Review: Demon Knights Vol. 3- The Gathering Storm

Quick Summary

Pros: The opening arc satisfactorily wraps up the previous storyline. The stories told here have the same blend between action and intrigue that made the previous volumes entertaining. The end of the volume gives the series a nice conclusion.

Cons: The opening of the book feels very rushed. The transition between the opening story and the rest of the volume is poorly managed and damages certain characters. The artwork does not look as nice as it did previously, especially near the volume’s end.

Overall: This volume tells a few good stories but has a number of mistakes that prevent it from being nearly as good as it could have been. It contains some lackluster artwork, rushes through the opening chapters, and severely mishandles a transition point not far into the book. Luckily, there are still entertaining moments throughout the book and the conclusion may be worthwhile for those interested in the narrative. In the end, this volume serves as a decent read for those who already enjoy the series, as long as they are able to look past its faults.

Story

Demon Knights Vol. 3: The Gathering Storm, by Paul Cornell and Robert Venditti, contains several entertaining sword and sorcery-style adventures but also makes a number of mistakes along the way. The positives here mostly come from the way in which the individual stories are able to capture the charm of the first two volumes, blending the action of the sword with the trickery of the sorcery. However, negatives creep in through a transition between authors. The chapters before this transition feel rushed while the chapters after this transition alter character traits or simply drop entire plot points. Together, this mix of positives and negatives leads to a reading experience that is worthwhile in some ways but disappointing in others.

(spoilers start here)

The Gathering Storm starts out with writer Paul Cornell essentially providing a quick wrap-up to the cliffhanger story from the previous collection. The Demon Knights go to Hell, quickly break out, put an end to the battle for Avalon, and end up parting ways. It gives their present adventure a satisfying conclusion and even has a couple of solid character moments. However, the entire ordeal packs a lot of action into a short span of time, leaving it feeling rushed.

At this point, writing duties transition from Paul Cornell to Robert Venditti. This transition is rough right from the beginning, as it improperly blends the previously established character development with what occurs from this point onward. This leads to Ystin going from being tortured in Hell with the thought of publicly identifying with a gender to going exclusively by female pronouns and Jason Blood going from an accepting participant in his love triangle to doubting it based on the words of the notoriously untrustworthy Vandal Savage. In addition, plot points surrounding the resurrection of Camalot, Merlin’s overall plan, and Ystin’s gender are completely dropped. All of this damages this volume’s storytelling and makes it harder to fully enjoy the narrative.

Luckily, the stories Robert Venditti tells after the transition are both pretty good. The first is a battle between the Demon Knights and a vampiric horde growing stronger by the day. The threat posed by this enemy and the resulting battles in which they participate ensure that this story has plenty of action and excitement. Meanwhile, the clever manipulations and schemes taking place between the Demon Knights and Lucifer add a bit of intrigue and planning to keep things interesting.

The second story completes the Knights’ quest to retrieve the Holy Grail and wraps up their adventures as a whole. It has the same blend between action, from battles with ferocious giants, and intrigue, from well-thought out plans, that made the previous stories entertaining. It also gives a worthwhile end to Ystin’s quest for the Grail, Exoristos’s deal with the devil, Horsewoman’s disability, and the continued adventures of the Demon Knights.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The Gathering Storm starts out with a change in artists that, unfortunately, leads to a slight decrease in the visual appeal of the series. Bernard Chang’s work in this collection looks good in places and is mostly able to properly reflect the mystical appeal of the events in these comics. In addition, colors from Marcelo Maiolo somewhat maintain the aesthetic appeal of the series, keeping some consistency between this volume and the previous two. However, the pencils here lack the level of detail and creativity that was seen before and cause characters and locations to lack the emotion that they previously were able to show.

Then, near the end of the book, the artwork takes an even more significant turn for the worse. A few different artists take over and bring a somewhat jarring change in the art style with them. This portion of the book contains even less detail, less creativity, and characters that look dramatically different than they did before. This is particularly true in the case of Ystin, who now looks distinctly more female than before. None of these artistic changes are positive and they hurt the overall appeal of the visuals in this book.

Continuity

Demon Knights Vol. 3: The Gathering Storm continues the story from Demon Knights Vol. 2: The Avalon Trap (Review).

The story here is not continued in any specific comic. However, the modern day adventures of various characters are told over the course of different comic series. Madam Xanadu’s modern day story continues through most of the Justice League Dark series, starting with Justice League Dark Vol. 1: In the Dark (Review), and Etrigan’s modern day story continues in Stormwatch #13-14, collected in Stormwatch Vol. 3: Betrayal (Review)