Two for the price of one! A few of the event tie-ins have featured shorter back-up stories but KNIGHT TERRORS ACTION COMICS #1 includes two main stories which each get equal time to be told — the first focusing on Power Girl and the second focusing on a group of Super-Family members: Conner Kent, Natasha Steel, Kong Kenan, and the Super Twins. In a shocking twist for the event so far, both stories were entertaining & kept on theme!

“She’s Got No Strings, Part One” featuring Power Girl

Power Girl’s nightmare story is written by Leah Williams, with art by Vasco Gerogiev, colors by Alex Guimarães, and lettering by Becca Carey. Williams continues to show she is well suited writing for Paige/Power Girl long-term and I’m excited that she’ll have the opportunity to continue Paige’s story starting with POWER GIRL #1 this September. The nightmare itself takes Paige throughout different time periods of the character’s life that have caused her varying degrees of pain, fear, and anxiety. We get to see her exposed and vulnerable without ever becoming completely unable to attempt saving herself.

Gerogiev and Guimarães do a tremendous job creating emotion via their art and colors that highlight Paiges emotional journey throughout each scene and allows the William’s writing to have that much more impact as it slowly morphs from a nightmare into true horror. Carey has a heavy left with a wide variety of sound effects happening throughout the story and masterfully brings them all to life in interesting and unique ways. Each sounds has it’s own style that helps add a layer of complexity to the story.

“The Stuff of Nightmares, Part One” featuring Conner Kent, Natasha Steel, Kong Kenan, and the Super Twins

Where Power Girl’s story gradually builds towards horror, “The Stuff of Nightmares, Part One” immediately puts the reader in the midst of a scene straight out of a scary movie as the members of the Super-Family stay up late to watch…a scary movie. See what I did there?? The story is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, with art by Mico Suayan and Fico Ossio, colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr., and lettering by Dave Sharpe.

We pick up after events from ACTION COMICS #1056 with Osul-Ra asking Connor, Natasha, and Kong to spend the night due to their lingering fears due to Henshaw’s actions. The rest of the story plays out as an homage to 80s/90s-horror flicks (think Nightmare on Elm Street meets Poltergeist), but Johnson writes it in a way that feels unique and perfectly fits within the Knight Terrors theme.

What really sets the horror tone though is the collective artwork by Suayan and Fajardo Jr. throughout the story. Suayan’ linework creates a sense of intensity with heavy shadowing and Fajardo Jr.’s colors focus on darker tones with splashes of cooler colors for emphasis. The only area I thought was a bit off was Sharpe’s lettering. Some of the final, action-heavy panels felt cluttered and overly aggressive with a lot of text.

Overall Reaction

Both of these stories kept my interest the entire time which hasn’t been true for the majority of the Knight Terrors event, let alone tie-ins with more than one story. It’s always great to see non-Superman members of the Super-Family get character development and we get that in spades here. Williams and Johnson pen intriguing stories that leave readers wanting more and the every member of the artistic team understood their assignment.

Rating: 9/10