Number 897


Maneely's Black Knight


In January we showed a couple of Atlas war stories drawn by Joe Maneely. Now we've got a couple of stories by Maneely set in the days of King Arthur. The Black Knight lasted just five issues. It was published after the institution of the Comics Code in early '55, but like a lot of attempts to publish comic books that would sell without horror, violence or sex--for sure without horror, and featuring a more camouflaged sex and violence--it didn't last.

The Black Knight was all Maneely for the first three issues, which is why I snapped up this issue at an antiques fair. These are the first two stories of the four from the issue. Three stories in the issue feature the Black Knight, one features The Crusader. I'm aware the Black Knight was revived in the '60s, but our interest here is in Joe Maneely's original mid-1950's version.

From Black Knight #3: