Knight Terrors got off to a rocky start with the Knight Terrors: First Blood prelude one-shot failing to impress. Given that DC Comics is pausing the majority of their normal publishing line-up for the Knight Terrors event this is not a great thing for the company’s next two months. Joshua Williamson has a history of delivering great comic books so Knight Terrors: First Blood may have just been a rare miss. That is certainly what I hope. Let’s find out how Dawn Of DC big event kicks off its opening chapter with Knight Terrors #1.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artists: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stafano Nesi, and Caspar Wijngaard
Colorists: Frank Martin and Caspar Wijngaard
Letterer: Troy Peteri
SYNOPSIS
Pinned to the wall Deadman leaves Batman’s body to enter the body Insomnia has taken over. There Deadman learns all about how long Insomnia has been looking for the Nightmare Stone. Insomnia pushes Deadman out of his mind before Deadman discovers the piece of information he needs.
Back in Batman’s body Deadman escapes to find the person who knows how the Nightmare Stone was created.
As that happens Red Tornado and Zatanna are shown the only heroes who were able to remain awake.
Deadman makes it Wesley Dodds (Sandman) grave. Using the Lazarus Resin that Batman has stored Deadman brings Sandman back in zombified form so they can team up to stop Insomnia. End of issue.
REVIEW
Knight Terrors #1 does not read like a first issue of a big event. This is a direct continuation of Knight Terrors: First Blood which leads to a lot of questions to the need of a prelude chapter if this is how the first issue would go. Knight Terrors #1 being a questionable first issue is just one of the many problems DC Comics faces right out of the gate.
With how Knight Terrors #1 kicks off the Dawn of DC event it does not seem the plan was clear with this big event. This is in no way treated as a true first issue of a big event. After a quick origin story for Deadman we get right into Insomnia pinning Deadman-Batman to a wall as we saw at the end of Knight Terrors: First Blood. This will create immediate confusion for those that did not pick up Knight Terrors: First Blood. And that falls on DC Comics editors and Joshua Williamson for deciding not to make that prelude chapter the first issue. Because the way things kick off in Knight Terrors #1 comes out of nowhere.
Outside of that how bad of a first impression it is, Knight Terrors #1 makes this Dawn of DC event feel very small. That is because save for one page, what is going on in Knight Terrors #1 is presented as happening in one focus area rather than all of Earth. Even when Deadman finds out about Insomnia’s search for the Nightmare Stone the scope of this event is never felt.
This is where starting off Knight Terrors #1 with Deadman’s origin proves to be a poor choice. While its understandable that Williamson wants readers to buy into Deadman as a character it limited the time to the actual story. Much of the way Deadman’s story was executed in a way that Williamson was trying to do a lot of catch-up character work. Which leads to a reminder of how Deadman as the lead of Knight Terrors was just thrusted in this role rather than being a natural build to the first six months of Dawn of DC.
Since Knight Terrors #1 picks up directly where First Blood left off the opening for this issue should shown the impact of all of Earth falling under Insomnia’s sleep order. Flashes of the heroes’ nightmares and chaos happening on Earth without its heroes should’ve been shown. Without that we don’t get the scope of the Knight Terrors event until 20 pages into this first issue. Even then only five panels are dedicated to showing us what is going on outside of Arkham Tower and the grave Deadman visits.
Because of all that it makes Insomnia come off as a small time threat. Sure they have a scary look, thanks to the artwork by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stafano Nesi, and Caspar Wijngaard. But other than design everything about Insomnia is presented in a “monster of the week” style threat. The way Deadman invade Insomnia’s mind and then easily escape added to how small time Insomnia looked. It’s a failure of a big event villain presentation.
Because of how lackluster Knight Terrors #1 story was the ending with a zombified version of Sandman teaming up with Deadman fell completely flat. This development just furthered how Knight Terrors feels like a niche story rather than a big event that deserved all the time it is given. That all falls on the poor execution of Knight Terrors as a big event that even moments like Sandman’s return fail to deliver on the hype.
The artwork by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Stafano Nesi, and Caspar Wijngaard was fine. Nothing stood out as impressive. The team did the best they could with the content they had to draw. Though as usual having multiple artists on this comic did emphasize how rushed Knight Terrors is as an event.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Knight Terrors #1 dedication to selling Deadman as the lead of DC Comics big event was ultimately a bad decision. Because of this choice there is no time spent on the impact of the Knight Terrors story on the DC Universe. This leads to a villain that is poorly presented and a scope for the big Dawn of DC event coming across as small. As a result Knight Terrors feels like a comic book event you can skip out on reading.
Story Rating: 2 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10