Review: Knight Terrors #1 (of 4)
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Nesi, Caspar Wijngaard
Color Artist: Frank Martin, Caspar Wijngaard
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Review by Davydh Tidey
Knight Terrors #1 kicks off the horror-themed DC event proper, and takes some… surprising turns along the way, to say the least.
Nightmares! Reanimation! Batman! What more could DC give?!
The Sick
The moment I died was my greatest performance.”
– Deadman
The Trinity are down. Even Batman has been put to sleep by the sleeping sickness, there has to be no hope left now, right?
Except… he’s still up and fighting… how?!
The real hero of this story is how, our very own Boston Brand, the Deadman! Boston is fighting like hell in the borrowed body, but there’s only so much he can do against Insomnia on his own. He’ll need some particularly special help to see this one through…
The Dying
Because you know what they say…”
– Deadman
Joshua Williamson wastes no time launching into this. We already had Knight Terrors: First Blood after all, we’ve got all the context we need, so straight to the action!
I complimented the use of Boston Brand in my previous review, and I stand by it here. The asides of Boston talking about his time and death in the circus are fantastic snippets into the psyche of the character. They paint such a vivid mental picture, with the restrained art not giving you any of it and letting you imagine from his words and facial expressions alone. Wonderful bit of storytelling here.
The main story provides a link to a previous story and the wider DC universe as a whole, while also giving context to the biggest mystery; who is Insomnia? Well, as Boston himself puts it, “You’re just some dude.”
THAT ending has me completely intrigued to see where this goes, as well. I’m hooked, Williamson. You got me.
…And The Dead!
…the show must go on.”
– Deadman
The alternating artists in Knight Terrors #1 Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Nesi, Caspar Wijngaard and Frank Martin are all on fine form here. I’m a big fan of Camuncoli for Undiscovered Country and Wijngaard for Home Sick Pilots anyway, so seeing their names on this book made me very happy. They’re all firing on all cylinders here. I already mentioned the Deadman asides, but they’re behind some of my favorite recent DC art, and I want to talk about them always.
Conclusion
A strong start for the four-issue miniseries, Knight Terrors #1 puts you straight into it, and looks damn good while doing it.
This event is looking really cool in its early stages, and I’m happy to report that it pulls off its horror motif with style. I know it’s the obvious path to take, but given the last page of this issue (again, WHAT an ending), I feel an appearance from Daniel coming on…
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment