DC’s long line of Elseworlds series has given us a lot of great stories: Batman fighting Dracula, a Justice League without Superman, and a Man of Steel that was from Communist Russia instead of the U.S. of A. But one of the best and most successful recent Elseworlds was Dark Knights of Steel, a sword and sorcery fantasy reinvention of the DC universe under writer Tom Taylor and artist Yasmine Putri. The 12-issue miniseries was full of fantastic twists and character re-imaginings, and was one of my favorite comics the year it released. By the time I finished it was I clamoring for a sequel, and we finally get one in the form of the aptly named Dark Knights of Steel II, which has the returning Tom Taylor teaming up with Otto Schmidt on art.
Following the events of the previous series, Dark Knights of Steel II finds the House of El and the Kingdom of Amazonia preparing a union of Princess Zala-El and Queen Diana (Supergirl and Wonder Women in this universe). That union is almost thwarted by an attack by a massive leviathan kraken, and the new potential threat Aquaman. After pleading his case for an alliance, Aquaman is able to subdue the creature, but not before Zala is found unconscious in the water. After a quick rescue, the ailing Zala quickly starts bleeding, something Kryptonians are not really known to do in this world or many others, so what is happening to her?
That mystery is not something that Tom Taylor is looking to reveal right away. In fact, Taylor spends a large amount of this debut issue teasing potential future storylines for this series to go down. There’s the mystery behind Zala’s illness, Bruce Wayne’s travels in the countryside alongside Talia Al Ghul, the emergence of Aquaman and the Kingdom of Atlantis, and the mysterious visions that a young girl named Barbara is experiencing that may spell doom for the entire realm. And that’s not even getting into the opening flashback that teases another threat from the past (and also features some unfortunate results if this issue was checked on the “Does The Dog Die” website). It’s a lot of set up for a debut issue, and makes me really wish we had a few more pages to really let some of these narrative beats breathe more.
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That being said, though….Tom Taylor really has a knack for setting this stuff up! I was worried going into Dark Knights II that I’d have a hard time remembering the events of the previous series despite rereading it a few months ago when the big hardcover came out. But thanks to Taylor’s script and the handy recap at the beginning, I had no trouble jumping right back into this world and the various new twists on established DC characters that it contains. I can’t imagine many new readers jumping onto this, but even with the recap page they might be a little lost regarding some of the more minor aspects of the series though. The teases for other takes on the characters, like Emperor Black Manta, make me extremely excited to see what comes next, as the way Taylor reimagined DC mainstays like Superman and Batman for this world was one of the highlights of the previous series.
Otto Schmidt takes over for original artist Yasmine Putri, and while his style is slightly cartoonier than Putri’s, it still works really well for the story. Schmidt’s ability to meld the fantasy setting with classic DC outfits that also look unique is pretty great, and he works well at taking what Putri established in the first series and working with and adding to it here. There’s not a ton of big action moments in the issue, but the giant kraken attack that comes towards the end to introduce Arthur Curry is definitely one of the standout moments of the issue.
Dark Knights of Steel II‘s debut issue is off to a very solid start so far, even if I’m a little concerned that Taylor and Schmidt may be biting off a little more than they can chew for their narrative here (and the stuff with Ace in the flashback, come on). But I remember having similar feelings at the start of the previous story as well, and that ended up being one of my favorite DC comics of the past ten years, so at this stage in the game, Taylor has earned my patience for another adventure in DC’s Fantasyland.
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