Knight Rider digital comic review

[Michael Pajaro]

It is completely unfair to review the Knight Rider digital comic after only one issue. It's like reviewing Knight of he Phoenix after only watching up to the first commercial break. ("This show is about a cop who gets shot in the desert. What's the big deal?") But if they're going to release it, we're going to review it.

The artwork has a lot of cool colors and deep shadows, giving a darker tone to Knight Rider, which is appropriate bringing it into comic form. It works. This Michael Knight is tougher than his television counterparts, but still has the same over-the-top cheesy lines for the ladies. There are only about 15 pages of content in this first issue so not a lot happens, but we see some bad guys shooting up a party and Michael rescuing a damsel in distress. That's about it so far, so there's not a lot to discuss in terms of plot.

The car looks great. It's not exactly a Trans Am, but some stylized version of one and is pretty bad-ass. It has a front scanner and a high tech dash (things which have been missing in many other Knight Rider incarnations.) The car talks, but it doesn't "converse". So far, it only seems to respond to voice commands by replying "reset complete", 'improper syntax", "surveillance cloak active". My Ford Focus talks more than that. This is a big deal - if the car doesn't converse, then it isn't really a character; it's just a tool. And that is a fundamental departure from what Knight Rider was all about. It was about the very real relationship between a man and his car.

You'll notice I keep referring to "the car" without calling it out by name. That brings me to what is probably going to be perceived as the biggest blunder of the comic. Michael calls the car... Horse. As he explains, "What else does a knight ride?". What's in a name? you may ask. A lot. Especially if you go from "KITT" to "Horse". I'm just hoping it's an in-story joke.

*** EDIT *** In hindsight, I realize that the artist Jason Johnson refers to "KITT" specifically in his twitter feed when talking about his work - so I am confident that this version of the car is not what we'll wind up with. Sorry for jumping the gun.
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There's an issue of the Comicplus app itself. Navigation is very basic. You can't swipe, and there are no thumbnails to jump to a specific page. (The Kindle Reader app should be a little better, but Knight Rider isn't available for it yet.) Some of the artwork is very detailed, and I'd like to be able to do a high-resolution zoom on some of the panels. There are other comic apps out there which are absolutely beautiful to swipe through, with automated panning and zooming. Knight Rider is a "digital comic", and I want them to try to push the medium a bit.

As I said, it is still VERY early. The storyline has barely introduced the characters or the larger universe so there are a thousand different ways this could go. But the first thing I would do in issue two is have the car say "Michael, I am the Knight Industries Two Thousand. Please stop referring to me as 'Horse'." Change the name, make sure KITT has a personality, and then we could be in for a decent ride.

[Knight Racer]

If Kitt's just saying "Door is ajar" and this seems like a reboot,like you're explaining then I think I know what the next issues big secret will reveal.

The Comics Plus app on my phone gives this desciption:

Despite official protocol,F.L.A.G. Agent Michael Knight thinks the one thing the brilliant Dr.Katherine Beachum needs most is a night on the town,away from the lab and her ultra-secret research project.Everything's going fine until a squad of gun -toting mercenaries crashes their party.

The top secret project might be kitt, a more advanced central processing computer she's developing that can replace "Horse" to run the knight 2000 body.

[Michael Pajaro]

I think that's a fantastic idea.

Like I said, it's a little unfair for me to do a review after just one tiny issue, but I know people are going to be talking about it a lot so I wanted to put it out there. I raised a yellow flag, but you're helping keep me optimistic.

And you know what? Artist Jason Johnson uses the name "KITT" when talking about his work on Twitter. So I think I may have freaked out over nothing.

[Knight Racer]

Thanks for letting me know that its avalable on Amazon Kindle.I just got finished reading it.

I like the design of the car but the cowl enduction hood keeps flipping around from right side to center.The dash looks ok,noticed the double monitor all the way on the right,which makes me think for this adaptation,kitt wasn't meant to be operated by just the driver but possibly a passenger as well.Hate the standard round wheel.

As Michael Pajaro pointed out,this isn't kitt but what I feared Revolution Studios would have done to him if they had their way and not made the car talk.This seems like its just the knight 2000 body giving pre-programmed responses before an AI was even conceptualized.We need that doctor to hurry up and make the first AI in history for this comic.If she's really about to finish up work on an AI,I can pretty much tell that whoever is chasing them must want it for themselves or to sell it to the highest bidder.

I can't wait for the next issue to be able to see exactly what this car can do.

[knightfever]

Have they released any issues besides the first one?

[Knight Racer]

Up to issue 5.Kitt's been activated for the past 2 issues and he has yet to show me any functions. At this point my rear view camera and bluetooth are more sophisticated tech than what this car has shown it can do. Oh and he's had a flat tire last issue so he's nagging Michael to change it. Kitts tires have combusted from a laser. I know the comic book writers don't know Kitts had tuflex coating to stop bullets but apparently these are Goodyear standard tires.