Batman: The Knight #3 – Chip Zdarsky, Writer; Carmine Di Giandomenico, Artist; Ivan Plascencia, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: With Bruce leaving Gotham for the first time and heading to Paris, incoming regular Batman writer Chip Zdarsky is ready to give him a new trial of fire—his first encounter with a supervillain. That would be the Foundling, a deranged serial killer who slashes powerful men to death in front of their families and takes their teeth as mementos—and that’s exactly who Bruce and his thief mentor Lucie just managed to rob. Add in the eccentric Henri Ducard, one of Bruce’s oldest allies, and you’ve got the recipe for a great third issue. Last issue implied that Ducard was a police officer tracking the two criminals, but the truth is actually very different—he’s posing as an officer, is an old ally of Lucie’s, and was actually hired by Alfred to track down Bruce. Once this is all cleared up, Bruce manages to talk the notorious mercenary into joining them on their hunt for the fast-escalating serial killer.
One of the best things this issue does is use the Foundling—a powerful oil magnate in his secret identity—as a secondary lead. The police assume he’s a victim of a crime, and only he knows what Bruce and Lucie took from him. The countdown to his next strike is incredibly tense, and the issue does a fantastic job of establishing the teamwork between the three unlikely allies. It also shows us just how far Bruce is from being the Batman we know—right down to an absolutely brutal beatdown he deals out when his buttons are pushed the wrong way. It’s been a long time since we had a truly defining Batman origin, but a few scenes here—especially one near the end when Alfred and Bruce finally sort of make contact again—indicate that Zdarsky could be next in line for creators who come on the main book and have a defining run. This story is only a quarter in, but it’s already established itself as a potential classic.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
