Return of the King
Hmmm... Philip Tan I like, but of course... freaking Etrigan man. At least some of the others are also here, in crazy demonic forms, but Etrigan's front and center. I DO like the creepy extra-dimensional THING in the background there, but it does kind of crowd the image. The damn Dark Knight Rises banner certainly doesn't help.
Once again, we get an issue with Robson Rocha filling in where Diogenes Neves can't finish. Rocha's art is pretty good, but the transition's pretty choppy. It's most noticeable when Rocha draws Shining Knight. Otherwise you could maybe convince yourself Neves was having an off day, but Rocha's Shining Knight is really funky. Overall it just breaks up the flow, it's a lot messier than Neves' and it makes the scene feel pretty awkward.
It's interesting to see the demonic forms the 'Demon Knights' take. Not exactly 'demonic' entirely, but pretty wild versions of their greatest desires, or maybe what they think is their greatest desires. That short scene there reveals A LOT about their psychologies, and could prompt paragraphs of analysis, but I won't get into all the details, you should read it for yourself.
Most of this issue is exposition and setup for the next. This arc feels more like what the first was meant to be, to a degree. It's a side story in their main quest, which itself isn't entirely the main quest for some of our heroes. The sense that this is just a medley of medieval misadventures sets such a great 'D&D' tone for this series. It's dark fantasy at its very core, and I love it.
In Conclusion: 4/5
A lot of issues of Demon Knights leave me with little overall to say. The characters are GREAT and generally all are well utilized in an equal capacity. This issue fell short a bit in terms of progress and the art slip in the middle, but it's still a solid entry in one of the best titles of the New 52.
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