Wonder Woman

The Earth-16 Comics Wire

The DC Superheroes go medieval in ‘Dark Knights of Steel’

From Tom Taylor,  the creator of the DC Comics zombie horror ‘DCeased,’ comes  “Dark Knights of Steel,” a new Batman universe set in the medieval times.  

The news of the comic being created was announced in an article from “Entertainment Weekly” Magazine.  The issue will span 12-issues and Taylor will be teaming up with artist Yasmine Putri, who previously worked with him on “DCeased” . 

“I’ve spent the last two years creating a new epic fantasy universe for DC Comics, and Dark Knights of Steel is an absolute dream come true,” Taylor told Entertainment weekly. 

According to Taylor, “Dark Knights of Steel” is going to be a “tale of war and love, of despair and hope, of betrayal and improbable alliances forged in battle.” He also noted that his work is a combination of his love for fantasy and DC superheroes. 

I’ll confess, I haven’t read too much of Tom Tyalor’s work but with the many alternate DC stories or universes he is creating, I am looking forward to reading this one, along with “DCeased” (since I also like horror comics like “The Walking Dead.” 

I am a fan of medieval folklore and tales such as the stories of King Arthur, Robin Hood (Check out one of  my reviews on Mad Cave Studios’ Nottingham), and the Lord of the Rings. My first brush with medieval stories was watching “Robin Hood: Men in Tights (Yep, a classic!),” “Conan The Barbarian,” and “Braveheart” when I was young. The sword fights, the conflict between good and evil, and chivalry displayed by the heroes and support characters seeped well into my childhood. 

We are going to see our favorite DC heroes in medieval form. But this is not the first time we have seen medieval retellings of the DC heroes. The DC Elseworlds comic “Superman: Kal,” written by Dave Gibbons (“Watchmen”) tells the story of Kal-El’s rocket ship landing in Middle Ages England where he is raised by farmers but grows up to become a blacksmith who catches the attention of Lady Loisse Layne (Lois Lane). This Superman goes head-to-head against Baron Luthor (Lex Luthor) who kills Loisse after assaulting and beating her. 

In addition, Batman also has a medieval counterpart in the comic “Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table,” written by Bob Layton (“Batman: The Hollywood Knight”) in which Bruce Wayne and his family are exiled by King Arthur for the prophecies foretold by Morgan Le Fey. Le Fey has prophesied that “Bruce of Waynesmoor” would bring about her demise.  

In “Dark Knights of Steel,” we are going to see almost, if not all, the DC characters in medieval form. We will see characters Wonder Woman, Nightwing, Black Lightning, Spoiler, Signal, Robin, and Red Hood. 

“Dark Knights of Steel” will be out on Nov. 2. at your local comic book shop or wherever comic books and graphic novels are sold.  

The Earth-16 Comics Wire

Review: Batman-Last Knight on Earth

 

Alfred and Bruce's Cowl
Batman the Arkham Knight? Credit: DC Comics

Writer: Scott Snyder

Artist: Greg Capullo

Inks: Jonathan Glapion

Color: FCO Plascencia

I have read several Batman stories that have some science fiction element to them. The first series I read was Grant Morrison’s Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne where the world’s greatest detective travels back through several time periods to return the present day while his memory is Swiss cheese (queue the Quantum Leap reference). Recently, Bruce had to battle alternate evil versions of himself from the Dark Multiverse in Dark Nights: Metal. Now I have to say that Scott Synder’s Batman: The Last Knight On Earth, which is under the DC Comics Black Label, has piqued my interest and might actually become one of my favorite Batman stories next to Synder’s other work, the Court of Owls.

After reading the preview, I knew that I had to purchase my own copy and read the first issue. And I have to say, the story is crazy good.

I do not want to spoil the story toO much but it is interesting how it starts off with a case where, as the narrator puts it, there is “no grandstanding villain, no corpse, no real victim at all.” This made the story very suspenseful to me because that was when I knew something was up and that Synder was going to set something up in a big way.

And it went from that case to Batman waking up as Arkham Asylum patient Bruce Wayne.  We also see that several of Batman villains including the Joker are doctors or personnel at Arkham. Joker is Dr. Redmund Hudd, Ras al Ghul is Agol, a gym coach, and Thomas Elliot/Hush is a librarian. We also see Harley Quinn, Penguin, Bane, and Two Face.  In this world, Alfred says that Batman is a “bloody stage drama” However, Bruce figures out that Alfred is a frail old man and that this reality is as a world created by Alfred with the help of Toyman.

Here, we learn that Alfred wanted to hide what happened in to the real world knowing that Bruce would go out of his own way to find out what happen and do something about it. Alfred tells Bruce that the world was basically destroyed. And we see several references including the toy T-Rex and Penny which alluded to the Batcave and the Batman cowl attached to the straight jacket.  And we cannot forget about Gotham’s finest, James Gordon and Harvey Bullock being police officers trying to take down the mental patient Bruce.

Then we go to the scene were Bruce and Joker (without his body) stumble upon Wonder Woman and her band of Amazons which consist of Supergirl, Poison Ivy, Vixen, and Wonder Girl. Here, we and Bruce learn what caused the world to go to hell and who caused it. Omega is the new big bad who, according to Wonder Woman, is a former disciple of Bruce’s and has the anti-life equation. We only see a silhouette of the guy holding what looks to be Darkseid’s head.

One of my favorite scenes had to be Batman finding Joker’s head in a jar. What came to my mind in that scene was the Tom Hanks movie Castaway. In that movie, Hanks character is stranded on an island after a plain crash and he finds a Wilson volleyball he names “Wilson.” So, Joker’s head is basically Wilson but he talks and annoys Batman. What’s even funny is that Vixen and Poison Ivy don’t seem too phased by a talking Joker head.

The art done by Greg Capullo was very sharp and detailed. I have always enjoyed seeing Capullo’s art since it brings out more defined and bolder features of the characters especially Batman and Wonder Woman.The colors done by FCO Plascencia also compliment Capullo’s art and do a better job at giving the story meaning. My favorite panel would have to be when Alfred’s true appearance is revealed. To me, this symbolizes the years of struggle Alfred endured while joining Bruce on his war against crime.

The only thing that got me scratching my head was the narrator. I was wondering if it was Alfred doing the narration or perhaps if it was the Joker. The first and last pages of the story kind of threw me off a little in that regard. I don’t know…that’s just me. Or maybe that is Synder’s aim. To throw us, the constant readers, off the scent. Who is the the narrator? Alfred? Joker? Or, is it Omega?

And just who is Omega? We know that he was once a disciple of Bruce. But who is he or she? Dick Grayson? Jason Todd? Tim Drake? Stephanie Brown? Damian Wayne? Jean Paul Valley? Or even Alfred? Only time and the next two issues are going to answer those questions.

I am looking forward to the next issues. This book is definitely going to be one of my big reads this summer.

What do you constant readers think of the first issue of Last Knight on Earth? Please feel free to share a comment and don’t forget to like and subscribe!