Comic Info
Comic Name: Demon Knights
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Diogenes Neves/Michael Choi
# of Issues: 7
Release Date: 2012
Reprints Demon Knights #1-7 (November 2011-May 2012). The Questing Queen and her servant Mordru are taking over the Earth with the Questing Queen’s evil horde. Their next stop is Alba Sarum…the heart of the kingdom. The only thing standing between the Questing Queen and Alba Sarum is the town of Little Spring. In Little Spring, a group of voyagers has gathered made up of seven warriors: Exoristos, the Shining Knight, Vandal Savage, Etrigan the Demon/Jason Blood, Horsewoman, Al Jabr, and Madame Xanadu. It is up to these seven soldiers to fight back the Questing Queen’s horde in a great siege…if they can learn to work together.
Written by Paul Cornell, Demon Knights Volume 1: Seven Against the Dark was part of DC’s New 52 relaunch. It was a surprising hit among the new titles and received a lot of critical acclaim for both Cornell’s writing and Diogenes Neves’ art.
The series is basically a reimagining of the Seven Soldiers of Victory with “new” soldiers thrown in the mix. The Seven Soldiers were recently revamped by Grant Morrison in a multi-mini-series that has been collected in four volumes, but that series was both inside and outside of the true DC Universe. This series solidifies the Seven Soldiers of Victory within the DC Universe but also does incorporate parts of Morrison’s storyline (which I admit was really confusing itself).
Demon Knights #4
The story is quite fun. I love weird team combinations and this one is a strange one. I’ve never been a fan of the Demon (especially when he was a rhyming demon), but he works in the setting. Madame Xanadu is getting double play between this series and Justice League Dark. Shining Knight follows the Morrison Shining Knight which appears to be a woman (but continues to act like a man). Vandal Savage has always been a villain and villains turned “heroes” are always interesting. Exoristos (a disgraced Amazon), Al Jabr (a Sinbad character combined with a tactician), and Horsewoman (a mysterious rider) are all new characters, so the series is given room to grow. Plus, setting Demon Knights in a rather generic “Middle Ages” time period gives the series a different feel. The idea of the poor town of Little Spring getting caught in the war is fun and the result isn’t as you would necessarily expect it.
I skipped Demon Knights on its premiere week with the New 52, but word-of-mouth sent me back to find the back issues. It was worth it. I believe I will start getting the other issues after this collection and hope that the series has a long life. Series like Demon Knights however worry me in that they have such a narrow fan base, and it is easy to become attached to them but lose them in the turbulent world of competitive comics. I hope that the Knights keep fighting. Demon Knights Volume 1: Seven Against the Dark is followed by Demon Knights Volume 2: The Avalon Trap.
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