What If We Let People Remember? Marvel Knights 20th #6 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
The Marvel Knights have united in the Baxter Building. Daredevil barely gets Black Panther to stop attacking the Punisher. The “ghost” Karen Page lets the group know that they must get to the top of the tower and find a “Golden Dragon.” Past this “dragon” is the machine that will restore their memories. Meanwhile, Doctor Doom has been ousted by the amnesiac Kingpin, and the Kingpin is intent on taking control of the situation. The Knights must make it past Fisk and his hired guns if they’re ever going to restore their memories.
Marvel Knights 20th #6 brings the miniseries to a close with an explosive finale that pits the Knights against the Kingpin and his forces–and even against the Knights themselves.
Anyone who read Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee’s The Sentry (which I ironically just read in the past week myself) will probably find some familiar themes in the finale to Marvel Knights 20th. The Sentry was a Marvel Knights title itself, so that may not surprise anyone.
Marvel Knights 20th #6 is almost certainly the best issue of the series. It hits a number of high points, and its themes gel pretty well. What The Sentry was for Gold and Silver Age nostalgia, Marvel Knights 20th is for street-level hero as well as superheroes as a whole.
Admittedly, Marvel Knights 20th is far less skeptical or cynical about its heroes; The Sentry tempered its nostalgia with a heavy dose of skepticism of its own premises.
The conclusion is a redux of The Sentry’s own ending, though it, unsurprisingly, goes in the opposite direction (that’s a bit of a spoiler I guess).
Kim Jacinto (speaking of Sentry, but Jeff Lemire as writer instead) and Travel Foreman team up for this issue. Both artists do great work, with Jacinto leaning towards grittier art and Foreman having a slightly more existential edge to his work. The story is divided in such a way that this shift in visuals makes a lot of sense too. Matt Milla’s color work is strong as ever and adds a lot of depth to the general atmosphere of the book.
Marvel Knights 20th #6 is a strong finale to this revival. There is a lot of action and a good bit of heart, and the artwork is great. The theme is a bit interesting, and it pairs fairly well with the aforementioned Sentry by Jenkins and Lee. This one comes recommended and is worth checking out.
Marvel Knights 20th #6 comes to us from writer Donny Cates, artist Kim Jacinto and Travel Foreman with Richard Friend, color artist Matt Milla, letterer VC’s Cory Petit, cover artist Geoff Shaw with Rain Beredo, and variant cover artists Jae Lee with June Chung and Kaare Andrews.
