DC K.O. Knightfight #3 - DC Comics

DC K.O. KNIGHTFIGHT No. 3, March 2026

Considering that at the very start of this comic ‘all-star creator’ Joshua Williamson plainly spells out what this spin-off mini-series is apparently all about by having Batman categorically state that the Heart of Apokolips has arranged for him to fight his former Robins to the death, it’s probably still a safe bet that many within the book’s audience were nonetheless utterly bemused by the events they were witnessing. True, Bruce Wayne’s decision to team-up with his past proteges rather than fight them certainly seems to mess with the entity’s plan to punish him “for attempting to cheat” in the infernal machine’s fighting tournament. But it is never made clear anywhere within this twenty-page-periodical just what will happen to the super-hero if he does fatally kill the bogus Dick Grayson, Tim Drake or Jason Todd.

As a result, this publication’s rather choppy script arguably just plays out like some stories from an Elseworlds anthology, with each tale being tragically cut short whenever the Dark Knight finally manages to convince his fictious successor that they should work together. This pattern is genuinely frustrating, and leads to so many unanswered questions in the readers’ minds that by the time the cowled crime-fighter is shown facing his little grandson Alfred, any onlooker’s head will be positively spinning with an exhaustion and uncertainty; “You’re just mad that I beat your test my way.”

Similarly as perplexing as this comic’s plot though is also the logic of the Heart of Apokolips, which inexplicably does a complete U-turn midway through the narrative and irrationally offers Batman an opportunity to return to its tournament if he can “beat my [next] challenge.” Having already bested two of the sentient machine’s fake predicaments with relative ease, and developed a deep understanding of what he needs to do to continue winning, it appears highly unlikely that the Dark Knight will lose such a ridiculous bet – and indeed, in the very next contrived situation the Caped Crusader quickly emerges victorious.

Sadly, Dan Mora’s artwork also appears to become increasingly tired as the script progresses. It’s somewhat clear that the illustrator purposely changes his drawing-style to match the different trials and tribulations being thrown at Wayne’s masked alter-ego. However, these adaptions seem to predominantly rely upon the Costa Rican making his pencils become ever simpler to the eye, so by the time an aged Bruce encounters Damian’s aforementioned child, his sketched figures are debatably a mere shadow of those used during Clayface’s extraordinary rescue of a plummeting Red Hood during this issue’s opening sequence.

Writer: Joshua Williamson, Artist: Dan Mora, and Colors: Triona Farrell