“Waiting like a branded steer, who first will launch the burning spear”
I enjoyed the first of these comics, so I picked up The Bat-Man: Second Knight, which is the sequel. This is by Dan Jurgens (writer), Mike Perkins (artist), Mike Spicer (colorist), and Simon Bowland (letterer). 
It’s edited by Matthew Levine, costs $24.99 (for the hardcover, so we’ll see what the softcover will be), and it’s 142 pages long.
I liked this a bit more than the first book, which was fine but a bit by-the-numbers. This is still a bit formulaic, sure, as Jurgens certainly isn’t going to light the world on fire with his writing, but the addition of the Scarecrow as the villain is a good choice and the story seems to work a bit more than it did in the first story. In the first story, we got zombies, basically, and while it’s the Scarecrow and Superman shows up, this feels a bit more grounded than the first iteration. There’s a guy dressed like an executioner (who has to be a nod to Hooded Justice, doesn’t he?) who’s killing people around Gotham in very public ways in order to terrorize the city, and the Scarecrow teams up with him to spread fear. Jonathan Crane has a reason, of course, and it’s nicely tied into the time period, which is the beginning of World War II. It’s also somewhat refreshing that he and the executioner dude (who never gets a fun supervillain name) don’t betray each other — they have a common goal, and they get around to achieving it. The Nazis have invaded Poland, the Russians have invaded Finland, and it’s almost Christmas, 1939, and Lois Lane is in town to cover the premiere of Julie Madison’s new movie (the film that is being bankrolled by Bruce Wayne, Madison’s boyfriend), but of course, the Scarecrow and his partner disrupt the premiere with a murder and some fear gas spread around, so Lois and her chaperone, Clark Kent (there’s a nice moment where Lois is so angry that editor George Taylor sent Kent to “babysit” her, but she tells him she’s still the lead reporter — 
Jurgens does a decent job addressing the sexism of the times with this short exchange) get on that story, as you knew they would!
It’s a pretty good story — Jurgens spends a good deal of time with Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, which is always neat to see, and they do figure out who the other is and form a tentative alliance, even if they’re not completely buddy-buddy (and Bats has a neat way to incapacitate Supes briefly, which is nice to see because it doesn’t involve Kryptonite). As he did in the first story, Jurgens shows that Bruce would really get beaten up, and he does a good job showing how much Bruce would be torn about his double life, as Julie is bugging him to quit because he’s going to get himself killed. I like this kind of Bruce — someone who’s driven but not completely obsessed, as Jurgens doesn’t dwell on his origin like so many writers do. He has a good thing with Julie, and he promises her he’ll give up being Batman as soon as he stops the Scarecrow and his partner. Does he? You’ll have to read the book! Jurgens keeps things moving along nicely, and while it’s not the most complex story in the world, Jurgens does know how to create tension and build it well, so when we get to the end, there are heavy stakes and it’s good that Superman is around. Jurgens also gives a justification for why Superman won’t get involved in the war which kind of works if you squint a little — in a world with a Superman, you have to figure out a way he doesn’t stop the war, and Jurgens might have done the best job of it (better than Hitler having the Spear of Destiny, at least). One of the reasons I dig the book is that it is so focused on Bruce Wayne and, to a lesser extent, Clark Kent. We know that Batman and Superman will save the day. It’s more interesting to see them going through their days with all the pressures of the world on them. At least it is for me. 
Your mileage may vary.
I’m not sure there’s too much to say about the art, because Perkins and Spicer are very good professionals who have been doing this a long time, so they know what they’re doing. Perkins continues to make Batman look like the 1939 version, and he does the same with Superman, so we get the smaller chest logo, which Spicer colors a bit more dully than the more recent ones. Perkins’s Scarecrow is terrific, as are the monsters people see when they’re affected by his fear gas — in a nice touch, some of them see creatures dressed as German soldiers, reflecting the anxiety of the day. I’m not entirely positive which actors Perkins used in his “casting” this time around, which is a good thing, because that always annoys me (only a bit, but still). Spicer keeps things dark but not murky, so we can always see everything even though a lot of this takes place at night. It’s not that difficult to do! Overall, this is a beautiful book, which isn’t surprising given the artist and colorist. You can usually count on them!
I don’t know if Jurgens and Perkins plan to do another one of these (or if DC will want them to), but I wouldn’t mind it. Both of them have been pretty keen!
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆
These have been solid books. I like the overall art style, though the character faces aren’t always consistent from page to page. I liked the Freddy Kreuger-esque depiction of Scarecrow, though.
Was the hangman supposed to be a known character? Seems an odd choice to have a nameless masked guy and not go anywhere with it.
I hope they do a third volume, if only because the background WWII stuff, and the stuff with the Rabbi and his mobster cousin are hopefully leading somewhere.