Synopsis:

Swords! Sorcery! Superheroes! A brand-new DC Universe is born!

An entire medieval world changes as a spaceship crash-lands from a doomed planet. Years later, Jefferson Pierce, the head of the Kingdom of Storms, sees the reign of El Kingdom as a threat. Monarchs die, kingdoms rise, and what seemed like the end of the world for many…was just the beginning! An epic high-fantasy story is unleashed where nothing is as it seems!

AWEsomeness:

Recipe: Mix GoT with 12 issues of DC, you get Dark Knights of Steel.

Images:

My View:

If Game of Thrones and DC Universe had a baby, it would be named: The Dark Knights of Steel

This series was out for a while, but I just never read it until one of my close friends mailed me his set of books just to make me read it. He kept saying that this comic gave life back into DC’s long-running Elseworlds comic line. I got to say, upon reading this, I was simply BLOWN AWAY! (He is not going to get his books back).

The story starts with a spacecraft from Krypton carrying Superman’s parents landing on Earth… but in the medieval age!

Flash-forward a few years, and the medieval age is ruled by three kingdoms, one with Superman as their prince and his parents as the king and queen. The other kingdom is Themyscira, ruled by Wonder Woman’s Mom – Queen Hippolyta, and the third kingdom is ruled by Black Lightning.

Now there is a plot to kill Superman’s dad (Spoiler alert: they succeed), and the Kingdom of El thinks it was the Black Lightning’s kingdom and gets ready for war. Black Lightning’s kingdom denies the assassination and claims to be innocent. The kingdom of Themyscira is stuck between the two kingdoms, unable to take a side. The rest of the story goes on with lots of twists and turns, which I feel that I should not reveal.

A few highlights of the book:

1. I would highly recommend this to people who like Game of Thrones and would like to try reading a DC Universe comic; then this is your cup of tea. There is a blood bath, there is betrayal, there are twists and turns, and whatnot! As for the regular DC comics readers, this is an Elseworlds comic; you should not miss out.
   
2. The best thing about this book was the re-imagination of all our favourite characters, without spoiling much: Batman is a knight sworn to protect House of El with Alfred as his assistant. Batman uses spies to gather intel, and those spies are called his “Robins”. One of my MOST FAVOURITE was the transformation of #$# %^*&^% into *^% !@#$#, like who would have imagined, right? completely unexpected.
   
3. The story is by Tom Taylor, and the gorgeous artwork is by Yasmine Putri.

The book also has a 6-issue spin-off entitled “Dark Knights of Steel: All Winter”, which is a medieval-age Deathstroke’s story, and the plot happens at the same time as the events of Dark Knights of Steel unfold. I still have not read it. But it was said to be equally great. I seriously doubt if my friend will lend his copy of All Winter.

Not all characters were introduced, and hence, there is a sequel coming out in 2026. This one started off great, but towards the second half of the series, I felt it was more predictable. Let’s wait and see what the sequel has in store for us. I’m eagerly looking forward to it!

Will meet you soon with another interesting comic. Until then, bye!

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

^{Pic Credits: DC Comics}