Knight Terrors - Harley Quinn #1
Recap
Imagine a world—beyond both the waking world and that of dreams. A world where your every choice creates a series of infinitely rippling profane reverberations. Where donuts and soda cans can do the cancan and I actually am goin’ steady with yer mom. Our story takes place there, in the realm beyond the limits of the liminal. A place we call…the Harley Quinn Zone.
I’m your host, Dr. Ryleha Q. Niun, attorney of drawers—Just kiddin’. It’s still me, Harley! But hey, this one is real freaky—and my life is already pretty dang bananas! Hold on to your buns, ’cause this one is gonna give you some interdimensional chafing for sure! Plus, Leah Williams and Ben Templesmith help me crack a cosmic-mystery night terror!
This case goes so many layers deep it’s practically a true turductective story, if you will…
Review
Knight Terrors – Harley Quinn #1 is just what fans would expect: a wild ride through the twisted psyche of Harleen Quinzel.
Harley’s nightmare starts of fairly tame as she finds herself once again working at Arkham as a psychologist, though things are a bit more twisted then Arkham usually is on a bad day. As she moves through the building, her nightmare manifests things that should terrify her: a swarm of Jokers, Ivy supposedly in peril, before the Anti-Monitor, Doomsday, and Brainiac show up to tangle with her.
Throughout the issue, Tini Howard continually shows her excellent grasp on Harley’s character, as Harley realizes that this must be a nightmare-induced state and Insomnia is unaware that using the craziness inside her head can’t be used against her. Breaking free of the initial nightmare, Harley finds her way into the “Debug Room” and this is when the fun and craziness begins as finds a copy of Grant Morrison’s The Multiverse Guidebook and a device that allows her to access the various Earths within the issue.
After visits to Earth-31, Elseworlds Pirates with Leatherwing (Batman) and Earth-43, the Vampire Earth, and story beats that undoubtedly are callbacks to Multiversity: Harley Screws Up The DCU miniseries, it is finally revealed as to what Harley’s nightmare is…being in the Justice League. Adding to the overall vibe is the book, is the narrator, most likely Insomnia, goading her nightmare on, which does something near impossible: getting inside the mind of Harley and causing her to question her sanity.
The issue is visually stunning as Harley seamlessly morphs into different iterations of herself as her dream shifts. The detail and respect given to Morrison’s Multiverse Guidebook is clearly evident as the art and colors by Hayden Sherman & Triona Ferrell capture exactly the individual Earth and its artistic feel perfectly.
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The backup story by Leah Williams and Ben Templesmith is a good story both in its writing, art and color, but seems very subdued given all the carya dn zaniness of the main story.
Final Thoughts
Knight Terrors - Harley Quinn #1 is a wild ride through the nightmares and fears of Harley Quinn. Tini Howard and the creative give readers a lot of bang for the buck in a well-written and beautifully illustrated. tie-in to the Knight Terrors event. This is a definite sleeper of a hit in the Knight Terrors event and one can only wonder what will happen in the next issue.
Knight Terrors – Harley Quinn #1: Once Upon A Time In Harley’s Wildest Nightmare
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 9/109/10
- Art - 10/1010/10
- Color - 10/1010/10
- Cover Art - 10/1010/10