Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #3 – Jay Kristoff, Tom Taylor, Writers; Tirso, Riccardo Federici, Artists; Arif Prianto, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Set in a different realm of fantasy, this spin-off from Dark Knights of Steel has felt very separate from the epic main series – until now. Slade continues to escort a mysterious child now revealed as Alec Holland, who insists he can bring back color to this kingdom – but he doesn’t take well to Alec’s words about prophecy and messages from the Green. He’s ready to abandon him, but flashes back to his past reveal a terrible history with his own boys and a lot of dark secrets. This is a more nuanced version of Deathstroke, one weighed down by decades of tragedy that he helped to create himself. In places, it reminds me quite a bit of the brilliant take Priest did on the character for fifty issues.
But while Deathstroke might be ready to remove himself from the larger narrative and go back to selling his sword, the story isn’t done with him – as made clear by the sudden introduction of Prince Bruce, the rightful heir to the kingdom, whose attempts at flying have landed him in this dark land (with a very morbidly funny scene to start). Naturally, Bruce and Slade immediately fight, and Slade holds his own impressively well against a half-Kryptonian warrior, but once it’s revealed exactly what Alec can do, things become a lot more interesting. I wasn’t expecting the two plotlines to converge this early, but it seems like this side story might become much more key to the next volume than I expected.
The backup continues the story of Jonathan and Martha Kent, soldiers in Waller’s army, who come across a dying Atlantean and make the decision to adopt that really defines their character. But it obviously isn’t Kal-El they adopt here – it’s Arthur Curry, a child with a powerful destiny and a different set of powers. This leads to some hilarious complications when he decides that the fish market doesn’t agree with him. Taylor’s writing continues to be very funny, but also has some real compelling threads in this story with a very unique take on the Kents.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
