The Bat-Man: Second Knight (2025-) #1

by Dan Jurgens, Mike Perkins (Artist)

The year is 1940. Most of the Western world is embroiled in a war againsta fascist regime whose march across Europe shows no sign of defeat. Withthe specter of global war looming, it’s a time of fear and paranoia for those living in Gotham. It’s only been a few months since the city was rescued from undead monsters by the masked vigilante known as The Bat-Man,but a vicious killer has been on a murder spree that’s taking the city to its breaking point. Bodies are turning up in theatrically gruesome ways…all staged with the killer’s calling a hangman’s noose. While The Bat-Man endeavors to solve the spate of murders, a young reporter from the Daily Star named Lois Lane arrives in Gotham. Meant to cover a movie premiere, itdoesn’t take long for Lane to find herself caught in the grips of a new villain in Gotham. One whose mastery of fear will plunge the city into chaos!

Genres: Comics, Batman, Dc Comics

Kindle Edition

Published September 17, 2025

About the author

Dan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw, and Booster Gold. Jurgens had a lengthy run on the Superman comic books including The Adventures of Superman, Superman vol. 2 and Action Comics. At Marvel, Jurgens worked on series such as Captain America, The Sensational Spider-Man and was the writer on Thor for six years. He also had a brief run as writer and artist on Solar for Valiant Comics in 1995.

Reviews

[alejandro galvez · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 star comic.

Batman in this time period is pure gold! Everything about this comic is perfect. Gritty. Suspenseful. Even Scarecrow has shown up. Read it. Its a must read!

[Cybernex007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are so back and I am so glad this series is getting a sequel, taking batman back to those golden age roots and re-painting him around the 30s and 40s as a man with a few basic gadgets, only a few people that know his secret, ground level detective skills, and a walloping punch. And the art this go around is just as good of not way better in certain areas. The name of the game this go around is FEAR, it’s 1940 and war is churning in Europe as Germany invades Poland and with the Great Depression continuing people have their own lives and their futures to constantly worry about. And now it’s being made 10 times worse with a mad strong man in a purple hood prowling the streets and specifically targeting people that you would consider good just to continue the spread of fear. A nun dropped out of a balloon, a soup kitchen owner strung up to a bell and smashed against it, the city is afraid to walk alone, Gordon seems no closer to solving it as he has to leave a radio interview early due to the most recent murder, and no one has seen the bat-man, it’s not like we have a phone number for him. Even if he hasn’t been seen, the bat-man is ever present and even arrived to the most recent crime scene early to snag the identification papers off the most recent victim so he could follow up himself. Visiting his old “friend” Maxie and the ever sweet Tillie he is able to find out the background on the most recent murder. He then stopped by the Rabbi and accidentally scared the hell out of his wife, it’s hilarious to see bat-man so apologetic, and gave them the news on the most recent victim so they can be there for his family and a warning about going out alone.

But it seems that our murderer may be learning that lesson himself? As he arrives back to the swell shack he lies his axe down to sleep at night suddenly the room fills with mist as he an un-welcomed visitor mentions how much they like his work as they sit from the shadows. We soon discover that this admirer is scarecrow, and the only reason he hasn’t been chopped in two is because the entire room has been filled with fear gas! Scarecrow has come offering a partnership of sorts, he really likes the fear that this killer has inflicted on the city and believes they can go further. After all what did dear president Rosevelt say…”they have nothing to fear but fear itself!” Exactly.

Elsewhere the famed Julie Madison has just arrived by train in Gotham after stopping along the way to promote her new movie and meet up with Bruce at the train station. it’s a great reunion but the thing that stood out to me the most from this scene was a poster for Haly’s circus and the flying Graysons in the background. Those parents going to drop?! DROP EM! She is not the only one arriving in town, a new reporter, named Lois Lane, out of metropolis representing the daily star has arrived to cover the big movie premiere Julie is brining with her to the great city of Gotham, I’m sure nothing bad will happen there and Lois will have nothing to pull her attention away from her main job. Her boss has two directives, don’t wreck the car she is given and stay on the assignment. But we all know Lois, if she happens to see the bat-man in the headlines her eye will just naturally draw to it. Aside from Julie and the Rabbi, Bruce still does not have anyone close in his life that he can trust, but Julie is not the one to come in and clean the stale bologna sandwich smell out of the manor and actually heavily pushes for him to get someone else he can trust and help around the house. Tonight is the night of the premiere and Julie set off first with Bruce supposed to be following behind to meet her at the premiere. But it seems our new fearful duo would have different plans for batman tonight. Remember that radio host I mentioned Gordon talking to earlier? Well he really likes to talk about the subject of fear in the city, which of course has drawn the attention of scarecrow. As the radio host walks alone at night suddenly the world starts to get a lot more abstract as green mist surrounds him and a strong hand rips him into an alleyway, where they line him up against a wall and slam a pickup truck into him to slice him in half! He is about to contribute more fear to the city than he ever could have on his radio show. Bruce ends up getting a call from Gordon expressing his apologies for being late to the movie as they just had another killing tied to the others, it is so insane how close a relationship they have that Gordon is willing to drop all these details. Gordon might as well forward his apologies to Julie as Bruce will be at the movies tonight but as the bat-man instead! But as bat-man arrives at the most recent crime scene he overhears the officers asking where Jim could possibly be. Batman decides to back track the route Jim would have taken…only to find his car wrecked into a wall, blood in the seats, and Jim gone. All the while Julie is forced to walk in with her co-star instead of Bruce, wondering what could have possibly held him up. The unfortunately are thing is she is about to find out what. Tonight’s target for scarecrow and his hooded friend is the movie premiere. Dragging Gordon in a noose up to one of the nearby buildings, scarecrow kills one of the movie’s spotlight operators and redirect the light to the opposite building to draw the attention of everyone below as Gordon is thrown off the roof and hung by the killer. As everyone watches in horror only moments later batman swoops in and slices the rope killing Gordon. But it’s not over yet, he now has to grapple with holding Gordon and himself up without falling to the ground all while the hangman above shoots down at them! But star reporter Lois Lane isn’t one to back down from confrontation like this, she sees the problem and realizes a brick to knock out the spotlight is the solution! This gives bat-man the cover he needs to get Gordon safely down to the ground and to run back up to the roof via his cable line to face the hangman. With everyone sporadically running around, Lois sees her chance to get Julie to safety and a possible private conversation. They run over to Lois’ car, where unbeknownst to them scarecrow has tossed in a fear gas pellet. All the while bat-man is trading blows with the hangman, only to discover that the hangman has sent a dagger right into his side! It’s so painful and brutal to see batman stand there limped over with his only option being to yell out in pain and anger. I swear if there aren’t cops barreling up those stairs to assist him right now. But that’s not even the worst news, we all know bat-man can take care of himself. But as the drive continues for Lois and Julie towards the safety of Wayne manor, suddenly they both start to grow more and more paranoid from the fear gas. Julie believes this reporter is trying to get a story and wants let out, and Lois fully believes that cars firing guns are chasing them. This combined fear leads to them crashing right through a barricade and over the side of the road as the issue comes to a startling end! GEEZ LOIS, you had two directives from your boss. Don’t deviate from your job and don’t crash the car! I hope they are both alright and this whole thing is a group hallucination and they are actually sitting asleep on the side of the road…that seems unlikely.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Hugo Strange, of course Scarecrow would be the next step. Love this commitment to the 1940s period.