Knight Terrors: The Flash #1 – Alex Paknadel, Writer; Daniel Bayliss, Artist; Igor Monti, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: This is one of the Knight Terrors minis that finds itself in an awkward position, coming in between two runs of the main series. As such, it falls to a new creative team to tell the story of Flash’s worst nightmare. This includes shifting the focus from Wally West to Barry Allen, but Wally looms large over this story—he’s dying. As the issue begins, Barry gets the call that Wally was stabbed in battle with Gorilla Grodd and has been hit with some sort of deadly infection. His speed force is going haywire and keeping him from healing properly, and he’s slowly bleeding out. As Iris grapples with the possible death of his nephew, Barry can’t accept this—instead becoming convinced that he can use the Speed Force to go back and correct what happened. This isn’t a new plan for Barry, obviously—to the point where it’s honestly become a bit of a running gag—but we’ve rarely seen him quite this unhinged.
Of course, this is Knight Terrors, so not all is what it appears to be. There are a lot of odd things going on. Why is Wally back to being Kid Flash? Who is the mysterious middle-aged man mourning his daughter outside the hospital? And exactly what is messing with the Speed Force? Things get stranger and stranger as the issue goes on, with some touches like a hideously burnt, reanimated Hal Jordan manning the Watchtower, as Barry seeks out the old cosmic Treadmill to reset the timeline and save Wally. But it’s no surprise that these efforts wind up making things worse—and potentially even setting the events in play. Barry is often his own worst enemy, but we’ve rarely been in his shoes as he becomes more and more obsessed. It’s a unique depiction of events we’ve seen before, and Barry’s slow descent into madness is actually far scarier than the strange creatures we see lurking around the fringes.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
