The Thin Line Between Dream And Reality — Reviewing ‘Knight Terrors: Nightwing’ #1

The entire DC Universe is in the throes of a supernaturally generated series of nightmares. It’s Nightwing’s turn to suffer. What are the greatest fears of the man known as the heart of the DC Universe? Harming those that he loves and cares about.

Fresh off their run-on Batgirls, Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad take a trip to a connected side of the Batverse. There are a few routes to take when crafting a story around a nightmare. There’s a way where the character is fully aware of the horror dream. Another way is they fully believe the nightmare is their horrific reality. With this series, we get that one down the middle where the character is never certain either way.

I really enjoyed how the writing duo manages to capture the same energy of the main Nightwing series. That very personal focus and energy that makes the book work. Dick Grayson is a character where we need to be in his POV, essentially standing alongside him as these things go down. Overall, the mystery of what Nightwing “did” in this nightmare is handled well, and the vibe is sufficiently frightening.

The best tie-ins of this type are the ones that make sure they fit the character. We very much get that focus with this two-issue series so far.

Daniele Di Nicuolo is a solid artistic choice for this storyline. Rather than a very clearly rough, horror-skewed art style, this is one that is more fun but also scary. Things are wide and bright and have a more whimsical slant to the horror. There is something extra creepy about seeing a seemingly boneless Scarecrow or a warped metal-deformed Barbara Gordon with this art style. Visually it feels like it should be fun and energetic, but it brings such a spotlight and detail to the hard aspects.

It’s like a bright colorful off-putting scariness which really is effective.

Those colors mentioned come from Adriano Lucas, who is the usual colorist for books with Nightwing. Lucas is always solid at shifting the tone of his colors to match whatever art is on the page. Here the colors are bright and vivid as mentioned, but also pulled down a bit for a grounded effect. These spaces feel real with weight and depth and color rather than something that is dreamy or dark.

Just enough darkness dances around the edges to remind us this is a horror story and dream, but never too much. Like Grayson himself, the choices can make us wonder if any of it might be real. Even though we know it is not.

Another stalwart of Dick Grayson’s books is letterer Wes Abbott. If one is looking for a letterer with great energy, style choices, and the ability to make words sing they should look to Abbott. Every bit of emotion is 100% clear within the words of every character. Yells feel loud and full of pain, while quieter moments are clear. Bubbles with odd shapes, colors thrown in, and changes to fonts make sure we know these things and hear them perfectly.

Night Terrors: Nightwing #1is now available from DC Comics.