Knight Terrors: Punchline #2 – Not So Paranoid Android

Knight Terrors: Punchline #2 continues Punchline’s trip through her Insominia-induced nightmare where last issue, she found herself tangling with a robotic Batgirl-android after learning the location of The Clocktower that supposedly survived events of the Fear State event.  As the issue opens, Punchline finds herself trapped in a social media website and attacked by Anons.

As the issue progresses, Insomnia, in a rare appearance, actually interacts with Punchline and actively tries to break her mentally. The exchange doesn’t really make the continuation of the story any more interesting, drags things along until the final battle between Punchline and the Batgirl-android monster, which she easily handles before “waking up,” setting up what looks to be a part of the Knight Terrors: Nights End bookend issue.

This issue doesn’t justify or make a case as to why Punchline was included in the limited series more than DC trying too hard by continuing to try and make Punchline into some major player in the Batman line of titles. The story is passable but could have been done some other way, such as Insomnia trying to recruit Punchline to his cause or something along those lines.

The concept of having Punchline caught in a website and using the different buttons to fight off her attackers was interesting and works in this case because it reinforces the idea that she is in a nightmare where things like this are possible. There are some interesting art sequences, but it is barely enough to keep an interest in a story that seems to go nowhere.

Overall, this issue continues to beg the question as to why it was thought a necessary story to tell; perhaps this is a question that will be answered as the te series wraps, even though its seems unlikely.