Knightfight #1 review

On a day that’s not today, Batman is on his way to stop Professor Pyg and his Circus of Strange and free a bus full of hostages. On arrival, though, he finds the job’s been done.

The Caped Crusader compares and contrasts.

With four Gotham guardians, Batman wonders if the city still needs him.

Today, Batman gets a shock in Skartaris, where he and his fellow heroes have a complicated plan to beat a predicted invasion of Earth by Darkseid.

Of course, Batman had a strategy for receiving what should be a killing blow.

Suddenly, in this futuristic cityscape, a swarm of birds swoop down on Batman.

The rabble of Robins are followed by the original, now dressed as Batman, and he’s angry, and full of accusations.

And so it goes. Batman in Apokolips armour and future Nightwing have at it in pages gloriously drawn by Dan Mora… but not before Dick explains why he’s so angry at the man who raised him. Given DC K.O. is being sold as a big fun fight event it’s a shame so few pages are devoted to the ‘father vs son’ tussle. Just four for the main fight scene after the opening salvo, above. And so Mora has to fit 24 panels into one spread, and technically, it’s impressive, but it doesn’t make for a hi-octane, visceral read.

Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy Knightfight – I love a good imaginary/alternate reality and that’s basically what this is. Josh Williamson rarely fails to grab me with his scripts and here I was taken with Batman’s musings on the family he’s built. Having grown up with Dick firmly described as a ‘ward’, the ‘sons’ business – Damian apart – still feels odd. I do, though, like to see the Robins, current, graduated and resigned working together, showing what each brings to the table. I was especially pleased to see Damian described as a healer, nodding to his characterisation in Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s excellent Batman and Robin series, where he’s doing voluntary work at Thomas Wayne’s old hospital.

One thing I could do with having explained is the ash statues.

We know that when someone wins the entire tournament and becomes King Omega or whatever, they can rewrite reality and bring their opponents back from the dead. But what’s with this apparent holding area? Who’s running this particular show?

The colours of Tríona Farrell are terrific, inviting you to spend longer on the page, taking in the mad level of detail in Mora’s panels; our first look at future Gotham is marvellous. Tom Napolitano varies font styles and treatments, communicating the nuances of the script.

And talking of lettering, the Knightfight logo, a take on the new Batman masthead, is very strong, sitting perfectly on Mora’s full-colour illo.

A side-event to the main DC KO action, Knightfight is a great-looking, intriguing read.