Knight Terrors: Punchline – #2 – Danny Lore, Writer; Lucas Meyer, Artist; Alex Guimaraes, Colorist
Ray – 6/10
Ray: For an effective story to take place in the Knight Terrors event, it has to fulfill two factors. We have to understand the character enough to know their fears, and we have to care enough about them to want them to make it out of the nightmare. Not all of these fulfill both, but this is probably the only one that doesn’t fulfill either. Punchline broke onto the scene as a viral sensation, her presence driving mass sales on its own, but once she broke out as a solo character, things have been more rocky. She’s an effective villain, but she lacks any redeeming qualities and doesn’t really have much of a backstory—which means her personal fears aren’t something we know much about. Given that, the first issue of this mini didn’t give us much to chew on and the second follows suit. We’re not in Punchline’s shoes, we’re simply following her along as she faces what sometimes feels like a video game level.
This isn’t the creative team’s fault—Danny Lore delivers a fast-paced script that provides some clever visuals, and Lucas Meyer does some unique surreal twists. The problem is, the two segments of the issue don’t exactly fit together and the result is an issue that doesn’t feel so much like a nightmare as a fever dream. The first part of the story has Punchline vs. the internet, in a weird segment that has her fighting anonymous internet trolls and taking on online critics. Then the cyborg Batgirl—an oddly common theme in this event—returns for a final battle. And then… Punchline simply wakes up, getting absolutely no insight out of this and going back to business as usual. I think DC just rushed this character a bit, turning a compelling supporting villain into a less-compelling headliner, and the result is a lot of creators trying to fill in the blanks where there’s very little substance to mixed results.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
