Review: Knight Terrors: Black Adam #1

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Knight Terrors: Black Adam #1

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer/Artist: Jeremy Haun

Color Artist: Nick Filardi

Letterer: Troy Peteri

Reviewed by: Bryant Lucas

Summary

Black Adam faces his greatest fears, as he traverses a living nightmare in this month’s Knight Terrors: Black Adam #1.

Adam (like the rest of DC’s heroes and villains) has been forced into an eternal slumber by a new player named Insomnia: a Gotham-based villain searching for the mythical Nightmare Stone, which was hidden by Doctor Destiny in the nightmares of an unknown hero.

The issue opens in Kahndaq, with Black Adam fighting some unnamed skeleton goons who seem to be associates of Insomnia. Things take a turn for the worse as he then falls asleep, plunging into a nightmare world where once again he has to fight off more villains. However, Black Adam’s powers seem to be on the fritz, and the Rock of Eternity’s sprouting Cthulu-looking tentacles. After his powers disappear for a moment, he meets a talking cat named Bast who convinces him to transform back into Black Adam and journey into the tower at the center of the nightmare world.

After ascending a very tall set of stairs (apparently, he’s no longer able to fly), Adam witnesses a giant Crocodile eat his long-dead family: Isis and Black Adam Jr. The monster swats Adam out of the tower, sending him flying across the nightmare city. Bast tells Adam he must continue into the next Tower, but he has questions for this bizarre kitty. However, before she can answer, Batman appears offering help.

Positives

After 12 months of Christopher Priest’s convoluted Black Adam book, it’s nice to have a story that’s a little more straightforward. The issue’s easy to follow plot-wise but also does a decent job of dishing out details that kept me interested. I’m particularly intrigued as to what Jeremy Haun has planned for the Rock of Eternity. It appears to be corrupted by Insomnia; however, this could simply be a product of Black Adam’s nightmares.

Also, I really like the throwback to 52. For those of you who may not be familiar with a 17-year-old series (dang, I’m old), during DC”s weekly series, 52, Black Adam married Isis and saved her brother, Osiris, by sharing his powers, making him Black Adam Jr. At this point, Adam had reformed, due to the moderating influence of his new family.

However, the story ended in tragedy, as Adam was betrayed by Sobek, a bioengineered talking crocodile who eats Black Adam Jr. Upon the death of Osiris, Adam goes on a murderous rampage, leading to his downfall. As far as I can gather, this is the first time that Isis and Osiris have been mentioned after the New 52 reboot of 2011. It’s a neat nod to a pivotal story in the character’s history.

Negatives

For starters, this book completely ignores the recently set status quo. At the end of the Christopher Priest series, Black Adam and Teth Adam had been split into two different beings. However, at the beginning of Knight Terrors: Black Adam #1, they are clearly the same person. My guess is that Haun wrote this well before Priest had finished his run, and DC’s editorial didn’t bother to check with Priest. This means that the book loses a couple of points for its continuity issues.

Also, I’m not overly thrilled by Haun’s art. Don’t get me wrong, it’s impressive that he’s able to both write and draw. However, the main character in his hands doesn’t look like Black Adam. His hair and face do not match previous iterations of the character. I’m not sure what Haun was going for, but his version more resembles The Rock, circa 1998, than it does any contemporary rendering of the character.

Conclusion

Knight Terrors: Black Adam #1 feels like a generic tie-in to the larger event. It’s not doing anything particularly special beyond confirming that Isis and Osiris are canonical characters post-Flashpoint and Huan script and art are both serviceable but nothing to write home about. While Batman’s appearance at the end of the issue does pique my interest, I’m guessing that this tie-in won’t matter in the larger scheme of the Knight Terrors story.