A bit of Neil Gaiman's Batman...

[espanolbot]

In the Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader trade they also collected some of Gaiman's older Batman stories from back in the day. One of them, about a recuiter for the Suicide Squad evaluating Poison Ivy to see if she'll be a worthwhile addition to the troupe I'll cover later.

But for now, here's a bit from a story involving a group of reporters who come to Gotham to make a documentary about how Batman is actually responsible for the amount of supervillains in the city...

The story begins with Batman breaking into the lead reporter's hotel room while he's asleep, telling him that deliberately trying to interview Gotham's supervillain crowd is dangerous, and tells him that he should stop while he's ahead. The reporter naturally calls the cops about this, but as he tells his team the next day, and tells them to his digust that Commissioner Gordon said that there was nothing he could do about it.

Reflecting upon whether Batman meant his opinion that what they were doing was dangerous was meant as a threat or as a warning, they decide to just move on with trying to get guests and such for their show...



After some dud interviews with the former Mrs. Dent and some henchmen, they decide to give Eddie a shot and go to interview him at the junkyard (where all the giant props that once littered Gotham ended up) he now manages. This story, called When Is a Door, is almost worth the price of the trade alone, being an exploration of both the Riddler's origin and how "the Game" has changed over the years, but for the sake of the page limit, I'll just post these two pages.




The head reporter says that the entire thing was a waste of time, and that Eddie just spouted a bunch of nonsense for an entire afternoon. His camera said that there was actually a point to what Eddie said, and that it'll make more sense on TV.

They decide to round off their filming with some vox pops, interviewing the locals to see what they think of Gotham's supervillain crowd.




And thus, a precedent is established for people not getting how things work in Gotham, later to be repeated by the Black Hand some twenty years later.

Comments

[lucean]

I really love the story as I think that Gaiman managed to touch on several important concepts concerning Batman's villains. Normally I would have groaned at Riddler's waxing for the past fun times, but at the same time I thought it was balanced quite well by the other points of views. For instance something like the excellent Two-Face story here could never have been done with the old Batman stories.

On another note, I kind of love that when Batman goes to the reporter who wants to interview the Joker and warns him that it is actually insanely dangerous, the reporter is not convinced that Batman wasn't threatening him. That was Darwinism in full effect there.

[filthysize]

'Allo, John.

[icon_uk]

Fun story (though Eddies comments are a little ironic, as the Riddler's moll, Molly was about the only person who DID die in the 1960's TV series, when she fell into the atomic reactor in the Batcave in the second episode)

[chrisdv]

You mean, the Bat-omic reactor, right?!

...I'll let myself out.

[grazzt]

You know, I've read this before, but I just now noticed the little "Hoo hoo" he gives after saying Egghead.

Nice touch.

[kamino_neko]

The 80s hair....so very much 80s hair.

[mrstatham]

This is why I actively tend to dislike anyone who just writes off the old 60's Batman show as just being 'stupid and goofy and dumb'. For what it is, I think it's a great show with a really well done layer of subtlety, especially in terms of Adam West being the straight man to everyone else, and even stuff like the innuendos and whatnot. And how many of those classic villains have stood the test of time? Newmar's Catwoman, Meredith's Penguin.. Even Cesar Romero's Joker still works, to me, and especially Gorshin's Riddler. Yes, it's silly and it's not dark and it's not gritty, but I'll be perfectly frank and say I'd much rather watch that show than The Dark Knight.

[icon_uk]

Gorshin's Riddler is pretty much definitive to me, though no one, but NO ONE ever had as much fun playing the villain as Victor Buono's King Tut

[mrstatham]

I see your King Tut and raise you one Vincent Price as Egghead.

But then Vincent Price seemingly had fun in EVERYTHING he did, so I can understand if that disqualifies him despite how, ugh, eggcellent he was. But I definitely agree about the Riddler. I always say that I love that, in the film, the Joker of all people is actively trying to restrain Gorshin's Riddler from doing stuff.

[q99]

Likewise :) For most villains, I go for the 90s animated series version, but Gorshin is the best Riddler.

[an_idol_mind]

I think folks who write off the 60s series as dumb probably didn't watch the series. It was hilarious, and Adam West is truly brilliant as a straight man.

[korvar]

"Dr. Chilton" of Arkham - sounds like a reference to the Administrator of Hannibal Lector's asylum...

[an_idol_mind]

Arkham can't go much worse than his last job...

[arilou_skiff]

Oh John Constantine...

[an_idol_mind]

I like the idea that the Joker killing people is a big WTF moment for Eddie. I think it would fit the character pretty well if they kept his zany antics from the Golden and Silver Ages in continuity.

[md84]

This reminds me of the magician who visited Gotham for research, seeing Batman's Rogues' Gallery as performance artists instead of the crazy and dangerous criminals they are. He rescued Joker after Tim defeated him and nursed him back to health. The Joker repaid him by teaching him his tricks of the trade, followed by garroting him and stealing his identity.

[jcfiala]

I also love the art style for the Riddler segment, which I think was Matt Wagner but aren't sure.