Lord Odion has a new toy, ho! ho! ho! Will Kerra Holt be the Grinch and put a stop to his plans in the penultimate issue of Knight Errant – Escape, out last week?
Previously, Kerra Holt has infiltrated Lord Odion’s acolytes to search out the whereabouts of her parents, who had been forced by Odion to track down the Helm of Ieldis, a Sith artifact. Now, a three-way battle rages around the hiding place of the helmet, with Lords Malakite’s and Daiman’s forces in the fray. And Odion wins the prize – but what does it do? And I’m not going to spoil it, except to say what would you expect a dark side artifact to do — cause rather nasty destruction.
But since this isn’t the end of the story arc, there’s something even more sinister afoot, and Kerra might have a chance to do something about it – and she might have an unlikely ally to help her. This issue brings some surprises, including a revelation that changes what we knew about our hero’s past. It also brings some resolution to part of the story, but of course, sets itself up for a really big and emotionally charged finale. Miller brings in his trademark competing Sith philosophy through the Helm’s mantra (see another one starting up in Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral), and we see Kerra manage to break through the defenses of one of Odion’s followers. Plus, despite the situation she’s in, Kerra keeps her wits and taunts her captors, showing that though beaten, she is never broken.
Marco Castiello draws most of the issue (with some pencil assists by Andrea Chella and inks by Vincenzo Acunzo with colors by Michael Atiyeh), and I feel there are some pretty spectacular panels in this issue. Odion gets some great shots, though periodically, with that helm on, I feel like he’s some sort of Juggernaut-Magneto-luchador combo. There are some great detailed battle scenes, including some melee between Malakite’s beast riders. Some of these full action panels must’ve been a comic artist’s dream to do (or perhaps nightmare to actually draw) – but some of the panels with the most resonance are later in the story, when Kerra gets a message from the past.
The current story arc has the Kerra Holt storyline riding high, and perhaps with the end (for the moment?) of Knight Errant, maybe all the stops will get pulled out for an epic conclusion.