The Dawn of DC initiative continues with a “horror” event in the form of Knight Terrors! Tie-in issues will take the DC Heroes and force them to confront their worst visions and memories in the “Nightmare Realm;” for more information, check out our coverage here. DC Comics has taken advantage of this year’s Free Comic Book Day to give us a ten-page tease that helps set up the event. Batman and Robin (Damian Wayne) fans will not want to miss this adventure.
The art for this issue is by Chris Bachalo and Howard Porter, who come together very nicely to give us some spooky moments. The two artists’ styles work well, and I like that they are divided into two parts. Bachalo covers the nightmares, and his style works to help with the scares; there is a beautiful “jump scare” that is pure nightmare fuel. It is wild to see Bachalo at DC Comics again since his last DC work was The Witching Hour in 1999.
Howard Porter brings us back to the real world with his pages. I like how Porter’s tighter pencils give us a grounded setting against Bachalo’s wild style and layouts. The colors for the pages also play nicely with the setting of dream versus reality; Chris Bachalo provides his colors, and it helps that he is very heavy on the whites to give it a sense of being in a dreamscape.
DC Comics
Brad Anderson colors the world drawn by Porter, and the two artists team up nicely to craft their pages. I enjoyed the last panel by Porter and Anderson, which gives an ominous ending.
Joshua Williamson is the writer and continues the world-building he did with Damian Wayne from his run on Robin. Characters that Damian formed friendships with appear in his dreams, and I like how Williamson uses those appearances as a plot device to introduce the idea of a “Nightmare Collective Subconscious.” You can tell that Williamson enjoys Damian’s character, which works to build up the character’s discovery that more is happening besides nightmares.
This mini-comic excites me to continue with the event, and I am very enthusiastic about Deadman’s involvement in the series.
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