Very few people know who the Golden Knight is. Even fewer know about Greg Chapian. His name is known by only a few scholars of Golden Age comic books - and even then the details are sketchy. He is recorded as a penciller and inker, responsible for the artwork in  some of the comic strips published by the (now defunct) Fox Comics in the 1940s. Like many creators of that period, his creations were owned by the publisher. All that remains of Mr Chapian are the credits on the stories he created.

The Golden Knight - also known as Richard of Warwick - is Greg Chapian's creation. Greg Chapian sent his character on a series of adventures that grew increasingly bizarre. At first the Golden Knight fought in the Crusades alongside Richard the Lionheart, where he supposedly killed Saladin in combat. Then the Golden Knight travelled back to Europe, fighting demons, sorcerers and aliens along the way. Finally, he even ended up fighting aliens in the depths of space.

I'm not sure how much of these adventures I will use in any of my stories. Some of them can be put down to commercial pressures; others can be put down to authorial whimsy. After all, the obsession with continuity in comic books is a relatively recent phenomenon. However, with my stories, I intend to forge a parallel timeline for the Golden Knight - one the Greg Chapian might appreciate.

John Nedwill