Dark Knights of Steel vol. 1

Writer Tom Taylor has proved his superhero high-concept bonafides with his work on the “DCeased” series of miniseries and now he’s back with another maxiseries for the publisher.  This time the big idea is “What If the DC Universe, But in a Medieval Fantasy Setting.”  Which is how we get the Kingdom of El, ruled by Jor-El and his wife Lara, the Kingdom of Storms with King Jefferson Pierce at its head, and Amazonia existing in a relative state of peace at the start of the story.  Which doesn’t last long after the head of one of these kingdoms is assassinated and war seems all but inevitable now.

There’s a certain surface-level enjoyment to be had in seeing familiar DC characters thrust into roles appropriate for them in this kind of setting.  The Els and the “Black Lightning” family as royalty.  Batman as spymaster and enforcer with his team of “robins.”  Harley Quinn as an actual court jester.  Yet Taylor goes beyond this by having some clever twists for the reader to enjoy, such as the reveal of Batman’s actual parentage, Luthor and Joker’s role in this story, and what looks like a very interesting take on what happens when Superman isn’t raised by humble farmers.  There’s also the well-paced scaling up of the threat of war, and mystery about whether or not Supergirl actually murdered someone in cold blood to further hold your interest as well.

All of this is illustrated quite well by artist Yasmine Putri who gives us a slickly convincing medieval fantasy setting with the right amount of superhero flash.  That is to say he’s really quite good with showing off the action when everyone starts showing off their powers, but he’s not bad with the quieter parts as well.  Bengal also pitches in for an issue that’s mostly flashback and it’s as solid as you’d expect from him, particularly the bit where one of the main villains shows what they’re capable of.  Which is all to say that, while we’re only getting half of the story in this volume, what’s here is good enough to get me to pick up the next volume when it arrives (in softcover).