One Person’s Dream Is Another’s Nightmare — Reviewing ‘Knight Terrors: Poison Ivy’ #1

Don’t fall asleep. DC Comics has interrupted the regularly scheduled ongoing comic book series for something much more nightmarish.

That’s right, the two-month-long event series Knight Terrors has begun. During July and August, most of the DC’s normal output is being put on hold, with a bunch of two-issue minis taking their place. Being such a hit series, Poison Ivy is one of those getting a mini.

Spoiler warning: If you haven’t read the Knight Terrors: First Blood one-shot that kicks this all off, turn back now lest you be spoiled.

Basically, the Justice League’s old enemy John Dee/Doctor Destiny is dead. Killed by a mysterious being known as Insomnia, who has control over nightmare realms and an axe to grind against heroes. Nightmares are sweeping through the world and laying claim to heroes, villains, and regular people alike. Each of the minis is meant to explore the nightmares of many characters. Some of them are from the regular series creative teams while others are from a guest team of creators.

Poison Ivy fans lucked out that writer G. Willow Wilson, colorist Arif Prianto, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou are here to keep their great run going. While regular artist Marcio Takara isn’t here for these issues, artist Atagun Ilhan (who drew issues seven and eight) is back in the fold with Mark Morales on inks.

Horror, of the ecological variety, is no stranger to this series. So, a two-issue story set in a nightmarish realm? Well, that’s an order that this team can very easily deliver. And oh yeah do they deliver.

Visually, Ilhan, Morales, and Prianto nail the creepiness vibe and then some. There is an inherent bit of roughness that is part of Ilhan’s style which plays well with the nature of this story. Every facet of emotion is clear and well-rendered. This comes into big play through most of the issue, as the big giant smiles that were already off-putting become split-the-face level repulsively horrifying.

We’re drawn into this dream nightmare that seems colorful and bright on the surface, but the darkness is right there, and the overall vibe is what turns us off from panel one. We’re meant to feel unnerved by this super happy happy-seeming place and the artwork and colors make sure that happens.

I mean, who isn’t instantly terrified of Batman wearing a dad outfit with the cowl and sandals with socks on? Pretty sure I’ll be seeing that in my own nightmares.

All the saccharine sweet, vivid colors are far more terrifying than the darkness/shadows that begin to creep in, by design. In fact, the darkness that begins to creep in feels more welcome than the mask of happiness that is in this world.

Together, through the art and colors, there is vast detail, but also lightness. By that, I mean there isn’t like a weight that makes this world feel grounded and real. They pull back here so that it feels instantly artificial and wrong. Our eyes just instantly ping that this world is wrong.

We also feel all that in the way that Otsmane-Elhaou brings the lettering together. All the different colored bubbles for some characters feel right for their theme but also wrong at the same time. As it’s meant to. Especially when they slowly begin to morph into a more threatening mode with Janet from HR. The slow change of the bubble shapes, font sizes, and colors ramps up the intensity of the moment alongside the tonally changing artwork.

I always love how much work goes into lettering, especially when it really highlights the differences in types of dialogue/captions. Tone and volume are always abundantly clear in Otsmane-Elhaou’s work. Dropping in changing of cases, from all caps to sentence case, or changing sizes of the font to make sure that we know what words are being yelled, spoken, or whispered. It allows our mind to play out these voices in a realistic way as we read through them.

Doing tie-in issues can derail a series, especially if it’s going through story beats of its own. The best ones normally find a way to tie their own beats into the event ones. That’s what Wilson pulls off here.

Even as the book takes a two-month detour into nightmares, those nightmares play into everything the series has been doing. Ivy is trying to fight the world, trying to finally have her life and love with Harley, and the conflict that Janet from HR brings to her world with their secret. Throwing it all together here allows us to keep exploring Ivy’s mindset and emotions but in a new way. This is a dream world that is the opposite of everything that Ivy would ever want, yet she begins to accept it because of her love for Harley.

It speaks to the idea of how far someone will go, giving up more and more pieces of themselves when it comes to a relationship. Compromise and sacrifice have their place,  but sometimes you must really wonder if there is too much of either being done.

I love that Wilson has finally fully gotten the two characters together on the page but makes sure that their relationship is far from easy. Because they rarely ever are.

Knight Terrors: Poison Ivy #1 is now available from DC Comics.