Knight Terrors #4
Scheduled to arrive in stores: August 22, 2023
Cover date: October 2023
“Knight Terrors: Nightmare Fuel”
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Giuseppe Camunicoli, Stefano Nesi, and Caspar Wijngaard
Cover: Ivan Reis and Danny Miki
Variant Cover: Caspar Wijngaard
Variant Cover: Giuseppe Camunicol
Variant 1:25: Darick Robertson
Variant 1:50: Mico Suavan
Variant 1:100: Ivan Reis
Darkest Hour Variant: Ivan Reis
Reviewed by: JP Rocha
The story opens with Batman (Deadman), Sandman, and Robin, in possession of the Nightmare Stone, at Arkham Tower. They are looking to purge the nightmare powers from Insomnia, as Deadman believes this is what the Nightmare Stone wants. Deadman reveals that Insomnia’s real body is trapped in his cell at Arkham Tower. Prepared for the worst, the team knows that in the halls of Arkham Tower is where Insomnia is at his strongest. Along the way in their search for Insomnia, Robin is haunted by Batman and Deadman is haunted by Dove.
Eventually, they find Insomnia strapped to his bed. Deadman enters Insomnia’s body with Nightmare Stone. Once inside Insomnia, it is revealed to Deadman that Insomnia’s family was killed during “Dark Nights: Metal” and as result, he blames the Justice League for their death. Insomnia also reveals to Deadman that all the clues he has received up to this point were a part of his plan for using Deadman to bring the Nightmare Stone to him.
As it takes a sacrifice to obtain the Nightmare Stone, Insomnia kills himself in the nightmare state in turn, killing his body, gaining full access to the Nightmare Realm. The good news is, this wakes everyone in Insomnia’s nightmare realm up. The bad news is, it gave Insomnia the power to bring the terrors of the Nightmare realm to the real world. The story is to be concluded in “Knight Terrors: Night’s End”.
Story – 4: “Knight Terrors” turned out to be very enjoyable, but in the end it was only set up for the real battle with Insomnia in the story’s epilogue, “Knight Terrors: Night’s End”. Throughout the main Knight Terrors book, Deadman has been starting each installment with a fireside chat, setting up each new chapter. In this issue’s fireside chat, Deadman states that while most books end with some kind of happy ending, horror stories have no victors, only survivors. In this story, it is Deadman who screws up and receives no happy ending.
Art – 3: There are three sections of art in this book, as with the rest of the “Knight Terror” series. The main story section has dark, but clean art. This art fits DC’s modern more realistic style. The fireside chat section is more sketchy and scratchy, but very emotive. The final style is the Insomnia flashback sections. This art is clean, but sketchy at the same time. This art is not traditionally what you would find in a DC book, but more what you would find in more personal creator independent books. The artists for each section are, respectively, Giuseppe Camunicoli, Stefano Nesi, and Caspar Wijngaard.Cover Art – 3: An intimidating looking Deadman, holding Batman and Sandman in his hands. It seems that it would be harder to sell this book based on the dark contrast choice in this cover design. The cover would be a little stronger if the contrast was turned up some and made brighter.
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