Knight Terrors: Flash #1
Recap
After the Flash Family freed Barry Allen from the dimension Pariah locked him in, the Scarlet Speedster was able to return home for some quality time with Iris and his other loved ones.
But after the world is plunged into the Nightmare Realm, Barry's trapped in a different cage, and he'll have to find a way out on his own!
Review
Knight Terrors: The Flash #1 is a strange installment in the Knight Terrors event as being one of the tie-ins that does not directly connect to the main storyline or even have any reference to those events.
The issue opens with Barry Allen monologuing about telling Iris that as The Flash, he sees things like a dream, further explaining that he uses his training as a scientist to work the angles to figure out if he is awake or dreaming. After going through this explanation, he does the opposite as events and details of things happening around him change, and he never really questions why.
After learning from Iris that as Kid Flash, Wally has been stabbed by Gorilla Grodd with the Spear of Destiny and is dying in a hospital bed. However, Barry never questions the inconsistencies of events and those around him, as any good scientist would.
This nitpick aside, the story does have some deep and interesting references to events in the DC history such as Jay Garrick mentioning the last time he saw the Spear of Destiny, referencing JSA Classified #9, where he literally had to kill Wildcat, a different version of a Hal Jordon post-Final Night among others.
Daniel Bayliss’ art, especially when Flash is in motion and the post-Final Night Hal Jordon are great and Bowland’s colors bring the dream to life while incorporating the purple haze that lets the reader know that Insomnia is causing the events to unfold in Flash’s nightmare.
Final Thoughts
Knight Terrors: The Flash #1 is a solid chapter of the event even though it does suffer from no direct references tying it back to the main story being written by Williamson. It will be interesting to see how and when Barry realizes that the events occurring are not real and how it all ties into Insomnia's looking for the Nightmare Stone. If none of this is addressed then the question of why this needed to be included in the event is a fair one.
Knight Terrors: Flash #1 – Running Down a Dream
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 8/108/10
- Art - 9/109/10
- Color - 10/1010/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10