FCBD: Dawn of DC: Knight Terrors Special Edition #1

by Joshua Williamson, Chris Bachalo (Penciller), Howard Porter (Penciller)

Legendary comics artist Chris Bachalo (Doctor Strange, Deadpool) is returning to DC for the first time in over 20 years and teaming up with Williamson and Porter to help give fans an early look at Knight Terrors, with the Dawn of DC Knight Terrors Free Comic Book Day Special Edition. After a long night of crime-fighting with his father, Batman, Damian Wayne sleeps. But horrors invade his teenage dreams. Damian has seen a lot, but there is something different about this nightmare.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Batman, Superheroes, Comic Book, Horror, Ebooks

28 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 6, 2023

Reviews

[Anne]

Damien has spooky nightmares
But are they really just nightmares or something more sinister?



Well, duh. They're something more sinister or we wouldn't be talking about them.
This is the free comic book day issue that kicked off the Knight Terrors event that I keep seeing pop up everywhere, so I thought I'd give it a try.
This wasn't a very impressive issue but maybe the rest of the story will be worth it.

[Gordon]

Fun little story but good God that checklist at the end is scary.

[Krystal]

Not quite sure how I feel about this one, yet.

I think I like the idea, and the artwork was cool but it was also all over the place. I had no idea what was happening. I really hate that feeling.

The idea of this new villain tormenting the DC heroes with their own nightmares really appeals to me, but no way am I committing to every single issue. It's a bit excessive. I think I'll stick to just the faves, as it doesn't sound like it will be necessary to read all to get the story. Sounds like DC's just having a play, to be honest.

So this freebie was a good sneak peak, but more confusing than I'd hoped for. We'll see what happens when the series drops for real.

[Daniel]

Free Comic Book Day Primer für den Zwischenevent im Dawn of DC Event: Knight Terrors.
Damian wird von Alpträumen geplagt nach einem letzten Story Arc mit Batman.
Sehr kurz, sehr rudimentäre Zeichenweise. Hat mich bisher nicht überzeugt.

Free Comic Book Primer for the Initiative within the Dawn of DC Phase: Knight Terrors. Damian is shook by Nightmares after an Adventure with Batman. A secret Watcher seems to loom over him.
Pretty short and interesting drawing scheme. not for me it seems

[Khurram]

Issues

A good preview to the upcoming Knights Terrors DC crossover. Damian takes a quick nap but gets caught in a nightmare.

The problem when I look at the number of titles in the crossover, it is going to cost a fortune to get them all.

The book finishes either a checklist of issues to come and the cover gallery of a few of the upcoming issues.

[Nancy]

I was pleased to have DC back in the Free Comic Book Day lineup again, thus seeing the famous Trinity on the cover made me grab the title up. It was a bit of bait & switch as the story was about Damian, Batman’s devious son, but it was a solid introduction to the new Knight Terrors title, in which almost every DC hero will face dream terrors this summer. Great surreal art during the dream sequences.

[Kieran McAndrew]

Dawn of DC Knight Terrors FCBD Special Edition #1: 2023

Robin encounters something in his dreams capable of terrifying even him.

A fabulous advertisement for 'Knight Terrors', with intriguing artwork and a great hook.

[Piper]

It was a good intro to the knight terrors event - I love the art style & the character designs so far

[K]

Not much here, a little interesting to see into Damian's psyche some, but it's just a teaser for what's coming.

[Don]

This really isn’t my genre, the horror comic, but the artwork is brilliant, and the story very compelling. I think this is going to be a very good series. Great preview.

[Jason]

4.5

[Ann]

This was actually a very, very good opening comic for the Knight Terrors series – we get a taste of the terrors through Damian’s eyes, but it’s well-bookended and just perfectly ominous to make you want to keep reading, because you know what Damian doesn’t, that things are just going to get worse. Now, I wasn’t in love with the artwork here – the characters looked a little off in places to my mind, and some of the nightmare elements were confusing, but there were panels that were crystal clear and certain moments that were just perfect, so while I didn’t love some of the art, I felt like some of it was just right at the same time. There isn’t much to go on in this comic, but if you do any research at all you can easily find out a bit about the entire Knight Terrors series. This is a neat Free Comic Book Day taste of that series, and it does whet my appetite to see what Knight Terrors has in store! Oh, and at the end of the comic were some character design mock-ups and cover variants, so this one had to be a lot of fun to get in print, too!

[Garth]

2023 - 365 Days of Horror

Day 228: Went through the Knight Terrors checklist, deciding which issues I’ll try to read and began with this story from Free Comic Book Day, which is the starting point. One, I hate Damien and try to avoid anything with him. Two, the art was horrendous, and not in the good, horror, way. Even if it was supposed to represent dream sequences, it should be more than blobs of color. And what was with the panels? Just bad. I’ll attempt to read through my mini-version of the event but with this beginning, it just reinforces my hate of all comic book “events”.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez]

.......... ¿Ok? Realmente me debería gustar una trama de una entidad Pesadillesca asediando los sueños de todos los héroes y convirtiéndolos en avatares hiper deformados de sus peores miedos.... ¿Pero que sea en un evento? Por supuesto que debería ahorrarme los escalofríos y flashbacks de guerra de todo el embrollo de METAL. Pero esto no pinta mejor.

Lo de tener a Bachalo haciendo unas "Páginas extras" del Doctor Strange de Jason Aaron con Damian pues tampoco deja mejor sabor de boca.

[Patrick]

The story is OK but not great. Someone's pitch was probably, "It's like Nightmare on Elm Street but with superheroes!" Meh. Definitely an "event" I could wait to read until it's all in a trade collection and marked down to a couple of bucks.

The art is that lame kind that looks really rushed, like someone was in a hurry and had to color in sketches.

So definitely a hard pass for me on this.

[Dan]

In Gotham, Robin takes a power nap. His dad is taking Firefly and Killer Moth to Arkham.

Robin analyzes his day while he sleeps.

Flashbacks to Lazarus Island…before it was destroyed.

Really cool illustrations—the page with Robin’s dream, and realizing it’s a shared subconscious thing, is visually stunning. Excellent use of color, shape, and scope.

The visions—and threats—in Robin’s night terrors are ominous and haunting.

The artwork at the end as well, the very last few pages, is quite strong.

[James Norton]

Make your parents get another mortgage kid

DC got away with massive story arc once because people were curious to see who died but for 4 month arc that probably cost about hundred bucks a month just to see nightmares is not the incentive I'm looking for. Comics are way to overpriced for these kind of gimmicks. To much of a cash grab.

[Nicolo]

The real treat of this book is Chris Bachalo drawing the main DC characters in the inimitable style he has developed since he last worked for the publisher. I like it.

Plus, this book is free on Kindle.

[Mark]

Just a tease

The thing I dislike about these free comic book day comics, is that they are just advertisements rather than full length stories. Intriguing, but not enough to start buying the books.

[Steven Shinder]

Backtracked since there was a mention of this in Knight Terrors #3. Turns out half of it is story, but the second half is amazing character design art and I can't really knock it down given it's a FCBD release.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY]

Lavish.

Excellent color artwork for the preview. Sort of a nightmare come true. Damian as Robin and still working with his dad ?

[Jennifer Baratta]

Phenomenal issue

Daemon takes a map and goes up against the knightmare.
So previews the DC Universe Knightmares coming this summer.
Phenomenal artwork and writing. Read this issue

[Danii Savage]

The hype is real for the Knight Terrors event! So stoked. ☺️

[Ren]

All this did was make me realise how excited I am for Knight Terrors and remember that I need to preorder issue 1, holy shit this concept is cool.

[Robbs]

[3.25/5]
Concept is interesting but I'm not the biggest fan of the art.

[Rachel Clarke]

Fun and quick easy read

This was a fun and easy read and is great to start you on the stories of all the heroes and villains and their world

[Jason Brock]

Too bad

I can't afford a 46 title storyline this is why can't read comics anymore but looks damn good sadly as I said

[Chance]

cosmic mind horror

Been a while since DC has done a pure horror storyline set in the main series of Justice League comics.

[Benja Calderon]

No sé... algo cansados de los eventos
Peeeeeeeeeeeero DEADMAN, habrá que ver, habra que ver

[Jess]

cool event preview