Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins’ The Bat-Man: First Knight was already a fun, adult take on the Caped Crusader’s Golden Age mythos. The Bat-Man: Second Knight has also taken things to the next level by introducing one of Batman’s iconic villains, the Scarecrow, and two other staples of the DC mythos: Lois Lane and the Golden Age Superman.
After Second Knight #2 ended on a cliffhanger in which Superman confronted Batman for the first time in Gotham, there was only one way left to go: up. Second Knight #3 picks up from the cliffhanger ending, and the story that unfolds from there doesn’t disappoint.
The first thing that stands out from this encounter is how suspicious both costumed heroes are towards each other. Batman is (predictably) not inclined to trust a superhuman who possesses abilities that exceed his own. Still, he’ll turn those perceived strengths into weaknesses, like overstimulating the Man of Steel’s hearing with a high-frequency sound only dogs can hear.
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Superman is also presented as having a few tricks up his sleeve in Second Knight #3 when he starts to correctly suspect that Bruce Wayne is the Batman based on how he behaves in both identities. Not even Julie Madison covering for her wealthy boyfriend succeeds at dissuading Clark Kent from what he already knows to be true. This does a lot to elevate Clark as a skilled reporter without depicting him as relying too heavily on his Superman abilities.
This approach to the Man of Tomorrow by Jurgens and Perkins also helps to ground the hero in a similar capacity to his Golden Age counterpart. This is further captured in the artwork by Perkins and the bright colors by Mike Spicer, which perfectly capture the “Golden Age” feel of the late 1930s. Likewise, Perkins’ heavy use of shadows and sharp contrasts preserves the noir tone of the story, which helps Clark feel like a viable threat to Bruce without losing sight of Superman as the more hopeful hero of the two.
This setup, where Bruce wants to keep Clark off his trail and the latter wants to better understand Batman’s motivations, pays off when both heroes decide to team up against the Scarecrow (who is planning an even deadlier attack in Gotham). This World’s Finest team-up does more than make the two heroes figuring out each other’s identities feel earned; it also allows Jurgens and Perkins to meaningfully explore how these two heroes would connect in the political landscape of the early 20th century.
One thing that helps add weight to this idea is Jurgens and Perkins connecting Superman’s story to a real-world event like the Dust Bowl Drought of the 1930s and how this caused Clark’s adoptive family to experience poverty during the Great Depression. It provides an excellent contrast to Bruce, whose wealth has shielded him from financial hardship and even financed Julie’s film. But where the writing truly shines is in showing Superman still sympathizing with Bruce over the trauma of his parents’ deaths.
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Another major hook throughout Second Knight #3 is the budding friendship between Lois Lane and Julie Madison, which plays to the historical significance of both characters. While most DC fans already know Lois is Superman’s first and iconic love interest, few remember that Julie originally fulfilled this role in the Golden Age. Before Selina Kyle entered the picture as Catwoman in 1940, Julie was originally Bruce’s fiancée very early on in his publication history.
Second Knight #3 even pays homage to Julie’s original place in the Batman mythos when they depict Bruce proposing marriage to her, signalling that he plans to settle down with her and retire the Batman for good. Whether or not Jurgens and Perkins get to explore that in a third volume, only time will tell. It should, however, lead to an exciting third volume, especially if the creators do their own version of the Mad Monk story from Detective Comics #31, which is the story Julie originally debuted in.
Jurgens and Perkins already did an excellent job between First and Second Knight at developing Julie into a love interest who is both aware of Bruce’s secret and is able to stay by his side despite knowing the danger he puts himself in every night. What makes this story truly stand out from other romances involving Bruce and one of his more iconic love interests (like Selina or Talia al Ghul) is that she is not a criminal in any capacity. She is just an ordinary woman who also happens to be a film actor.
The other thing that makes the romance with Julie great is that Jurgens and Perkins still sow seeds of doubt that the relationship will last. Bruce has already shown he’ll jump at any opportunity to fight crime as Batman, and Julie has consistently expressed a dislike for this lifestyle. She also consistently asks him to quit, which affords the character depth. While both creators show that these two individuals do love each other completely, they also perfectly show why they’re ultimately incompatible as a couple.
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Though The Bat-Man: Second Knight #3 has plenty of high points as a finale, it does have one major weakness, and that is how quickly the Scarecrow plot is resolved. With all the buildup Jurgens and Perkins did in the previous two issues to set up Scarecrow as a viable threat in Gotham, how he’s effortlessly defeated by Batman is gravely underwhelming. Even more so since the two barely interacted in the previous issues, and the World War II connection wasn’t further delved into.
While Perkins still delivers some outstanding visuals during Batman and Superman’s fight with the Scarecrow, the defeat also doesn’t feel earned, given how little development this storyline got in the third issue. Without the Scarecrow’s story more strongly impacting Batman and Superman as characters, it feels less like a triumph for the two heroes and more like a need to wrap up the story quickly because the creators ran out of pages.
All in all, The Bat-Man: Second Knight #3 is a strong ending with a weak conflict resolution. But the potential for Scarecrow to make a much stronger impact as a villain was definitely there.
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