Knight Terrors: The Joker #1 is published by DC Comics and written by Matthew Rosenberg. Artwork and main cover art (left) is by Stefano Raffaele, colours are by Romulo Fajardo Jr. and letters by Tom Napolitano.
Knight Terrors: The Joker #1 is available now in print and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold.
Synopsis
The Joker’s worst nightmare becomes a reality: he’s got a day job! How will he handle meetings that could have been emails?! Why did management cancel “bring your child to work” day?! Who will want to make small talk at the coffee machine?! What is Alexis going to pick for lunch?! And who is the masked madman terrorizing Gotham at night?!
Review
Standing in incredibly star contrast, yet taking the exact same approach as Batman is Knight Terrors: The Joker #1. This book is anarchically both similar and yet entirely different in how it approached the Clown Prince of Crime’s worst fears. In doing so it shows the versatility of the Knight Terrors event and how having different creators approach the overarching narrative is creatively refreshing.
At this stage in the story Insomnia is well and truly loose in the DCU with heroes and villains alike trapped inside their own worst nightmares. Insomnia is on the hunt for the Nightmare Stone in order to make his presence in the corporeal world complete. Here Insomnia is reaching deep in to the psyche of Joker to see if he holds the key to the stone’s location.
Much like Batman, Knight Terrors: The Joker features another set of absolutely stunning covers. If anyone at DC is listening then please put on a gallery show of the artwork from this event when all is said and done.
As for the story itself, there’s a true dramatic irony in how many of us share Joker’s worst nightmare… being stuck in a dead-end, 9-5 office job with no hope for salvation. Granted writer Matthew Rosenberg charts an unexpected course to bring Joker to this conclusion. After a dramatic run-in with Batman, Joker is left with nothing to do other than settle in to what most of us would call a normal life. But Joker has never been on to be normal has he?
The crux of Rosenberg’s story is how Joker would, or in this case wouldn’t, cope if Batman were no longer around. What we find is that he quickly gets bored with life as a criminal but equally can’t settle in to anything else. It’s fun to see him squirm as everyday foibles tweak at his psychotic brain, teasing him with what he should and absolutely shouldn’t do.
Everything about Knight Terrors: The Joker is exquisite, from the covers, to the pacing of the story and, of course, Stefano Raffaele’s artwork. DC is really spoiling us this week and setting up some explosive storytelling for the remainder of this two-month event.
Verdict
Knight Terrors: The Joker #1 is a fun deep dive in to one of DC’s most notorious characters. Matthew Rosenberg takes us to places we never expected as Joker explores his life beyond Batman.
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