Knight Terrors #1: Exit Light, Enter Night, Take My Hand Off To Nightmare Land

Knight Terrors #1 continues the main arc of the event that was set up in last week’s Knight Terrors: First Blood.

Williamson continues to not only tell a riveting story, using Deadman as a guide through this nightmare world as he continues to possess Batman’s body while Bruce tries to free himself from both the nightmare landscape and Deadman’s control. As the issue opens, the deconstruction of Deadman, his origin, and overall thoughts about his “life” in limbo, something readers haven’t been given since the 2010-11 year-long event, Brightest Day.

In the issue, Brand tries to discover the identity of Insomnia by possessing him but is only able to trace it back to the fact that he was a patient at Arkham during the Lazarus Rains from the recent Lazarus Planet event that changed magic and people in the DCU, but as Deadman puts it, “not a god, just some dude.”  The mystery of the Nightmare Stone is also touched on in a beautiful splash page that harkens its origin back to a Golden Age hero who may play an important role as the story goes forward.

There are plenty of light-hearted, comedic moments to break the tension, specifically Deadman’s inner dialogue while in control of Batman’s body. The issue also has a few panels that connect the main storyline to some of the tie-ins also out this week, further explaining why the heroes are trapped in their own nightmares, which is a nice touch in that it helps create a cohesive reading experience without beating the drum too much about the need to read the other books (although some editor boxes about where to follow these stores would be useful).

The art and colors perfectly add a sense of tension and horror to the nightmare world the DCU has become. Along with the full page splash about the Nightmare Stone, the splash page of Deadman/Batman escaping out of Arkham is fluid and well-executed action sequence combining the abilities of the character.

Overall, the issue sets the stage for the rest of the story with a needed amount of exposition which will hopefully allow the story to move quickly but give it feeling of not being rushed.