Dark Knights of Steel is a Medieval/Fantasy take of the Superman/Batman storyline. It's fun. I'm a King Arthur junkie and swords & sorcery fan, so this is right up my alley. I might spoil some things so if you haven't read it yet or don't want to be spoiled, just know, I recommend it for the fun take on the characters if you like sword & sorcery stuff and Superman/Batman comics. You can leave now.
Spoilers ahead.
Okay, for those of you still here, let's look at it a little more. First off, the pod that crashed didn't land in Kansas. Nope. It landed in a grassy open field in what appears to be medieval England or Wales or somewhere similar. Inside the pod, we find more than just Kal-El. In fact, Kal-El hasn't officially been born yet, but he will be, moments after the pod crashes.
We skip ahead 19 years and we find young Kal-El and his bodyguard, head knight, Bruce arguing with him to stay put as he assesses a possible threat. There's definitely a bit of a homo-erotic undertone with these two, but I mean, Arthur & Lancelot, anyone? Knights and pirates, Amiright? There's also a brotherhood, brothers thing. So, yeah, whichever. Bruce was apparently adopted by Kal's kingdom after the death of his family. Anyhoo, we run into quite a few of our fellow Justice Leaguers, except here, they are all looked at as threats to Kal-El by Bruce & he is determined to root them all out and either kill them or capture them. Except Harley, the court Jester and Alfred, the sage.
In the first issue we get Black Canary, Green Arrow, in a very Robin Hood like fashion and Green Lantern. In the second issue, we get even more exciting twists on characters as we are introduced to the rival kingdom run by Black Lightning and his daughters Anissa and Jennifer and son Jacob. Constantine also makes an appearance. Amanda Waller is in the mix and we find ourselves on another island with another kingdom. Amazon island. Lois Lane has come to inform Hippolyta of what has transpired in Kal-El's kingdom and she sends her off to find Wonder Woman and this world's version of Supergirl, Zala Jor-El.
Now, I want to pause her a moment. Mainly, because I find this hilarious. Zala is clearly Kara and the only character in the whole realm that does not have her original character name. There is clearly only one reason for this. She's queer. Wonder Woman is her girlfriend. As we have learned, multiple times over, IF Kara is used in any "Elseworld" or non-Prime world and even has the hint of queerness about her, they change her name. Kara Starikov, anyone? It has happened multiple times. It is absolutely absurd. Kara Zor-El is very queer. Why DC Comics won't let her be is a mystery. Is it creator issues? Her link to their Big guy? Fear? Homophobia? Idiocy? 40 year old white dude readers that love that virginal teenager purity? I don't know, but it has almost become a running gag at this point. I wish they'd just let her be queer, but that's a whole other post for another time. This Kara, er, um, Zala is queer. Hooray! Funny, lately Wonder Woman also only seems to be queer in non-Prime storylines, despite the contrary. At least she gets to keep her name.
Zala leaves Amazon Island to exact revenge because she knows her brother, Kal-El, won't. Yeah, they are brother and sister rather than cousins in this timeline. What has transpired and how Kara, er, um, Zala responds, it seems, will lead to war.
And that's where we leave off at the end of issue 2.
Again, it's fun. Bruce's paranoia is used quite well here, aliens or people with powers vs. people without powers is a theme, representation is very visible and I am excited to see where we go. It's good storytelling. The art is gorgeous. I mean, Yasmine Putri's pencils are glorious and the colors by Arif Prianto complement them perfectly. Tom Taylor just writes good stories, ya'll. So, yeah, looking forward to issue 3. This is a limited series. Unlike Tom King's Supergirl, DC gave Tom Taylor a full 12 issues to flesh out his tale.
Are you reading this one? Tell me what you think.
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