Tom Taylor specialises in DC alternate worlds. First there was the fighting game-inspired Injustice, then zombie apocalypse DCeased, and now his latest one is a Game of Thrones-y flavoured story: Dark Knights of Steel. A young prince Superman rules the land with his parents and the help of bastard enforcer, the Bat-prince. But, in a rival kingdom, King Jefferson plots to take the throne of El and magical assassins have been dispatched…
Dark Knights of Steel #1 is an ok start to what used to be called an Elseworlds story. Taylor sets the tone with the opening scene where the familiar Superman origin plays out - but with a twist. There’s a lot of little twists to household names throughout this comic and it’s cute to see who’s been reimagined as what.
Batman however, despite being a teenager, still has Robins - ie. children - working for him which just seems weirder than usual because of how young Bruce is in this story. Also everyone is oddly protective of Kal-El despite Superman being stronger than all of them and needing the least protection out of them all!
The arrest of Banshee (Black Canary) and the scolding of Bat-prince by King Jor-El were very meh scenes, but I liked some of the reveals - who Batman really is, which is a fun take for the character, and the new roles Green Arrow/Green Lantern have been cast in. It’s a tantalising cliffhanger for sure.
Yasmine Putri’s art is quite good. The opening scene stood out for me and she manages the action scenes very effectively. The character designs are less impressive - most are barely changed from what they normally wear, just less tech-y. They look exactly as you think medieval versions of these characters would look like.
What this first issue doesn’t do that well is establish the central conflict of the story - who are we meant to be rooting for? Probably Superman/Batman’s side - but why? And why do the other factions want them dead? Are they simply generic bad guys or do they have good reasons? It’s not a huge problem as Taylor has 11 more issues to set this out and develop it, and there is a lot of other stuff in this comic that is done well besides this.
Tom Taylor does for DC what Neil Gaiman did for Marvel with 1602 - an amusing, if not that entertaining or imaginative, novel ye olden times setting for familiar characters. Dark Knights of Steel #1 is a decent start to what will probably turn out to be a decent series.
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