The Knight Terrors micro-series continues. Once again we have two strips with one set-up; new villain Insomnia has forced the world into a deep sleep and is searching their dreams for something called The Maguffin Stone.
Hang on, sorry, it’s the Nightmare Stone. But that’s not important right now – Insomnia motivates the tales starring Power Girl and the Super Twins, but he’s not actively around, not searching for something.
Power Girl’s ‘She’s got no strings’ continues in the same vein as last issue’s opener. A series of nightmare visions targeting Power Girl’s self-confidence with someone – Insomnia? – impersonating new pal Lilith. Over and over again she escapes a pod spoofing the one she slept in while journeying from Krypton to Earth, again and again she finds she’s in a Groundhog Night situation. But the wet, self-doubting Power Girl of recent months is nowhere to be seen. She rails at the world in which she finds herself.
It’s good to see.
And then…
As Power Girl would say, @#$%!
It’s not just our heroine who’s stuck in a hell loop, it’s the reader. This issue’s returning writer, Leah Williams, has already given us months of miserable Power Girl, and there came an ending – Peege knew who she was, and her place in the world. And here she’s back again, Little Miss Insecure. It’s a disservice to the classic character, and the readers. Worse, it’s Power Girl’s knowledge and acceptance of her fundamental rubbishness that saves the day.
Yay, girl power, Power Girl!
Vasco Georgiev again provides dynamic, open art that serves the story. Power Girl spends the whole tale in her nightwear but there’s no cheesecake. If anything, a little more sexiness wouldn’t go amiss, as physically Kara’s a little too slim, her famed décolletage having been dialled down… maybe it’s a deliberate choice reflecting Karen’s lack of confidence in her self worth?
Colourist Alex Guimarães knows when to shade and when to highlight, ensuring the mood is spooky, while letterer Becca Carey also pays attention to the beats of the script.
There is an epilogue. And it’s the best thing in the story, a foreboding scene, excellently composed visually, to be followed up in Power Girl’s new book. I just hope Leah Williams remember that as of this issue, Karen is meant to have escaped the Depressoverse. Again.
Meanwhile, in the heart of Metropolis, Insomnia’s nightmare spell has brought Steel Natasha Irons, Superboy Conner Kent, New Super-Man Kong Kenan and Super Twins Otho and Osul-Ra face to face with the evil that is Cyborg Superman. He’s taken over the body of Superboy and morphed him into a half-man, half-evil horror.
Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson tailors his script to the characters, with the first big moment being a claim made by Cyborg Superman to Natasha and the Super Twins, who were crucial to Superman taking down Mongul’s Warworld.
In the moment, it all feels horribly real. But what comes next… buy this comic and see what a great writer can do with a well-worn concept. The intensity of the script is something else, as Johnson expertly tailors the fears to the psyches of his characters. I’m considering this a Super Twins tale, but Natasha has a truly great moment.
And then there’s the artwork of Mico Suayan and Fico Ossio, which explodes off the page. Suayan draws the first six pages and the final two (which has a fun Wizard of Oz moment), while Ossio handles the rest. In a dreamworld there’s a certain leeway in terms of storytelling, room for impressionism, but both artists keep things linear and it works for the instalment. There’s power in the individual images but they hang together as a coherent piece, giving us some of the strongest Knight Terrors imagery I’ve seen. There’s one splash in particular that is truly awful, in a very good way.
I also hugely like the colours of Romulo Fajardo Jr, whose mastery of tone is shown on that splash, his work there being the equivalent of a sudden storm on a sunny day… which is delightfully weird, given that the preceding pages are anything but sunny.
As for letterer Dave Sharpe, he’s earning his money on the basis of the fantastic sound effects alone. The less flashy dialogue and narrative boxes are also great because, well, he’s Dave Sharpe.
The split cover by illustrator Rafa Sandoval and colour artist Matt Herms is terrific. The symmetry reminds me of royalty playing cards, while the riotous colours are a pleasing contrast to the purpleness of the other Knight Terrors covers.
If you’re following regular Action Comics, don’t miss this issue, which is edited by Brittany Holzherr and Jillian Grant. And if you’re a fan of what Leah Williams has been doing with Power Girl, this is even better value. Either way, the Super Twins story is worth the price of admission.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 