REVIEW: Dark Knights Of Steel #5
Tom Taylor continues to weave a story of intrigue while seamlessly building upon a world that is both new and familiar. It’s refreshing to be nearly halfway through a series and still be blown away with each issue.
Dark Knights of Steel #5, “Lost Souls” takes everything you might think you know about where this story is heading and throws it out the window. More players are introduced and even more questions are raised in this epic fantasy tale.
Once again we’re treated with three great covers. The standard cover by Dan Mora gives us our first look at Poison Ivy in this world alongside her typical counterpart, Harley Quinn. Between them stands Wonder Woman with an arrow drawn and ready for battle with a pegasus in flight to further add an element of fantasy. We seem to move away from the stained glass motif that ran in the first four issues, but the varying perspectives of the three characters still fits with the previous style.
The first variant by Joshua Middleton is beautifully picturesque and feels like it belongs on a marquee of a movie theater. Green Arrow and Black Canary adorn the background with action movie style head shots, while the foreground features a full body shot of presumably Black Canary with Green Arrow’s gear.
The second variant by Ejikure revisits Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, capturing a carefree moment between them. The joy radiating off of Harley is so infectious that even Ivy can’t keep from looking happy. The art style is absolutely stunning and is my personal favorite of the three covers.
As the main cover suggests, Harley, Ivy, and Diana are the primary focus in the first half of this issue. The dialogue between Harley and Ivy is comical yet poignant, while their interaction with Diana gives us a fun action sequence. The last half switches focus to Batman and Kal-El where Bruce begins his debrief of the last couple of issues events with jaw dropping results.
Yasmine Putri’s art continues to be perfect for this series. Her character designs are grounded in the period the story takes place while still feeling familiar enough to know who everyone is with little to no introductions. Her action sequences are full of motion and have a clear direction of events. Arif Prianto’s colours add so much ambiance to each environment visited in this issue, his use of shading gives each panel a watercolour feel which really gives the interiors a unique look.
Dark Knights Of Steel #5 continues to impress as Tom Taylor continues to weave a story of intrigue while seamlessly building upon a world that is both new and familiar. It’s refreshing to be nearly halfway through a series and still be blown away with each issue.
