Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Mike Perkins
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Cover Artists: Mike Perkins, Marc Aspinall & Stephanie Hans
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $6.99
Release Date: February 25, 2026
In 1939, most people in Gotham struggled to put food on the table. The Great Depression has brought America to its knees, and a war rages overseas. When the Hood uses a series of bizarre and brutal murders to stoke Gotham’s fears, the Scarecrow spots a chance to realize his potential. Aiding the Hood, or Hangman, in killing community leaders, the Scarecrow uses his gas to bring the community’s fears to the boiling point.
After bullets rained on Julie Madison's film premiere, a new player bursts into the chaos. Some call him Superman. They claim he can fly. Bruce Wayne can thank him for saving Julie Madison’s life. But can he trust this super-powered do-gooder? And can Superman help him bring the Hood and the Scarecrow’s reign of terror to an end? Let’s grab a gas mask, leap into The Bat-Man: Second Knight #3, and see!
Story
Mayor Avril Vincent dislikes people hiding in their homes. He urges calm and community involvement. But Commissioner Gordon knows he cannot protect Gotham from the Hood's horrific slayings and the Scarecrow’s hallucinatory gas. He may have urged the Bat-Man to carry a gun and employed gas weapons recently. But having fought in World War I, Gordon cannot forget how machine guns and chemical weapons transformed battles into soulless slaughter. Still, when villains attack Gotham with a gas that turns neighbors against each other, Gordon must arm his men with Trench Sweepers and Tommy Guns to protect Joe Citizen.
After a mass shooting mars the premiere of The Night of a Thousand Cuts, Bruce Wayne is less worried about the movie he funded than what the terrorists will do next. His search for answers leads him to a nearby military base researching chemical weapons. But just as Lois Lane endangered Julie's life when she ran their car off the road, Superman threatens Bruce's attempts to safeguard his city.
Dan Jurgens roots his story in the 1930s with period dialogue and the conflicts that dominated people’s thoughts. His cast of characters shares their histories, fears, and what drives them. Jurgens pits the rich against the poor, the criminals against community leaders, and relationships versus careers. Yet The Bat-Man: Second Knight #3 is also about how we face setbacks. As Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent have grasped victory from defeat, a villain has seen his hopes for the future dashed. In an era when governments struggle to provide for their citizens’ needs, he seeks vindication by destroying civilization.
Art
Mike Perkins opens with Superman gripping his caped adversary amid fallen soldiers and a demolished concrete wall in an industrial lab. Bat-Man strikes an authority figure next to Lois Lane, while Maxie Cross battles cops in City Hall. Toting two handguns and wearing a gas mask, Commissioner Gordon and his masked squad look more like villains than heroes. Yet demons clad in uniforms and battle helmets loom over the mob, as if ushering the frightened citizens to Hell in The Bat-Man: Second Knight #3.
After Bat-Man and Superman's confrontation in a gray and green lab, Mike Spicer paints the traumatizing gas green. Dressed in blues and purple, the Bat-Man may seem as dangerous to Gotham as the Hood. Yet Bruce Wayne drives a red car and wears a red robe. Wayne Manor's red fabrics and furnishings offer Clark Kent a warm welcome in his blue suit, red tie, and red handkerchief. The Scarecrow's brown attire links him with James Gordon. But unlike the Scarecrow, the Commissioner looks weighed down by his struggle to keep the city safe as another man in brown counsels the traumatized veteran.
Amid Mike Perkins detailed period art and Mike Spicer’s loaded palette of colors, Simon Bowland fills white balloons and boxes with black uppercase dialogue. The lettering grows bold for intonation and swells for raised voices, while Scarecrow’s dialogue has a haunted appearance. Sound effects accompany blows, alarms, gas, gunfire, and struggling engines in The Bat-Man: Second Knight #3. Yet they also herald the imposition of people the police might call leeches, and Bruce Wayne once dubbed hyenas and jackals. Thanks to DC Comics for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
Rabbi Jakob Cohen has always regarded people as inherently good. But he has watched his fellow Germans abandon their principles to commit atrocities in the name of patriotism. After finding haven in America, he saw corrupt and bigoted Americans prey on their neighbors. When the Scarecrow unleashes his gas, Jakob wonders if faith, education, and a system of laws can ever cure Humans of their selfish savagery. As Bruce Wayne races to protect Gotham by apprehending the Hood and the Scarecrow, The Bat-Man: Second Knight #3 ponders what drives us to push past our differences to create something greater than ourselves.
Rating 9.8/10
To look inside see my preview of The Bat-Man: Second Knight #3.
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