What happens to heroes and villains when you remove color and heat from their lives? How does that affect their lives, their personalities and their purpose?
Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #1 explores these questions in an imaginative way. The Elseworlds limited series is a sequel to Dark Knights of Steel, the Tom Taylor and Yasmine Putri mini which reimagined the DC Universe in a medieval fantasy setting. Allwinter takes us back to that world while expanding it by giving us reimagined versions of some of the iconic DC villains who didn’t appear in the first series. Trust me, this version of Deathstroke will blow you away.
Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #1 features a Deathstroke story by Jay Kristoff and Tirso and an intriguing backup story about the Kents from Tom Taylor and Riccardo Federici. The Slade story introduces Jarnlund, a region which has an unusual curse. For the past 21 years, the land has been drained of all color and blanketed with eternal winter. The grass is no longer green, the sea is no longer blue. Only black, white and gray remain.
It's enough to drive you mad…and that’s kind of what happens. The region seems to be populated entirely by villains. I have no clue if they were evil before the curse, or if the curse drove them to villainy. Either way, what do you think happens when you put a bunch of bad guys together in a region? That’s right, everyone is fighting for territory.
The story opens with a bloody territorial battle between Jarl Vandar (our version of Vandal Savage) and Jarl Roman (aka Black Mask). However, Vandar has an ace up his sleeve—the feared warrior known as the Deathstroke.
Yes, as promised when this series was initially announced, we get a Viking version of Deathstroke and he’s as awesome as you’d imagine. Slade effortlessly takes out Jarl Roman, winning the war for Jarl Vandar. He later slays a Kraken by attacking it FROM THE INSIDE OF ITS STOMACH. As he explains to Fru Caitlin (an ironically hot-tempered Killer Frost), once he sets his sights on a target, there is no stopping him.
However, something is weighing on Slade. The Viking mercenary reminds Jarl Vandar that he doesn’t enjoy the bloodlust of war as much as he used to. In fact, Slade almost seems bored as he ends a war, and he can barely muster any excitement as he slaughters a Kraken.
Has the curse affected Slade’s psyche? There’s some evidence for that theory. Vandar notes that Slade has been out of action for two decades, which is the same amount of time it’s been since the curse befell Jarnlund. When Vandar asks Slade if he cares about anything other than money, his response is very telling.
“In a land like this?” he questions. “All warmth swallowed by winter? All color run to gray? What else is there?”
Later, while sailing to another kingdom with Fru Caitlin, he can’t help but muse about the colorless ocean. “You know these oceans used to be blue once,” Slade says. “Blue as a babe’s eyes.”
As he remembers this, his eyes are fixated on the water. Fru Caitlin and the other Vikings just stare ahead. Their minds aren’t on the past, they just want to continue their mission. They want to hunt and kill. Yet Slade wants something more.
Fru Caitlin is young and she doesn’t remember life without the curse. She dismisses Slade’s talk of color and warmth. Jarl Vandar, on the other hand, feels like he has prospered under it. To his mind, it’s weeded out the weak and given him more opportunities to conquer. It’s a world of violence and mayhem, and Jarl Vander feels right at home.
Things are different for Slade, and I think the curse is only part of the problem. I have to believe that once Slade lost his family, he lost the will to live. Since then, he’s been running on autopilot. The only time we ever see him show any emotion is near the end of this first chapter when he’s reunited with his ex-wife Addie. The sight of her is enough to make him forsake a contract, which is something he never does.
And then there’s the matter of what Slade finds on the last page. I won’t spoil it here, but let’s just say he sees something that changes everything. We’re only one chapter into Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter, and it’s truly shaping up to be an epic saga. Just think of the other characters we’ll meet and the lands we’ll travel to. Stories like this are the reason we have the Elseworlds imprint. Jarnlund might not have any color or warmth, but it’s added plenty of both to the DC Multiverse.
Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #1 by Jay Kristoff, Tirso, Tom Taylor, Riccardo Federici and Arif Prianto is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Twitter at @TBUJosh.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
