Knight Terrors: Zatanna #1 review

As the cover makes obvious, the title of this DC summer event tie-in should be Knight Terrors: Zatanna and Robotman – Cliff Steele is as big a part of this as the Mistress of Magic.

The issue begins where Knight Terrors: First Blood left Zee, with her facing an attack by the minions of Insomnia, a new villain who arose from the Lazarus Planet storyline.

Most of the world’s population has fallen into a deep sleep, including the superheroes… with the exception of mechanical folk like Red Tornado and L-Ron.

And Robotman, who appears in front of Zee when she sends out a desperate plea for a champion. They’re not a match made in heaven.

Longtime DC readers may have an inkling as to why the Doom Patrol has bad associations for Zatanna. For anyone who didn’t read Swamp Thing #50 back in the Eighties, there’s a flashback.

So, will Zatanna and Robotman get over their awkwardness and be able to protect the unconscious Wonder Woman and Detective Chimp? Especially when living nightmares appear.

You betcha? Necessity helps Zee realise she’s not actually being fair to Robotman, and the pair employ classic Justice League tactics to beat the Sleepless Queen, Sir Morbid and Iron Maiden.

I loved this comic. I hoped for a pleasant surprise from the unpromising-sounding Knight Terrors two-month, DC line-invading event, and here it is. In one of her rare spotlight outings Zee is played as the experienced, nuanced heroine she is, while Cliff is the rock solid Everyman hero he should be (points for having his entrance line be his TV catchphrase).

I shouldn’t be surprised by the latter fact, as writer Dennis Culver is doing a great job with Cliff in the current Unstoppable Doom Patrol mini-series. The three villains are serviceable in concept, but become creepy when translated onto the comic page by illustrator David Baldeón. The Sleepless Queen, looming over everyone with an insouciant air, looks especially eerie, and colourist Rain Beredo adds to the uncanny vibe with nicely thought-through tones. Beredo has a fantastic time with the magical effects, but one of the most effective pages is one of the simplest in terms of colouring. It’s just Zee and Cliff negotiating a maze, chatting, with stops along the way serving as panels. Excellent work from Baldeón.

It’s hard to find fault with this issue. Maybe Zee shouldn’t be seen casting spells without speaking, but I think we’ve previously been told that, a la the Legion of Super-Heroes’ White Witch, she has a few standard protections prepared. If I’m wrong in that recollection, we can always Ezirp-On it by assuming she was speaking under her breath and our excellent letterer Pat Brosseau didn’t hear her…

Baldeón and Beredo gift us a tremendous cover – the falling plane is inspired (the idea of editor Ben Abernathy, Baldeón tells us on Twitter). We could, though, do with some copy informing us that this is #1 of two Knight Terrors: Zatanna chapters. The issue ends on a splendid cliffhanger, indicates it’s to be continued, but doesn’t say where – to be fair to Doom Patrol fans, I’d have made it Knight Terrors: Robotman #1.

This issue has me looking forward to trying a few more of the Knight Terrors instalments. I never saw that coming.