Writer: Joshua Williamson
Art: Howard Porter, Guiseppe Camuncoli, Stefano Nesi, Trevor Hairsine, Rain Beredo, and Troy Peteri
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 22nd, 2023
Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, along with the DCU’s other heroes, have escaped the Nightmare Realm only to find the Nightmare League has followed them home as Knight Terrors: Night’s End #1 by Joshua Williamson concludes this event! The entire world has become engulfed in horror, and the last person standing to take down Insomnia is Deadman. But does he want to?
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, then simply click on the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon as you read the Knight Terrors: Night’s End #1 Review.
THE DISPATCH
Readers, the first four pages were basically unrelated to the narrative and took page count away from the overall story. Plus, the Boston/ Deadman Family angle was just as insignificant and almost silly. It was meant as a storybeat to pull at the reader’s heartstrings. However, there was no setup leading up to the moment, the character itself is not a big character, and the moment itself ended way too quickly to be significant. Moreover, the character voices were WAY off. For example, Batman sounded nothing like himself and Superman actually sounded more like the Batman 66 character old chum. Now, I don’t know about you, but when the characters sound nothing like they should, it takes me out of the comic immediately.
Additionally, the Materioptokon (the Dreamstone) just so happens to be the only magical item that’s pulled out of the blue to stop the Nightmare Stone. Sure, it makes sense. However, I hate when writers don’t take the time to foreshadow or at least leave clues as to the solution to their problem. The Justice League just magically realizes the solution of acquiring the Dreamstone in order to stop Insomnia. Oh, how convenient. What’s even more convenient is the lack of explanation as to how the Dreamstone stopped the Nightmare Stone. It just… did. Moreover, Dodds explains how a sacrifice in order to stop Insomnia wasn’t needed… but Boston sacrifices himself anyway. Again, it just added nonsense to the story to add more layers to an onion that no one was asking for, wanted, or needed.
ART
The art by Howard Porter is too darn busy and confusing. There were simply too many characters in tiny panels making the renderings look almost muddy and hard to follow. The colors were splotchy, the design was messy, and the horror style was almost nonexistent due to the items mentioned above. I feel the intent was for this style to come across as bizarre and terrifying. However, Porter and his team just didn’t hit the mark this time, which is again very uncharacteristic of Howard Porter.
SPOILER ALERT
And then to top off this entire wreckage that was Knight Terrors, Waller managed to send Bright to get the Nightmare Stone. Now, if you saw Bright, you’d also conclude that this individual would stick out like a sore thumb. Plus, the Nightmare Stone was sucked into that dream/nightmare scape when Boston and Insomnia fought. There is NO WAY Waller snuck in and got that stone.
Moreover, how did she manage to get the Helmet of Hate? I’m assuming it was in some side book that I didn’t venture into with this event being so abysmal. Nevertheless, how can a writer develop this cliffhanger that leads into a new villain for a new event without showcasing the key components in the main story? Additionally, if you’re telling me that the main objective for Williamson was to set up Doctor Hate as well as to make people scared of the Justice League, I could think of a half dozen other ways than some Nightmare on DC Street storyline.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Knight Terrors: Night’s End #1 finally wraps up this event that held most of the DC Comic Universe hostage this summer. The character’s voices were written poorly, the art was unclear, the beginning page count was wasteful, the Deadman angle was lackluster, and the solution was too convenient. The Knight Terrors Event was not a success and didn’t move the needle for this reviewer at all. I get the attempt by Williamson to try to recreate a horror movie-esque vibe, however, using Deadman and a brand new villain as the cornerstone for this event without prior setup, only hindered the title.
Knight Terrors: Night’s End #1 concludes by merely advancing a future style for a future event that right now means…. nothing. As for the entire Knight Terrors Event, it’s a hard pass. You could completely skip this event without any repercussions making the actual event even less important to the landscape of DC Comics. Let me know what you think, have a great week, and God Bless!