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Sep 15, 2011 DC New 52 By Kyle Lemmon

Demon Knights is set in DC Universe’s Dark Ages, with Jason Blood wrestling with a very angry demon (Etrigan) inside of his body. Vertigo’s Madame Xanadu and the last Knight of the Round Table, Excalibur, make an appearance. The beginning of this issue finds Blood in King Arthur’s time. Merlin introduces us to Etrigan while Camelot is conquested. After that pulse-pounding introduction, Paul Cornell (Action Comics, Doctor Who) jumps centuries forward. Big baddie Mordru tries to use an infant to communicate with the spirit realm. He ends up killing some peasant’s only son in the process. It’s scary as hell, but the Demon Knights’ fantasy-horror balance is a jumbled after that.

Blood has a Magnificent Seven-like support team that is not so magnificent. We meet an aggravating girlfriend (Madame Xanadu is much better in her own series), a loutish lady, a stereotypical barbarian, and a female shining knight hanging out in a bustling pub. Their motivations and moods are thinly sketched. As the issue wraps up, the villains’ “Horde” barges through the bar with “dragons” in tow. What? That was just random, even for a comic book splash page.

Diogenes Neves (Green Arrow, New Mutants) & Oclair Albert’s (Green Lantern, Blackest Night, Brightest Day) art is extremely detailed and colorful. That fact can’t excuse a story’s engine that only fires on two cylinders. The fantasy elements are a mixed bag. Hopefully the horror is played up in later issues. Cornell’s transition from modern sci-fi into fantasy is below average. (www.paulcornell.com / www.diogenesneves.blogspot.com)

Author rating: 4/10