Knight Terrors: Punchline #1 variant cover, via DC Comics.
Knight Terrors: Punchline #1 — Danny Lore, Writer; Lucas Meyer, Artist; Alex Guimaraes, Colorist
Ray — 7/10
Ray: I’ve been rather critical of the way Punchline has been handled since the character had her breakout debut in James Tynion IV’s Batman run. The character was a massive hit, with her variant covers leading to sellouts, and her role in the run and follow-up “Trial of Punchline” backup in Joker’s title were a lot of fun. The character is a compelling foil to Harley — a sidekick to Joker who isn’t a messed-up gun moll but a clear-eyed sociopath who is there for the killing. The problem is, like any good villain who gets a big audience, the character is likely to get a spinoff sooner rather than later — and it didn’t take long to reveal that Punchline just doesn’t really work as a solo character. Her first mini recast her as a Gotham crime kingpin going up against Catwoman, and this one-off follows up on that with her loose in Gotham as everyone else has fallen asleep. She’s apparently immune to Insomnia’s dark magic — or is she?
Rude awakening. Via DC Comics.
Yeah, it’s not exactly a twist that she’s under the spell and doesn’t know it, just like almost every other hero. Danny Lore, who hasn’t written the character before that I know of, does a decent job building tension — but the problem is that this is an event about plumbing characters’ deepest fears, and Punchline is a relative blank slate of a character. That means that all there is to do is come up with some generic scares for her. Punchline gets hunted by Batgirl while alone in Gotham, winds up killing her — shades of Joker’s tie-in — and decides to take advantage of this by taking over the Clock Tower. Of course, what dies in this world doesn’t stay dead, and this issue’s biggest selling point is some genuinely creepy visuals by artist Lucas Meyer. It’s hard to point out anything particularly wrong with this issue, but it’s a story without a compelling lead, and largely comes off just feeling like a generic trip through scary scenes.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
