Dark Nights: Death Metal: Legends of the Dark Knights #1 Review

Not So Good Knight

Writer: Marguerite Bennett, Garth Ennis, Daniel Warren Johnson, Scott Snyder, Frank Tieri, Peter J. Tomasi, James Tynion IV, and Joshua Williamson
Artist: Tony Salvador Daniel, Francesco Francavilla, Jamal Igle, Daniel Warren Johnson, Joelle Jones, and Riley Rossmo
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: August 5, 2020

Hey everybody, do you need more Dark Knights?  Do you want to see the stories behind the Batmobeast, B. Rex, and the Robin King?  How you answer those questions will be a huge deciding factor in whether you like this issue.  So, how do I feel about it?  Let's find out...


I will tell you right off the bat (ha!); I was not looking forward to this issue.  While the original Dark Knights felt fresh and cool, that day has passed.  This collection feels way more like a cash grab than anything else, and the big hype surrounding it was all about speculators grabbing the origin of the Robin King.  For crying out loud, some of these characters are already dead in the main title!

Watch out Dark Nights: Death Metal: Legends of the Dark Knights #1 Video Review

We begin with The Darkest Knight, and I can only wonder why it took three writers to retell a story that we already know!  Scott Snyder, James Tynion, and Joshua Williamson get together to tell a tale,  half of which is just recap of what happened in the original Metal!  Really?!?  We do get more of the Batmanatten, but it's not much more than what we already read in the couple pages when he showed up in Death Metal.  Yea, he is now a bigger bad, but that's no surprise.

We then move onto Robin King, and Peter Tomasi gives us a look at a messed up Bruce Wayne who ends up killing his parents.  It's not surprising and feels like it takes too long to get to the big reveal.  I am not a Riley Rossmo fan and hated the art in this story.  If you are a fan, maybe you will enjoy it more, but overall, the story did not match the hype.

We then get a quick B. Rex story that I guess replaced the Warren Ellis story that was supposed to be in the issue.  I agree that it needed to be replaced, but this doesn't end up being much of anything.  That's how I feel about most of the remaining stories.  Castle Bat, Batmobeast, and Baby Batman aren't quite the Red Death,  The Devastator, or The Merciless of the original Metal.  They aren't even close!  Oh well.

Besides trying to get your hands on the Robin King's origin, I don't see any reason at all to grab this book.  It feels obvious that DC Comics is trying to grab the big bucks that the Dark Knight solo books got them during Metal, and I don't see it here.  The worst part is, I like most of the creators here, they don't have anything interesting to work with, however, and that's a shame.  I'll wait for the next issue of Death Metal and hope this is just an anomaly.  

Bits and Pieces:

 Dark Nights: Death Metal: Legends of the Dark Knights #1 is an unnecessary collection of recap and uninteresting characters that I don't suggest to anyone but completists and speculators.  I'd say it's a missed opportunity, but it feels like an opportunity that should have been left undone.

5.0/10