DC Comics is going to be ending their summer with the Knight Terrors event continuing to dominate their publishing plans for August. While Knight Terrors will continue its takeover of most DC Comics titles it doesn’t mean that is all that is going on in the DCU. There are other things outside the Dawn Of DC’s first big event that will be going on. What are those things? Find out with our five takeaways from DC Comics August 2023 solicitations.
1) KNIGHT TERRORS BIG CONCLUSION
As of now DC Comics looks to keep their promise of Knight Terrors being a two month event. With Joshua Williamson at the helm there is very little doubt we will see any delays. Especially as Giuseppe Camuncoli, Steefano Nesi, and Caspar Wijngaard all handling the artwork for the final two issues of Knight Terrors.
And it appears that at least the closer we get to the end of the main Knight Terrors event Williamson will focus in on Deadman as the one that decides things. That is a big step up for Deadman’s character, who has not been used in a while by DC. Though the debuting Dr. Hate brings a lot of questions into what role the new DCU villain will serve in the finale and beyond Knight Terrors.
What Knight Terrors will mean for the DC Universe as a whole is going to be a big question. Because with how DC went with a direction of disrupting the majority of their ongoing titles to have them do two issue tie-in comics was a choice. That would make you think that Knight Terrors will have some sort of impact on all of DC Comics titles. Though with all of the DCU franchises having their own direction it wouldn’t be surprising if the impact of Knight Terrors is only seen in a handful of titles, if not less.
2) DOOMSDAY PREPARING NEXT BIG SUPERMAN EVENT
With the Superman franchise taking an approach we’ve seen from the Batman Family during Dawn of DC it was only a matter of time before we got teases for big event starting to develop. Up to this point all the Superman titles have been doing their own thing. Now things will be changing a bit with the Action Comics Presents: Doomsday Special one-shot in August. Doomsday certainly fits the bill of a big event villain. Though there will need to be some work needed to be done to rebuild Doomsday’s credibility since he doesn’t have that unstoppable monster aura he had when he originally debuted.
Seeing mention that events from Dark Crisis and Lazarus Planet are going to be used to build up the new King Doomsday up is interesting. Given that those events happened back-to-back does hint that in his King Doomsday form the villain will be using the chaos of Dark Crisis and Lazarus Planet as part of his plot. Supergirl and Martian Manhunter being the first to deal with King Doomsday does also create questions for what roles these two characters will serve in the teased Superman event.
3) PENGUIN BACK FROM THE DEAD
Penguin faking his death to get out of his past troubles and torture Batman is what you expect from him. Though given Penguin’s usual luck there was no way he could simply go into hiding without being caught. Penguin always gets caught up in the underworld crime business at some point.
Which brings us to the new Penguin series by Tom King and Rafael de Latorre. That is certainly a top-tier creative team that DC Comics has assembled for the new Penguin series. That does not erase it being hard to see Penguin being able to carry a solo series. Though we have seen Joker and Poison Ivy have sales success in their own solo titles in the past few years. So maybe the Batman villains have momentum for now being the time for Penguin and others to get solo titles.
4) CAN RAVEN ESCAPE LEAVE TRIGON BEHIND
With the Titans never having a bigger spotlight on them in terms of the comic books DC Comics is smart to try to update the origins of the members outside of Nightwing and Flash. We are getting that through the Tales Of The Titans set of one-shots. The first is being dedicated to Starfire. Now for August’s Tales Of The Titans it will be Raven’s turn to have her character explored.
The question is if DC Comics, like Starfire, will let Raven be more than the character we saw originally introduced? Because up to this point any stories related to Raven usually are tied to either Trigon or Brother Blood. That appears to be once again the case with the Cult Of Blood being mentioned for Raven’s Tales Of The Titans one-shot.
Hopefully that is not the only plan for Raven. If it is than DC will continue to have creative problems with Raven as they are afraid of exploring Raven’s character in a deeper way. Afterall, Raven could be positioned as one of the strongest magic wielders alongside Doctor Fate and Zatanna. But until the storytelling can break free from Trigon and Brother Blood, Raven will never get that chance to take steps forward.
5) WHAT IS GOING ON WITH BARRY ALLEN?
Of all the Knight Terrors tie-in one that stands out is the comic book for the Flash. Rather than focusing on Wally West, Knight Terrors: Flash is continuing to focus on Barry Allen. Barry has been MIA with Wally taking over as the main Flash. And that will continue to be the case post-Knight Terrors as the relaunched Flash series will continue to star Wally West.
That all brings to question what plans DC Comics has for Barry Allen. He has become an integral part of the DC Universe and it is odd they have shelved him for Dawn Of DC. Without it being clear when we will get a new Justice League book Barry may just return to his MIA status after Knight Terrors. If DC was smart they would have back-up stories for the new Flash series where Barry, Wallace West, Bart Allen, and other Flash Family members can appear.