Knull #1: The King Is Back In Black

Knull #1, written by Al Ewing (Absolute Green Lantern) and Tom Waltz (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), portrays a fish-out-of-water dynamic for the king in black himself, which is not what anyone would have expected, but it works. At first, the narration takes Knull’s side, which is both interesting and essential for a solo series. Especially one that revolves around a villain.

The writing here is a bit mismatched, likely from having two writers with vastly different storytelling styles. There are a lot of summaries of past storylines, which can be necessary for a solo series centered on a character with as much history as Knull. That said, the summaries drag for a while. The writing could have just told you what happened and then moved on to the story, but it doesn’t do that. Instead, it uses Hela as a vehicle to try and deliver all of Knull’s nuance through lengthy dialogue. Hela’s exposition drags the issue’s pacing considerably. Eventually, the transition away from the backstory into the issue’s actual story is rather smooth.

Juanan Ramirez’s art style is used in a good way here. It’s different than what more uniform titles often use and might feel jarring for fans of those series, such as X-Men or Avengers, at first. There is a full-page spread in here I won’t describe to avoid spoilers, but the color and shading in it are fantastic. Knull is drawn with considerable detail on each page, such as the way his armor moves and how his face is sketched. A few pages are on the bland side, whereas others have small details, especially in movement and action.

The first issue of the series dips its toes into gore-based horror. The action scenes are violent and brutal with lots of mess in the way that slasher horror fans love. Knull #1 skips the suspense of slasher films and puts readers into the newest story of a villain with a complicated history dating back over a decade.