First Look: Taylor and Putri Merge Swords, Sorcery and Superheroes

The creative dream team of Tom Taylor and Yasmine Putri preview their new Elseworlds-like limited series, Dark Knights of Steel.

The DC Multiverse is a strange and wondrous thing, full of unique, vibrant worlds both familiar and unlike anything you’ve ever dreamed. Tom Taylor has a knack for writing both. In bestselling, continuity-set books like Nightwing and Superman: Son of Kal-El, he’s continued and expanded the stories for some of DC’s most beloved superheroes, finding new depths of characterization to explore and making bold decisions to broaden his heroes’ appeal. But Taylor first made his mark on DC fans by showing how far he could push, stretch and alter those same characters, while keeping them true to the people we know and love. Injustice showed us a universe of heroes at war with each other and how quickly good intentions tarred by unlimited power can spiral into tyranny. Meanwhile, DCeased pushed its version of the DC Universe to the brink of an undead apocalypse, showing us that the only thing worse than a zombie is a super-powered zombie.

Now, teamed with artist Yasmine Putri, Taylor is once again taking us to a new corner of the DC Multiverse, a medieval world where castles and kings reign supreme. But this realm of swords and sorcery is about to get an unexpected visitor from the stars who will change its destiny and possibly bring about its destruction.

…or maybe be its salvation. It’s so hard to tell with prophecies at times.

The twelve-issue, limited series Dark Knights of Steel launches next week with a debut chapter that’s so unlike anything we’ve seen from Taylor, we had no choice but to sit him and Putri down for a chat about how they pulled it off and what fans can expect from the series going forward. And as if that’s not enticing enough, we’ve paired it with an exclusive sneak peek at the first issue.


Come read the full interview over at DC Comics!


Pray thee, tell us: are you excited for this new medieval-era fantasy series? Let us know in the comments! :point_down:

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I finally beat @Alec.Holland to like the @DC_Community article first!:grin:
Anyway this sound very interesting and think it’ll be worth reading!:grinning:

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Can’t wait for this.

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Well this looks fascinating!

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Alas, this peasant is indeed excited for the medieval era, with a soupcon of high-fantasy mixed in, adventure that begins this Tuesday.

Initially, I thought “Nay!” as far as buying the book as it comes out was concerned.

However, with a couple spots in my reading list having opened up, I said “Hark! It is now that I can ride my way into Dark Knights of Steel.”, and thus, I shall check out the first issue. If it tickles my fantasy-loving fancy, then I shall ride with the series as it travels hither and yon across the storytelling land.

SN: I’m also getting to be a bigger and bigger Tom Taylor fan, so most anything he does is something I’ll read. Much the same as when Geoff Johns was a big writing wheel at DC.

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How much new stuff is he gonna put out before he finally leaves Nightwing? That’s all I wanna know. I’m ready for actually good Nightwing content that actually takes the character seriously. And when is DC gonna respect the Titans and their history together instead of using them as JL developmental brand? Why can’t the characters that actually built the team and made it popular actually be the center of the title? Hell, why can’t Nightwing be the center of his own book instead of the Batfam? When will their titles no longer be led by Batman and JL editorial?

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I’m excited for this! The art looks great, and I think it’s fun to see redesigned characters for different era type Elseworlds. I hope we get to meet a wide variety of heroes and villains.

Taylor does seem very busy!

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I’m down for this for sure.

I’m sure that I’ll read the first issue and end up falling behind and then read a bunch of issues in a row.

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Holy swords and sorcery Batman the last two pages of the book change everything!!!

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Om Tayler is taking Nightwing seriously he is just expanding on his relationship with Barbara Gordan to them finally exploring a relationship together in current cannon

The titans have always been JL Developmental brand going back to their inception in 1966 as wonder girl (donna troy) Aqualad (Garth) Kid Flash (Wally West) and Robin (Dick Grayson). dick Grayson as Nightwing does not even happen until 1984. Before this Nightwing was Clark Kent when he went into the bottled city of Kondor. Koriand’r, Cyborg, and Raven were not even created until 1980.

Well Dick Grayson as robin was introduced eather batman vol 1 issue 1 or detective comics vol 1 37 by Batman (Both have cover dates in march), given Teen Titans volume 1 issue 1 had Batman in it, and even going back to The Brave and The Bold vol 1 issue 54 the first appearance of the Teen Titans had Batman in it, Nightwing vol 1 issue 1 had Batman in it and issue 2 had Babs as Oracle in it, with both issues having Alfred in it, well issue 3 was a solo issue, and issue 4 (the last issue) had Batman in it and even in Grayson vol 1 Has batman as Matches Malone in the flashback and the rest of the batfamily somewhere in the issue as well. Dick Grayson has always been a part of the batfamily.

However, Nightwing does always take place from NIghtwings point of view so he has always been the star of his books. Actually, Tom Taylor does a great job of keeping dick as the main focus, the exception being Nightwing vol 4 issue. 82 when we get Dick’s sister Melinda Zucco’s backstory. given batman recently has shared his book with backups with clown hunter, Ghost maker, and the Batgirls, and the last two batman annuals stared clown hunter and ghost-maker, I would say Nightwing has had a good run of being the star of his own work under Taylor.

as to this Series Dark knights of steel, i started a discussion thread for it last month that i though i should post here as i really want to discuss this fantastic series:Reactions To Dark Knights of Steel Spoilers Allowed

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How many issues has it been and the plot has gone NO WHERE…? :rofl::rofl::rofl: Don’t make me laugh. And you mean focusing on the ship that’s literally nothing but a shackle to the Batfam?

Since you wanna give a history lesson here’s one for you. Yes, the Teen Titans in the 60s may have started out that way but that’s also the same reason they ended. If you’re gonna discuss history lets not discount character development as in the 80s when the New Teen Titans formed it was because the Justice League had turned Raven away when she came to them first and literally BEGGED for their help. Upon helping Raven defeat her father the League came to the Titans with not only their disapproval of reforming, but the inclusion of Raven who just helped them save the world from a threat bigger than any the League had ever faced so the Titans rightfully told them they didn’t work for them anymore and were doing it their way as they didn’t agree with the League deciding who was or wasn’t worthy of help. So no, the Titans are not a JL developmental brand or stepping stone for young heroes, but a tight knit FOUND FAMILY who came together when they had no one else to turn to. No other generation of heroes to come after them has that so no one else but them can represent that. It wasn’t until the Titans stopped trying to be the JL and working for them that they became popular since every era you mentioned before this was cancelled due to lack of sales and this development of the team is part of what made the team successful enough to single handedly save the company from bankruptcy. The Batfam could NEVARRR AAHHHAHAHAHAHA :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

You seem to have a habit of only telling part of the story. While yes Dick had many of his 40 years as Robin starring next to Batman, hell, at this point even most of his time as Nightwing now being relegated back to the role of sidekick, but that’s just pure regression as when Dick went off to college and depending on the continuity he either quit or was fired he wasn’t featured in any Batman or Batfam stories until post-crisis and after the end of the New Teen Titans series. Batman did make about 3 appearances within New Teen Titans though alongside the League and Outsiders where Dick ended up taking a leadership role over Batman and even proved to be a better leader as the Outsiders ended up listening to him instead of Batman by the end of their appearance. Dick had successfully gotten out of Batman’s shadow and was no longer a member of the Batfam and if it wasn’t for his departure the Batfam as you believe you know it today wouldn’t exist because Bat editorial tried to poach him since the Titans gained so much popularity and Marv Wolfman said no and turned him into Nightwing to completely and finally cut his ties forcing them to create Jason to replace him, which lead to Tim and so on meaning none of it ever would’ve happened had Dick still been apart of the Batfam. Hell, the entire significance of Dick becoming Batman and choosing Damian as his Robin was that he was already gone and had to give up everything to come back to it. Nightwing’s constant inclusion in the Batfam has taken away the most fundamental part of Dick’s character being his independence - it’s what made him popular in the first place. Now his character is dependent on discussing his body and being the Batfam’s sideshow to make fun of and babysit to stay alive. And with the pure regression of his character came the regression of what the Titans represent since Dick is constantly removed and/or the team disbanded every time Bat editorial wants him back for a big Batfam event :roll_eyes::roll_eyes::roll_eyes:.

om…that happend before the defeat of trigon. not after. i just looked threw the issues.

Site your source…

om dick went off to college in 1975…and was featured in batman family in Several issue of the book. and what is he doing on the the cover of Batman 334 Date April 1981. Seven months after the start of new teen titans. Batman (1940-) #334

*through bud, through :rofl::rofl::rofl:
Imma start this with a movie quote: “So you agree? You think you’re really pretty.” In other words, so you see it then? The JL disapproved and the Titans basically told them to eff off. End of argument.

The letters written by Marv Wolfman and George Perez in the front of the NTT tpb collected volumes which there are currently 13 of and 14 releases on the 19th of this month which there’s a letter in each one so have fun. Plus it’s basic knowledge everyone knows that you can find online.

I’m aware of when Dick went to college. I’m also aware that in the early days before NTT gained popularity that DC was still advertising Dick on Batman covers but not actually using him. Sometimes he would get a story in the back of Batman’s issue set at college but not fighting alongside Batman. DC wanted to focus on Batman as a singular character which is why they sent Dick off to college in the first place. If you want sources there are plenty of retrospective videos, articles, and interviews that you can find online. But sadly it’s not my responsibility to remember all the exacts or have them saved for you. The information is out there go get it just like I did.