Adventure Comics #66 (1941)
by Creig Flessel
By this point in 1941, superhero comics are so popular that they start to absorb other genres.
That’s the only explanation I can imagine for a superhero who is an actual medieval knight.
Also: apologies for the quality of the scans, this is the best I could find.
The story begins in the present day, which is the framing device to explain how the knight ended up in the 20th century.
Our protagonist is Sir Justin, a knight sent by King Arthur himself to defeat a monster.
This is obviously the idealized version of medieval knights, but it does have a bit of realism considering Sir Justin is complaining about the heat’s effect on his armor.
I have a problem with superheroes whose primary weapon is a sword: they barely ever get the chance to use it as a sword!
There ARE heroes that still make it work, but it’s a bit irritating.
Sir Justin then accidentally stabs a tree…
…which just happens to break the spell that imprisoned Merlin.
To show gratitude for being saved, Merlin transmutes Sir Justin’s armor into gold.
Hopefully magic gold, or I can’t imagine that would solve the heat problem.
As if that wasn’t enough, Merlin also gives wings to his horse Victory.
And that’s all Shining Knight needed to do to become a superhero, honestly… just stab a tree.
Thanks to his magic sword and magic horse, Sir Justin is not able to fight the giant Blunderbore.
Yes, that is his actual name.
Unfortunately, once he stabs the giant, Sir Justin falls into the waters of “the northern lands”…
…and conveniently ends up in suspended animation.
After being encased into the resulting iceberg for centuries, Sir Justin is then awakened by an historian blowing up the ice with some dynamite.
As you do.
Hilariously, Sir Justin explicitly mentions the year when he confronts the man.
The knight is consistently amazed by the things he finds in the future.
Him being amazed by cars is perhaps predictable, but he’s also impressed by smaller things like indoor plumbing.
Although I am amazed by how shallow that tub looks.
Well don’t be too harsh on him, most people had probably never even SEEN a fork in the 6th century. For reference, a quick research tells me they didn’t become commonplace among nobility until the 16th century.
He’s also fascinated by girls.
Although let’s be real, he’s probably impressed by the chance to look at both her elbows AND her knees. The scandal!
Noticing someone trying to rob the museum, Sir Justin decides to be the hero by wearing his magic golden armor.
Like some sort of Shining Knight, if you will.
Merlin definitely foresaw that Sir Justin would end up in the future, considering he told him the armor is bulletproof back in the 6th century.
Heck I can think of at least three different versions of Merlin who would send Sir Justin into the future on purpose.
The armor makes him superhuman, but his horse Victory can do more than just fly.
Him thinking the car is a monster is great!
Having found a purporse in this new era, Sir Justin officially becomes Shining Knight.
Historical significance: 4/10
Shining Knight managed a respectful run, but A) he’s doesn’t have a huge impact on the DC Universe, and B) his origin story can be summarized in a sentence, so the specifics don’t matte.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Considering the setting his suspended animation makes sense, but what increases the score is the COMPLETE lack of angst from losing everyone he’s ever known.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Short and sweet. Update the artwork to something modern and give Shining Knight at least SOME angst, and most of the story can be easily done today.
How close is this to the modern character? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever actually read a story featuring Shining Knight where he’s a full character and not someone in the background.
He was notable enough to join the Seven Soldiers Of Victory a few months after his debut (their origin is coming).
Shining Knight lasted much longer than other Golden Age heroes: in 1946 his serial was moved to Adventure Comics, where he was the backup feature to Superboy for an impressive 101 consecutive issues until 1951.
He might have been created by Creig Flessel, but his claim to fame was being drawn by none other than the legendary Frank Frazetta.
And yes, we’re talking about THE Frank Frazetta. I can’t imagine why his painting Egyptian Queen sold for over 5 million dollars while nobody connects him to Shining Knight.
But even that claim to fame isn’t much, since Frazetta drew less than ten Shining Knight stories.
The Seven Soldiers Of Victory eventually returned in 1972’s Justice League of America #100.
Besides very few appearances alongside the other Seven Soldiers, Shining Knight finally got something to do on the pages of All-Star Squadron.
He even got married to fellow superheroine Firebrand, who you might recognize from Crisis where she had a couple of scenes.
She’s later killed by the supervillain Dragon King, as we learn in 2000 on “Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.S. #12”.
Having lost the love of his life, he also has to suffer having to appear in 2004’s Infinity Crisis #5, where his sword is used by supervillain Shadow Thief to kill Firestorm.
He’s had a few appearances here and there, with one of the most recent being “Stargirl Spring Break Special” in 2021.
You better believe that nowadays they DO bring up the angst of being in the wrong century (and also apparently immortal).
As I previously mentioned you’re practically guaranteed to spot Shining Knight whenever there are tons of superheros, because he’s visually very distinctive from the rest.
That’s possibly why he takes up a surprisingly large portion of the famous two-page spread of Crisis On Infinite Earths #5.
And, I believe, why he was in the roster of the Justice League cartoon in its later seasons.
He’s mostly in the background and only rarely has a speaking role, but he is very important to the episode “Patriot Act”. And it’s no coincidence that the episode also features Vigilante, Green Arrow, Speedy and Crimson Avenger.. other Seven Soldiers Of Victory.
It’s a great episode!
He’s also in the Stargirl TV series. I haven’t seen it, but apparently it’s rather good.
What else was in Adventure Comics #66?
Starman gets the cover.
Shining Knight was the second story, followed by Hourman.
Then once again the adventure serial Steve Conrad.
Then the serial Federal Man, which stars one of the oldest DC characters: adventurer Steve Carson goes all the way back to New Comics #2 from 1936 (!!!) and is a Siegel & Shuster creation.
And finally an adventure by the first Manhunter… the detective, not the superhero…
…and Sandman, still wearing his original awesome mask.
