Griffin’s Picks for the week of 12/3/25
1: DC K.O. Knightfight #2 - DC
Spinning out of the pages of DC K.O. is this tie in series that centers on Batman fighting each one of the Robins had they become Batman in a different reality. Written by Joshua Williamson, who had sizable runs on both Flash and Superman and art by Dan Mora whose most recent noteworthy work appeared in Batman / Deadpool.
When DC announced this title, the premise immediately hooked me, but then I found out that Dan Mora was doing the art and somehow they got me again. I love all of the different takes on Batman’s costume had each Robin taken up the mantle. Issue #2 is split between Batman finishing up his fight against Dick Grayson and starting up a new conflict with Jason Todd. The fighting styles of both are noticeably different and Williamson/Mora do a great job at representing that in the way the fights play out. The color palette changing for Todd’s universe was also a neat touch of detail.
Despite this being a spinoff, reading DC K.O. isn’t a pre-requisite. With that being said, the explanation of what’s going on in that title might not be the clearest but I’m just here to watch Batman fight other Batmans so that didn’t bother me at all.
2: Spider-Man Noir #3 - Marvel
The caper continues in Spider-Man Noir #3! Gwendolyn Stacy has hired Peter Parker, private investigator to figure out who killed her father, the only problem? It was Spider-Man! Written by Erik Larsen with art by Marika Cresta.
Erik Larsen can design the hell out of a villain if nothing else and he’s crafted at least one genuinely memorable villain in each issue of this series. This one features Plasma-Man, a being of almost pure energy with a visible brain and nerves. It also has Peter beating up Nazis at a ‘Pro-America’ Nazi rally, based on an actual event held at Madison Square Garden in 1939 which offers up some interesting commentary on what it means to truly be Pro-America.
This series isn’t high concept by any means but it’s a dumb, fun, psuedo-noir detective story that I’m enjoying more than I thought I would.
3: Batman #4 - DC
The fourth issue of the Fraction/Jimenez run on Batman introduces a new villain named Minotaur and a secret criminal ring called the Taurus. When a coincidence causes a stolen truck to be intercepted by the police, a gang war erupts and the Minotaur is forced to intervene.
I have to be honest, this was probably my least favorite issue of the Fraction/Jimenez Batman so far but that’s not to say that it’s bad by any means! It felt like a lot of set-up for the future of this run which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I wasn’t that bought into the Minotaur or the concept of the Taurus. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Batman stories that revolve around the different gangs feuding (unless Scarface and the Ventriloquist are involved), so the concept with this issue was an uphill battle for me from the start. I did, however, find the inciting incident of the gangs fighting with each other to be clever and the scene with Batman interrogating Anarky is quite slick.
Don’t let my personal bias against gang war related Batman stories prevent you from picking this one up! This series has been a refreshing take on Batman if you haven’t been reading already and we’ll have new reprints available on Wednesday at Time Warp.