KNIGHT RIDER #3

WRITER: Geoffrey Thorne
ARTIST: Jason Johnson
COLORIST: Milen Parvanov & Sai Studios
LETTERER: AW’s Erika Terriquez
EDITOR: Shannon Eric Denton

Previously: Knight Rider #2

Michael, Katherine, and Tabitha are in the not-so-secret-anymore underground lab, facing a group of masked men with guns who plan to shoot Michael and Tabitha and take Katherine and the software program for her prototype (which we now know to be K.I.T.T.) with them. As Michael and Tabitha begin whispering to each in a special code, devising an escape plan (because, like Bond villains, the bad guys don’t just shoot them immediately), Katherine appears to freeze, but she really just starts flashing back to how she got started in all this, seeing her first meeting “Mr. Knight”, an older man, and starting work developing artificial intelligence. These black and white flashbacks occur while a gunfight between Michael and Tabitha and the gunman ensues around her. Unfortunately the gunmen get away with Katherine, thanks to some well-placed explosives, leaving Michael and Tabitha trapped in the crumbling warehouse with no way out…until they hear the voice of K.I.T.T.!

This is a pretty heavily action-oriented oriented issue, and thankfully artist Jason Johnson is more than up to the task of portraying the action with his clear and dynamic style, but Geoff Thorne manages to add plenty of characterization with the dialog, so it’s not just a lot of shooting. Michael and Tabitha clearly don’t get along very well, as Tabitha constantly yells at Michael to “follow protocol.” And I speculated last issue that Micheal’s feelings for Katherine may be more than just business, and we see that here when Tabitha refers to Katherine as “the pawn” and Michael shouts back “she has a name!” There’s also the way Michael keeps shouting for Katherine when she’s being chased by the gunmen. I could be wrong, but I’m speculating that Thorne is planning something deeper between those two. And speaking of things that I was wrong about before, in the end when they first hear the other voice, Michael thinks it’s his smart-car HORSE, but K.I.T.T. answers: “No, not Horse.” I just thought that was funny, as it reflects my erroneous assumption from Knight Rider #1, that HORSE was meant to be the revamped version of K.I.T.T. in this new series.

Anyway, Thorne and Johnson continue to bring the heat in this fun update of the classic TV property. I’m excited to see where it goes.

GRADE: