Knight Terrors: Zatanna #1 – Dennis Culver, Writer; David Baldeon, Artist; Rain Beredo, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: Zatanna is one of the heroes who doesn’t have her own title, so her Knight Terrors series is being started from scratch—sort of. It actually serves as a tie-in to Culver’s other current DC book—Unstoppable Doom Patrol. As the issue opens, Zatanna is one of the only people still awake as Insomnia plunges people into their worst nightmares, with her magic shielding her. Wonder Woman and Detective Chimp are out cold and Zatanna needs an assist to protect them. She gets Robotman, one of the last people she wanted to see. The Doom Patrol has always been the misfit toys of the DCU, seen as freaks and oddballs even by their fellow metahumans, but this is more complicated. See, Zatanna’s only experience with the Doom Patrol was when Mento was present at the botched seance that killed Zatara—and to say she’s not over it would be putting it lightly.
The tension is high from the moment the two of them wind up fighting an army of monstrous dream demons, led by an evil skeleton queen searching for the same artifact as Insomnia. It’s not long before the two unlikely teammates find themselves trapped inside a massive labyrinth that seems to change around them and produce painful memories of their past. So far, Insomnia does seem to be a bit of a one-trick pony—he generates a homicidal vision of their deceased loved one who taunts them about their most painful old wounds while trying to rip them apart. While Zatanna and Robotman don’t initially get along, they do find a rather clever work-around to banish these revenants. Overall, this issue has some great character moments, and it wraps up with a tense cliffhanger that promises a dramatic fight next issue. Like all the Knight Terrors tie-ins so far, it’s fun but not really breaking any new ground.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
