Milligan & Dwyer: "Dark Knight Dark City," The Barbatos Ritual

[jlroberson]

Now that I have scans of every freaking issue of BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS(I out-nerd you all for all time)--In response to(and supplemental to) this excerpt from RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE and the suggestion it's resting on something too obscure for most, here is the basis of what Morrison is doing. (That and Amadeus Arkham's Bat-Demon that he thought he was binding)

From summer 1990, certainly not a year when Batman projects were low-profile(I worked in a comics store that summer; believe me, this sold) an overview I've stitched together from Batman 452-454 by Peter Milligan and Kieron Dwyer, "Dark Knight/Dark City." You should track this down. Not collected, strangely, though the Riddler is the next movie villain, so it will be, because there are so few great Riddler stories. And this is a great Riddler story, my feeling being on him that everyone always forgets how genuinely threatening and nasty, like a clever, murderous and egotistical weasel if it were made a man, the Riddler really is. Done well he's not silly, he's creepy as hell--his silliness, as Gorshin portrayed it, wasn't funny(and Gorshin, though a comedian, was not trying to make him funny, just wild)--if you were really looking at his eyes and face, it was intense and scary, someone who was always on a knife edge. And he is in this story. I don't include what he does to the baby. But I will say none of this is out of character for the Riddler, even granted he's under the influence of something. In his way, more dangerous than the Joker when he's "on." Best of all, this is a totally Frank Gorshin Riddler. I always though Nigma and Milligan were a perfect pairing, given Milligan's love of plots and narration/dialogue playing Nabokov-like with games of words and logic. And some of the best Riddler art ever)

And this is the Barbatos ritual, with the man(though unnamed here) who will be, I'm betting you now, Dr. Hurt. This is a little gem Milligan left Batman with a long time ago, and I'm glad Morrison finally decided to pick up this fertile thread. (Too bad the execution in this particular issue of ROBW is so slapdash, unusual in a story that's so far been done beautifully) Anyway, be confused no more. Here is the force at the core of Gotham.































You could also argue that he's what Reggie Mantle would be if he were a Batman villain. Rock that widow's peak, Eddie! (When did he get the brown, full hair, anyway?)





(PS if interested: This week's LULU.)

Comments

[icon_uk]

Have to say I never warmed to this story, mostly because of it's take on the Riddler. Obsessive yes, absolutely. Prone to temper flare ups? Absolutely. Prepared to kill Batman and Robin in overcomplicated death traps? No problem, though there'd always leave an out if they were smart enough, because he wants to outsmart them more than kill them. The occasional henchman or criminal rival? Well, yeah, perhaps, but that comes with the territory.

Chatting to demons and prepared to murder random innocents? Nope, not liking that at all.

[jlroberson]

I think the idea here though is that he's going much further than he normally would(however, along lines he would normally follow, just not this far) because Barbatos(or here, Barbathos) is influencing him. Batman makes a point of that.

Also, I just have to go back to my usual: IMO, these are Gotham villains. They're meant to be threatening. This was long before Eddie "reformed"--he wasn't even an ambiguous villain like Selina, but rather more in the same general ballpark as the Joker as far as his level of villainy. These aren't the Rogues, these are villains who get into it for the SAKE of doing bad things. And getting rich.

[icon_uk]

Oh Barbatos influencing him I can accept, but IIRC they also make a point in this story, that whilst Batman believes this, no one else does, and from then on he's viewed as having crossed a line by himself.

I just have to go back to my usual: IMO, these are Gotham villains. They're meant to be threatening.

Not really (IMHO to of course), they're meant to be CHALLENGING, specifically; challenging to Batman. They can be threatening to him (and by association, Robin and Gordon) all they like of course, but too many of them have veered into murder-death-kill territory to pander to some sort of lowest common denominator, when they really didn't need to.

[jlroberson]

I see your point, but the Riddler from the start had no problem jeopardizing innocents with the possibility they'd be killed(as with the baby in this story). For instance.

http://www.jlroberson.org/scansdaily/det_140_07.jpg

Corn is hard to escape from.

[psychopathicus_rex]

There is, however, a great deal of difference between being willing to JEOPARDIZE innocents who might get in the way, and being willing to directly put them in the path of death. Anyway, back then ALL Batman villains were willing to jeopardize innocents - those were not the days of deep and thoughtful characterization of antagonists. Villains were villains, and villains, even the relatively harmless ones, were rotten to the core - except for Catwoman, and that was because she had the hots for Batman. (Anyway, what I'd like to know is, where the hell'd he get an ear of corn that big?'

[jlroberson]

As I said above, the Gotham Oversize Advertising Company, of course. And after the bottom fell out of the market at the end of the 50s, Mr. Oldenburg decided to pursue art instead.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I'm not getting the reference. Who is this Mr. Oldenburg?

[jlroberson]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claes_Oldenberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FreeStamp.jpg

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh. Alrighty then. Yeah, he probably would have gotten on well in Gotham.

[seriousfic]

I agree. Every attempt to turn the Riddler into the Joker Lite (like that lame GA story where he scarred himself with question marks or something?) just takes away what makes the character so interesting; he doesn't want to kill Batman per se, he wants to outwit him. The moment Eddie reformed, he became a much richer kind of antagonist, just like Catwoman becoming a love interest or the Penguin owning the Iceberg Lounge.

[jlbarnett]

I think Riddler does it to prove he's the smartest guy out there, reformed or not.

He shouldn't be going around with murder on his mind, if someone dies it should simply be a case of them not being smart enough to get out of a death trap.