Demon Knights, Volume One: Seven Against the Dark, Cornell

[skjam]

Subject: Demon Knights, Volume One: Seven Against the Dark, Cornell
Text:
The follwing is the review I posted on my new review blog, SKJAM! Reviews http://www.skjam.com which also covers things that are not comic books. Stop by!

Comic Book Review: Demon Knights Vol. 1 (Seven Against the Dark) by Paul Cornell, Diogenes Neves & Oclair Albert



When DC Comics rebooted their mainline universe in 2011, this left them free to rearrange the past of that universe . To fill in part of that timeline, we have this title.

After a brief moment at the fall of Camelot, we see the town of Little Spring, a relatively peaceful village that just so happens to be host to seven ill-assorted strangers. It’s a close call as to whether these strangers or the encroaching army of the Questing Queen is more of a danger. Nevertheless, it falls to this ragtag band of misfits to defend Little Spring until it can be relieved by Alba Sarum.

The “heroes” of this story don’t much like each other, and several of them aren’t very heroic at all. But like it or not, they have to work together…or do they?

This one of the more successful reimaginings of the New 52. Paul Cornell does good banter, and blends what we “know” of various characters with new information in interesting ways. Several mysteries are set up, only a couple of which actually get movement in this volume, which contains the first seven issues of the series. Also, kudos to Mr. Cornell for a relatively diverse cast, and not pretending it was only white able-bodied men who did anything important in the Middle Ages.

There’s quite a bit of gory violence, and some dark themes–I would recommend this for older teens and up.

Comments

[bethbethbeth]

So...is this actually Arthurian, or is it just tangentially Arthurian, with completely original characters in a pseudo-medival setting? I'd be interested in checking it out either way though!

[skjam]

It's tangentially Arthurian, as several characters have ties to Merlin, and there's a subplot about the Holy Grail. But this Merlin is a bit different than previous versions to tie him more closely to the New 52 continuity. Likewise, most of the characters we "know" from previous versions are greatly changed for this new universe.

[salinea]

Best and possibly only good thing that came out of the Reboot as far as I'm concerned. Love the cast of characters and their dynamics, and the general atmosphere which is fun, a little bit dark, a little bit hopeful, and flavourful. That's so pretty good characters in that mix and I wish we got more time to spend with them before Cornell (given the current state of DC, I don't think I'll trust his successor).

[silverr]

I've been picking up this title (but haven't read any issues yet :p). As this will be my first venture into comics since the 1980s, I have a few questions:

1. What are your thoughts on the pertinence of the Vertigo Madame Xanadu to her characterization in DK? (I know most of the Vertigo storylines take place closer to modern day.)

2. Do you feel that there are any "must read" titles for Jason Blood or Etrigan backstory, or is DK pretty self-contained? (I saw the " Likewise, most of the characters we "know" from previous versions are greatly changed for this new universe" statement in your review, but as I'm a complete newcomer I'm double-checking.)

[skjam]

While they share much of their characterization, Vertigo Xanadu and DK Xanadu are not the same person, and you should keep that in mid when you read the one you read second. (That said, the Vertigo version is much more centered on Xanadu herself, has lovely art, and is also recommended.

Etrigan's origin story is the first part of the first issue of Demon Knights, but is not all of his origin. The rest is covered in later storylines in DK. For pre-Flashpoint Etrigan, my recommendations would be the Jack Kirby stories because obvious, and the Demon's appearance in Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing, because that cemented his characterization for years.

For Vandal Savage, the one thing that might be helpful to know is that he actually has been around since prehistoric times.

Ystin is very different from her pre-Flashpoint version, and some of her origin is included in this first storyline.

The other three heroes are new.

On the antagonist side, Mordru has had several backstories, but "nigh-immortal wizard" is common to all.

Offhand, I'd say that you can read Demon Knights without reading any other DC books and do just fine.

[silverr]

Okay thank you. Coming from anime/manga/gaming fandoms, I'm comfortable with the idea of material having multiple canons.

"While they share much of their characterization, Vertigo Xanadu and DK Xanadu are not the same person, and you should keep that in mid when you read the one you read second."

Any recommendation on which I should read first?

(Alao I forgot to mention in my OP that for Ystin I borrowed a friend's Seven Soldiers, so ditto the above question.)

[skjam]

If you don't already have Vertigo Xanadu in house, I'd go with reading Demon Knights first. Otherwise, I'd go with Vertigo Xanadu first, as Cornell does take much of the characterization from there.

Seven Soldiers is...complex, so I would make sure to pick a time when you can not just read it uninterrupted, but have time to go back and reread bits to examine them more closely once later revelations have come in. You may also want to have Wikipedia open to the article on it for the reread. Read Demon Knights first.

[silverr]

Thank you again - I did pick up all 4 Xanadu books from our LCBS, so I'll start with those, then DK, then Seven Soldiers.

(And all of this from a random panel posted in a fandomsecrets comment.)

[random_fan]

My favourite series to come from the reboot. This series is amazing and I can't get over how something this good isn't getting the recognition it deserves, it's highly likely this series will be cancelled within the next two waves and that saddens me immensely. There are so many stories to tell with these characters and the fact that almost all of these characters are likely to either be never or rarely be seen again is a tragedy.