven from newsstands. The issue deepens the Sir Percy–Lady Rosamund relationship and expands the series' dual-era narrative engine by continuing the Crusader backup strand, which in this issue brings both Richard the Lion-Hearted and Saladin into the Atlas Comics universe for the first time. Those two historical figures would remain part of the broader Black Knight mythos as it was later absorbed into the Marvel Universe proper. The series as a whole — and this issue as a working installment of it — laid the foundational Arthurian lore that Roy Thomas and later writers drew upon when connecting Sir Percy to Dane Whitman, the Black Knight who became a core Avenger.
In "The Vikings," the Saracen warrior El Alemein—revealed to be of Frankish noble blood—joins the Crusaders in a pivotal moment of identity and allegiance. With Saladin challenging King Richard the Lion-Hearted to single combat, El Alemein steps forward, defeats the famed warrior, and earns knighthood as Lord O'Dare. Joe Maneely’s dynamic art and Stan Goldberg’s vibrant coloring bring this swashbuckling tale to life, all in a 10-cent comic from 1955.
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Black Knight #2 was produced entirely within the post-Wertham environment at Atlas Comics, where publisher Martin Goodman and editor-writer Stan Lee were experimenting with genre alternatives to the superhero comics that had fallen out of public favor. Lee scripted the book and Joe Maneely — Stan Lee's most prolific and trusted Atlas-era collaborator — handled both the interior art and the cover for this issue, as he did for the first three issues of the five-issue run. The series was a conscious creative risk: a quasi-superhero title dressed in medieval adventure clothing, hoping to thread the needle between the Comics Code's restrictions and reader appetite for action. Despite the creative ambition, the series ran only five issues before Atlas pivoted further toward westerns and genre anthologies.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated July 1955, released May 16, 1955, published by Atlas Comics (Marvel's 1950s predecessor); written by Stan Lee, art and cover by Joe Maneely.
- The issue's lead story is titled 'The Vikings' — Sir Percy's secret identity is protected when he flees Viking raider Lief the Lucky, then returns as the Black Knight to rescue the kidnapped Lady Rosamund.
- A second Sir Percy story, 'Tournament of Doom!', features Modred conspiring to poison his lance during a tournament and assassinate King Arthur, with the Black Knight foiling the plot.
- The Crusader backup story (featuring El Alemain) is the first Atlas Comics appearance of both Richard the Lion-Hearted and Saladin; El Alemain defeats Saladin honorably in single combat and is knighted as Lord O'Dare by Richard.
- A two-page prose text piece titled 'The Round Table' appears in the issue alongside the comics stories.
- Each of the four stories in this issue was eventually reprinted: 'The Vikings' in Marvel Super-Heroes #13, 'Tournament of Doom!' in Marvel Super-Heroes #14, the Crusader/Camelot siege story in Marvel Super-Heroes #15, and the Crusader origin continuation in Savage Tales #4.
- The complete five-issue run, including all stories from Black Knight #2, was collected in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Black Knight/Yellow Claw Vol. 1 (2009), with restored color reconstruction by Michael Kelleher.
- The series established the template — Sir Percy's Scarlet Pimpernel-style double identity, the Ebony Blade, Merlin as patron, Modred as recurring villain — that Roy Thomas later canonized as the deep history of the Marvel Universe's Black Knight lineage.
Cast · 10 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Black Knight #2 (1955), Black Knight #2 (1955), Black Knight #3 (1956), Black Knight #2 (1960), Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (1968), Marvel Super-Heroes #14 (1968), Marvel Super-Heroes #15 (1968), Savage Tales #4 (1974), Savage Sword of Conan #5 (1975), Svärdet (Sällsamma sagor om det blodiga svärdet med Conan) #2/1975 (1975), Conan le Barbare #9 (1981), Golden Age of Marvel #[nn] (1997), Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Black Knight / Yellow Claw #1 (2009)
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