In the midst of the Dark Ages, seven strangers are forced to
work together to defend a village from an advancing army. Of course, since this is a DC comic, & a
supernatural one at that, the strangers are more than perhaps meets the
eye. We have a demon, a sorceress, an
amazon, an immortal, & several others who are more than normal humans.
Demon Knights
gives Cornell an opportunity to play with a variety of comic & fantasy
tropes. Our protagonists are more grey
hats than white hats, each working for his or her own motivation, which are not
necessarily for the greater good. The
villains of the piece do not have the same subtlety. They are pure black hats, willing to pillage
& kill for their own gain.
While not as grim or nihilistic as some modern age comics, Dark Knights does feature quite a bit
of graphic violence. Our Dark Age
protagonists do not have any Silver Age prohibitions about killing, & often
this is depicted in graphic ways.
If one goal of the “New 52” was to make DC’s titles more
accessible to new readers, then Demon
Knights has succeeded admirably.
Cornell balances information and mystery well, giving enough information
to allow for characterization, yet allowing for questions yet to be
answered. Additionally, as a standalone
piece, this first volume works well as a complete story arc.
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