Knight Terrors: First Blood #1
Scheduled to arrive in stores: July 4, 2023
Cover date: September 2023
“Knight Terrors: First Blood”
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Howard Porter
Cover: Howard Porter and Hi-Fi
Variant Cover: Francesco Mattina and Jae Lee & June Chung
Variant 1:25: Riccardo Federici
Variant 1:50: Ejikure
Variant 1:100 Jae Lee
Darkest Hour Variant: Howard Porter
Reviewed by: JP Rocha
Is it all a dream? A mysterious someone is trying to induce and invade the dream state of the DC Universe. “First Blood” is the prologue to the two month long “Knight Terrors” event. “Knight Terrors” and the Dawn of DC initiative are intertwined. While with Dawn of DC it seems the DC Universe is taking a bright and shiny turn, Amanda Waller is not as optimistic. Waller is not the only one, a new villain, Insomnia is searching for the Nightmare Stone to prove the heroes are not heroes, but in fact horror.
Story – 3: In “Knight Terrors: First Blood,” we see Deadman as he investigates a presence that is connected to Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman.The focal point of that presence brings the quartet to the Hall of Justice where an alarm from a restricted area has been tripped. It is here that they find what seems like the corpse of John Dee, Dr. Destiny “master” of the Dreamstone. As it seems the body that they found is not a real corpse, but instead a dream construct.
Along with Wonder Woman and Detective Chip, Zantanna picks up investigating the Hall of Justice body of John Dee. The real John Dee is back in Arkham Tower stuck in some kind of dream state. Batman along with Deadman and Harley Quinn are at Arkham Tower attending to the real Dr. Destiny who is stuck in some kind of dream state. Simultaneously, something is released from his body as well as the Hall of Justice construct of John Dee and is spreading a nightmare state across the whole DC universe, heroes, villains, and everyone else. It seems that Zatanna and Deadman are the only ones able to fight off this nightmare state, as the presence identifies itself and its intentions to them.
Art – 3: Overall the art is interesting and enjoyable. As a journeyman artist, Howard Porter knows the DC Universe well. This includes Porter working with Williamson on the Flash. Typically Porter has a stylized take on the DC house style. For “Knight Terrors” he turns up that take to 11, which fits the nightmare tone of the book.
Cover Art – 3: A good cover but some wonkiness to the faces especially Superman. As with any event, there are multiple variant covers and they are all good, but I prefer this main cover.
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