Pages and Panels

Growing up, I spent more time obsessing over Henry the Eighth and his six wives than your average kid. I didn’t have a favorite Spice girl, but I definitely had a favorite wife. (Anne Boleyn deserved better.) My dad is a professional magician, and I grew up traveling from Renaissance Faire to Renaissance Faire. In fact, the first time I read a comic was in the middle row of our mini-van going to a Faire. Comics and the Renaissance Faire are very closely entwined in my life. When Tom Taylor announced a new DC Comics alternate universe story set in a medieval-style world, I flipped. A writer I loved, writing some of my favorite characters, set in a universe that was basically tailor-made for me? Oh yes. Then when they announced Yasmine Putri as the artist and I saw her artwork, I lost it. I’ve been looking forward to it and this month it finally released and it was not a disappointment. I’m Anne Boleyn levels of obsessed already.

Dark Knights of Steel immediately flips the traditional origin story of Superman by not killing the El’s on Krypton. Rather than just sending the infant Kal-El to earth on a rescue pod, the entire El family escapes and crashes in a field as Lara gives birth to baby Kal. Jor-El energy blasts an entire field of knights as they approach the pod and then apparently just takes over the kingdom. 

Jefferson Pierce, Black Lightning, is a king of a different kingdom. He’s been taking dictation of our narrator, John Constantine, speaking a prophesy into existence. Because what would Constantine be doing in any universe, but visualizing the end of the world?

After a time jump of 19 years, Putri nails our first visuals of grown-up Kal and Bruce. Kal has the unbridled hope, optimism, and goodness we’ve come to know and expect from the character, even though this version of him was raised by his parents and not the Kent’s. Bruce is broody and stoic as ever, and his helm has bat ears and I love it.

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Even Alfred, Dick, Stephanie, Jason, and Duke make appearances as Bruce’s team (with the Bat-kids called “The Robins”)as he hunts down a banshee. I love how well Taylor has managed to nail down the characteristics of these characters in such short snippets. Things like Alfred reading Bruce’s glare and Jason knocking out an inn-keeper while “reasoning” with him demonstrate how Taylor uses the reader’s prior knowledge of the characters to flesh them out without dwelling on it. This leaves more time in the book for him to expand on the altered backstories he’s created for Superman and Batman. 

The “Banshee” in question that Bruce is hunting down is Dinah Lance, the Black Canary. Bruce suspects she’s a magical assassin sent by King Jefferson to take down the El’s. I’m very excited to see how he’s going to set up this unease between the two kingdoms, because in my mind, Jefferson can’t be set up as an antagonist. Which means there’s something else going on. As Dinah uses her sonic scream on Bruce, Kal swoops in to save him. But with the close range, and force of Dinah’s power’s, Bruce should be dead- He tells Jor-El he believes he’s cursed.

And that’s when Tom Taylor drops the biggest twist possible- Jor-El and Martha Wayne hooked up, and Kal and Bruce are half brothers. 

Let me tell you I screamed.

And then Green Lantern and Green Arrow shot an arrow through Jor-El’s eye as he revealed that, leaving us on the incredible last panel, of Bruce holding Jor-El’s body, bat symbol on his chest, but glowing red eyes.

And I screamed again.

If this was a main continuity, I’d hate this twist. But I have a deep love for elseworld/alternate reality stories, and this one manages to give us the characters we love, just slightly different, and in a light we haven’t seen. I think it’s really important to recognize that this is an alternate universe. As other forms of comic media are really branching out and embracing the ideas of a multiverse and how canon/non main continuity storytelling can exist and build off each other. The current trend (especially with Batman) is to rehash his origin story over and over and over. Utilizing these types of alternate reality stories allows that trend to continue without being as dull as it’s been. 

Of course, the only way to really be successful in these stories is a deep understanding of the character at their core, strong story concept and writing, and gorgeous art. As a fan of Tom Taylor, I have faith that the rest of this run will follow the high standards that this first issue established. And even if I’m not sure about something, I’m pretty sure that the stunning art from Yasmine Putri will be worth the read, especially knowing that Wonder Woman will be in later issues too. And yes, I’m already working on a new Renaissance Faire costume inspired by the book.

Dark Knights of Steel #1 is now available online and in comic stores.