Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Knight Terrors - Harley Quinn #1 Review

   
 
     


Written by: Tini Howard
Art by: Hayden Sherman
Colors by: Triona Farrell
Letters by: Steve Wands
Cover art by: Hayden Sherman
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: July 25, 2023


Knight Terrors: Harley Quinn #1 finds Haley Quinn escaping a nightmare so she can spend the rest of the issue playing VR video games.
Is It Good?

Knight Terrors: Harley Quinn #1 spends six pages in a nightmare to go along with the Knight Terrors event, and then spends the rest of the time playing the multiverse equivalent of a larping video game, so Harley can find a way to unwind a be the hero. Either Tini Howard didn't understand the homework assignment or didn't care, and just wrote whatever came to mind, but the net result is a Knight Terrors tie-in that isn't scary and is 100% boring.



Tini Howard's script begins with Harley appearing as Harleen Quinzel, criminal psychologist, as she prepares to do her rounds visiting Gotham's criminally damaged. As her rounds progress, the setting devolves into an array of attacks by villains as human as the Joker to as otherwordly as the Anti-Monitor.

Eventually, Harley decides she's had enough and breaks through the nightmare into a control room, reminiscent of the Architect's office from The Matrix films. A disembodied voice tells Harley she's beaten her nightmares, and this control room is a cheat code to try out different multiversal adventures without getting in trouble with Lady Quark (the antagonist from the main Harley series). What follows is a series of Elseworlds adventures starring Harley Quinn.


Does this issue have anything to do with the main Knight Terrors event? No, not in the least. It might as well be a one-shot since there's not a single reference to Insomnia, and the nightmare aspects are barely a factor in the story Howard is telling.


Well, is this issue at least fun? Not particularly, unless your idea of fun is watching Harley run from one Elseworlds story to the next, acting like a buffoon.

How's the art? It's fine. Hayden Sherman's style is expressive and visually cinematic. The line work isn't as clean as you'd expect from a typical DC comic, but given the disconnected nature of the story from anything else happening, Herman's style makes sense.


About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces:

Knight Terrors: Harley Quinn #1 is the tie-in that appears to have the least to do with anything related to Knight Terrors. It's boring, disconnected, and despite Sherman's interesting art, it's a total waste of time.

3.5/10

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