DC Review: KNIGHT TERRORS BATMAN #2

I wasn’t shy in my dislike for the first half of this tie-in series and KNIGHT TERRORS BATMAN #2 did nothing to change my mind.

We’re back in a familiar place to start the issue, Batman confronting what happened in Crime Alley and what it did to chart his future path. We get a touching scene of Batman speaking to his younger self that offers a moment of emotion — centered around asking if his younger self would be proud of who he becomes — but that’s grasping at straws to look for a positive in an otherwise uninspired and unnecessary story.

I don’t know if WIlliamson is spread too thin on this event, he’s also writing the main story and the Superman tie-in, but this Batman story has lacked a personality compared to some of the other tie-ins that have offered a new perspective for their main character. What’s worse is that as a tie-in to the larger event, this story ended up completely removed from the main plot other than having Insomnia involved and making reference to Deadman possessing Batman’s body. That’s acceptable for some of the tertiary characters who have Knight Terrors tie-ins, but Batman was heavily featured in the setup for the main story and it’s weird to have a marquee name so far from the central plot.

Another questionable decision by Williamson his use of Deadman in this issue. If you’re not reading the full event, the way Batman talks about him and the visual representation of the character in this issue is going to make you think he’s either working with Insomnia or a separate big bad causing havoc across the DC universe. Neither of these are true by any means — Williamson’s best writing in this event so far has been his work turning Deadman into a lovable wannabe Justice League member who is doing what he can to stop Insomnia!

Art by Guillem March and colors by Tomeu Morey do a decent job showing the strife happening in Batman’s nightmare, but there are some design choices that I don’t care for, particularly Insomnia’s design. He looks like a gothic version of Marvel’s Kid Omega and doesn’t come off as someone scary or intimidating enough to be enacting the plan that’s unfolding through this event. The creative duo are asked to do a lot for this issue given the lack of a compelling story. While there’s nothing that truly stuck out to me, the visuals did enough to keep me engaged.

There’s also a backup story from Williamson featuring Roy Harper/Arsenal and Black Canary that sets up event for the Knight Terrors finale, KNIGHTS END. It’s quite short and comes out of left field, but it’s a more concise and captivating narrative than the Batman one even if it’s not great on it’s own.

This entire issue underscored my biggest complaint with Knights Terror so far — there is a severe lack of consistency/continuity between the main story and the tie-ins. Knowing that Williamson was writing this Batman story alongside the main arc, I expected it to be one of the standout tie-ins. That couldn’t be farther from how it all turned out and I can’t understand why.

Rating: 4/10