Knight Terrors has taken over the DC Universe! A mysterious villain called Insomnia haunts the dreams of the heroes and villains in search of a powerful artifact. Yet, Insomnia didn’t account for heroes like the Titans to find a way to fight their way out of his nightmare.
Haunted
Part one of a continuing story, Knight Terrors: Titans #1 follows an unnamed protagonist as she escapes the Titan’s Tower. However, the Tower isn’t simply a building, but a warped spire of terror. In the nightmare realm, the tower becomes infested with all manner of creatures and visually arresting imagery. Strangely enough, every room and corridor takes on the kind of surreal horror looks from films like Insidious (2010), Dr. Sleep (2019), or Coma (1978). One of the major accomplishments of this issue is the attention to detail in the eerie settings.
Originally, I believed the identity of the protagonist was Donna Troy. In fact, every other character has introductory titles outside of her. The main character is a white passing brunette with otherwise no recognizable features. Her style of dress and behavior reminds me of any of the stock horror movie girls. Although her identity is a secret, readers can immediately invest into her perspective. For the most part, she is a stranger in a world she doesn’t recognize. Despite that, she bravely faces whatever comes with only a motivation to get to safety.
Titans, Assemble Yourselves… Back Together!
Much like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, our mysterious heroine searches the Tower for a way out while gathering the Titans in the process. Regardless of her skepticism, a disembodied voice guides her out of various dangers. Curiously, I found that the dialogue introducing them both directly mirrors birthing instructions. As the voice urges her to push and breathe, the heroine emerges from the floorboards into the world like a newborn. Later, she manifests objects and manipulate the dream world at will by concentration alone.
Using a mirror construct, the protagonist frees each Titan from their nightmarish self-images one by one. Within each horrific domain, the Titans face a debilitating fear and corrosive lie. For instance, she finds Cyborg amid a pyramid of cables in front of glowing gears that mirror an indoor eclipse. Subsequently, she finds Starfire, Donna Troy, and Beast Boy all each hideously deformed in eerie horror inspired rooms. The overall thought in play is that all have forgotten who they are, and forms like Beast Boy’s gigantic mutation represents inversions of their self image.
A Broken Home
Surprisingly, by the time the Titans assemble outside of the nightmare Tower, only a few of the Titans remain missing. Although, there is no hard rule that says they have to share dreams either. For one, Nightwing is in a twisted version of Arkham somewhere in another book. Despite that, by the time Raven shows up, the identity of the protagonist remaining a secret makes her the “odd man out.” Not only do we not know how she relates to the Titans, but we are also in the dark as to why Raven and the others haven’t asked why she’s the one saving them. The one theory I will submit, is that it is possible that our “middle-aged” heroine isn’t a person at all but a construct of the house itself.
An easy highlight of the book is the gorgeous and inventive artwork by Scott Godlewski. Each room and corridor happily reminds me of decades of horror cinema. The house itself changing shape and attacking the Titans like Monster House, Haus, or weirdly referencing the “shrinking room of spikes” seen in films like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). Impressive rooms like Cyborg’s alien-like Hellraiser prison and his gaunt look harken back to Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989). Admittedly, due to the montage of rooms there is plenty of diminishing returns on the coolness of the designs. Beast Boy’s fear boils down to becoming a violent mouse, and Raven doesn’t get a room at all.
Recommended If…
- Fans of spook house horror serials.
- You’ve been reading Tom Taylor’s Titans.
- Collecting Knight Terrors event tie-ins.
Overall
Nothing about the Knight Terrors event seems to be compelling enough on it’s own. Luckily, this book drives up enough interest in its isolated storyline to warrant a nice read. In fact, it is not dissimilar to the Teen Titans (2003) episode “Fear Itself.” Much like this, in the episode the Titans are unable to leave the Tower and must confront manifestations of Raven’s darkest fears. The artwork makes use of color, ink, and creative imagery to draw interest in the story and its mysterious protagonist. Overall, I can recommend this book to anyone, even if you don’t understand the overarching premise in Knight Terrors. Looking forward to part two!
Score: 7.5/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purposes of this review.
