Shining Knight (Sir Justin)
Shining Knight is the name of three fictional superheroes in the DC Comics universe. The first of which was created by Joseph Samachson and appeared in Adventure Comics #88 in 1941.
Character history
| Shining Knight I | |
|---|---|
 Shining Knight and Victory | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Adventure Comics (Vol. 1) #88 (September 1941) |
| Created by | Joseph Samachson |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Sir Justin |
| Team affiliations | Seven Soldiers of Victory, Justice Society of America, All-Star Squadron |
| Notable aliases | Justin Arthur |
| Abilities | Swordsmanship, can fly on winged horse "Victory". |
Sir Justin
The knight Sir Justin was a member of the Knights of the Round Table in King Arthur's Court who was given by the wizard Merlin a magical suit of armor and sword, as well as a winged horse named Victory. During one of his adventures in Arthurian England, he became trapped in an avalanche and was buried under several feet of snow and ice, freezing him in suspended animation (similar to the origin of Captain America). He later thawed out in the 1940s and fought crime using the skills he gained as a knight under the alias Justin Arthur. During his career as a superhero, he met a boy who looked up to him and vowed to be his sidekick, taking the name Squire.
Shining Knight soon joined the super-hero groups the Seven Soldiers of Victory and the All-Star Squadron, as well as serving as personal bodyguard to Sir Winston Churchill during World War II.
Gardner Grayle
During DC's Silver Age event (not to be confused with the actual DC Silver Age), Dick Giordano and Geoff Johns created a new Seven Soldiers of Victory to fight an Injustice League possessing the bodies of the Justice League. Gardner Grayle, who would later become the Atomic Knight, took an experimental suit of armor and called himself Shining Knight for this one mission. This version of the Seven Soldiers with Batgirl, Deadman, Metamorpho, Blackhawk, Adam Strange and Mento only served in one mission and the Shining Knight armor was destroyed.
| Shining Knight III | |
|---|---|
 Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight #2. Art by Simone Bianchi. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Seven Soldiers: Shining Knight #1 (August 2005) |
| Created by | Grant Morrison (Based on Joseph Samachson's original character). |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Sir Ystin |
| Team affiliations | Seven Soldiers of Victory, Knights of the Broken Table |
| Abilities | Swordmanship, can fly on winged horse "Vanguard". |
New Seven Soldiers Version: Sir Ystin
In 2005, a new Shining Knight debuted in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers. This new Shining Knight is also named Sir Justin (which he pronounces "Ystin") and has a winged horse but is much more out of place in the modern age.
Ystin is clearly a Celtic mythology version of the original Shining Knight (who was based more on the quasi-medieval setting of Sir Thomas Malory). The story explains that Camelot is a recurring archetype. Ystin comes from about 8,000 BC, long before the 6th century Camelot of Sir Justin.
Template:Spoiler Ystin, a long-haired young Knight of the Broken Table, is knighted by Sir Galahad just before the fall of Camelot (in the story, the knights of Camelot speak Welsh). He and his winged horse Vanguard confront the Sheeda-Queen, who takes them to Castle Revolving, the floating fortress of the Sheeda. She casually informs him that she has stolen the sword Excalibur, one of the Seven Imperishable Treasures. Ystin breaks free, steals Excalibur, and escapes from the Castle - only to fall to earth in modern Los Angeles, some 10,000 years later. There, he is confronted by Guilt, a Sheeda Mood 7 Mind Destroyer, who 'kills with words'.
Guilt informs him that the Sheeda broke Camelot and created a nightmare kingdom in its place, ruled by the undead King Mordredd. Without the goodness of Camelot to inspire them, the kingdoms of Avalon (which took up all the world) committed suicide. Guilt taunts Ystin, saying that if Ystin had not run away, the war might have been won. However, when Ystin saves a homeless man from some thugs, Guilt evaporates. Ystin, newly enlightened, seeks out the police.
The police contact two women: Agent Helligan, a metahuman specialist for the NSA, and Miss Friday, an expert on pre-Atlantean civilsation at UCLA. With Friday's shaky grasp of Welsh, they learn of Ystin's predicament. Helligan notes that Ystin's story of pale fairy people in a Revolving Castle sounds similar to modern UFO abduction stories. Suddenly, as the clock strikes midnight, Friday reveals that she is really the Sheeda-Queen, who promptly incapacitates Ystin before poisoning Helligan. Back at Castle Revolving, she reveals that Ystin is not the last of the Knights: in the final days of the Age of Camelot, she kidnapped Galahad and broke his spirit, remaking him as a sexist brutish cannibal. There, he discovers Ystin's secret: he is a girl in disguise. Ystin uses Galahad's surprise to kill him.
There is a sub-plot, which concerns Vincenzo the Undying Don, the leader of the Los Angeles underworld, who acquires Vanguard from the police. He also owns the second of the Seven Imperishable Teasures, the Cauldron of Rebirth and Plenty. Ne-Bu-Loh and Spyder, servants of the Sheeda-Queen, kills Vincenzo in the hopes that he will lead them to the Cauldron. He does, remarking when he emerges that 'These are the end times, when we make peace with what we are'. Vincenzo and his servitors all die, but Vanguard escaped to Gorias, to get reinforcements for the final battle.
In other media
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Shining Knight I currently appears in Justice League Unlimited and was featured in episodes like Task Force X and Dark Heart. The original Shinning Knight from the comics is shown here with its horse, Pelagasus. His voice actor has yet to be credited.