Batman #23.2 - The Riddler

[zapbiffpow]

In a world with no Justice League - in a Gotham without a Batman - hope still springs eternal.

 

Even if it comes from the unlikeliest of sources.

 

 

One Line Summary:

 

Riddler successfully takes on Gotham Industrial's largest Rubik's Cube: the Wayne Tower security system.

 

The Story:

 

...is framed by five riddles, which tie in directly to Riddler's plan for breaking into Wayne Tower.

 

Hang on, didn't Talia level this place during Batman, Incorporated? Guess those Bat-bots do a mean fixer-upper job.

 

 

I like how Riddler figures it'll all be over in oh, five riddles or less. Real smug of him.

 

Riddle Three is where Nygma's swollen sense of entitlement really shines through:

 

 

That something is the executive elevator. Which means he actually crafted part of his plan around something he thinks he deserves.

Maybe they have some kind of foie gras dispenser or something. Anyway, it's Nygma's ego plus Riddler's intellect, which is what he's all about.

 

Riddle Four ties in to the beginning of the story, back when Nygma was first arrested after Zero Year:
 

 

 

 

Goddamn. Don't bully the Riddler, I guess.
But still, goddamn, guy. That guard was just probably doing his job.
 

 

So after years of plotting, Wayne Enterprise's crowning jewel finally belongs to the Riddler. So what does he do?
 

 

I guess this means the answer to Riddler's last riddle is, well, Riddler.
Also, he misses Batman.

 

=

The Art:

Jeremy Haun draws a handsome Riddler, and the muttonchops are a weird, but neat plus. Are those muttonchops?
Also, God, the colors in this issue are wonderful. Riddler's green and purple really stand out.

The Story:

 

But I mostly loved how this issue really lives up to the term 'villain protagonist', in a way only the Riddler can.

- It's his story we're following,

- but it's made clear he's a maiming, evil bastard,

- but he's a maiming, evil bastard who uses riddles,

- but it's also shown he's more than that.

 

He seeks comfort in little things, he eats yogurt, he has feelings that get hurt, he holds a grudge too long and he's capable of hoping.

 

I loved BTAS Riddler with his gimmicks and labyrinths, just as I loved Edward Nygma, Private Investigator.

This is a far, darker cry from those Riddlers, but I welcome him, his ego, his riddles and muttonchops nonetheless.

 

Oh, and Ray Fawkes co-wrote this issue! He doesn't have a tag yet, so I'll just credit him here.

 

Food for Thought: What are the pros and cons of DC having a theoretical Villains Year? One year of no heroes doing angsty gray-area stuff - just villain character development. If so, which villains deserve a ten-month, Black-Mirror style story arc?

Comments

[donnblake]

I know that just as it's fashionable in comics to do darker retakes on classic characters, it's fashionable here and elsewhere to complain about it, but I think this was really well done. Riddler here is brutal "It's you, George," and all, but he's also clever, threatening, and still rather whimsical.

And he's still got the question mark cane.

[zapbiffpow]

Holy hell, yes! He even uses the question mark cane as some kind of croquet mallet for his yogurt.

[darkknightjrk]

He kind of reminds me of Riddler in Arkham City, where he's willing to play with and torture other people to prove his superiority over Batman.

[lego_joker]

Two-Face. Dear lord, Two-Face needs someone to rescue him from all the garbage that Jenkins, Daniel, and yes, even Snyder buried him beneath.

Freeze would come in a close second, but I'm not sure if a well-done version of his tale would warrant an entire year's worth of stories.

Hell, almost EVERY Bat-villain could use one to make them NOT totally 100% evil bastards. Someone needs to write a funny, affable Joker again. And did you guys see what note the Forever Evil Penguin issue ended on? Ugh.

[zapbiffpow]

Joker I would definitely agree with. Dini, maybe? Has Gaiman done a good Joker?

And yeah, I want a Two-Face story! I really want to invest on him as a character, but the last memorable story of him I remember was when he teleported in the Batcave, back when Dick was Batman.

"Hell, almost EVERY Bat-villain could use one to make them NOT totally 100% evil bastards."

This. Maybe a quirky heist now and then would be key?

[donnblake]

I've only read Gaiman handling the Joker briefly- when he murders an interviewer at the end of a story involving Riddler bemoaning the change in tone in Batman comics (essentially), and the Joker's stories in Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader. Both of which were decent (and Alfred-as-Joker from the same story was awesome and terrifying), but neither of which was long enough to establish whether he really has a good grip on the character.

Of course, I'm a big Gaiman fan, and I'm confident that he would write a good story.

[zapbiffpow]

That's a fair assessment! Maybe he'll do a non-canon trade paperback or something someday.

[lego_joker]

He did a short "Batman: Black and White" story featuring Batman and Joker, but that was mostly an outside-the-fourth-wall deal where the two of them talked like a pair of actors off the set, and lampshaded various tropes in Batman comics.

I actually thought it was pretty interesting, but I doubt he'd write Joker that way again in any story that "mattered".

[leoboiko]

Do you know where could I find that?

[lego_joker]

It was in the Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? TPB, which pretty much collected all of Gaiman's Batman work.

I think it's also in one of the B&W volumes, but I'm not sure which one.

[icon_uk]

Gaiman wrote the excellent scene in "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader", where the Joker asks a passing street urchin to watch the Joker-mobile for him. The kid is terrified because (as everyone knows) being noticed by the Joker means he's going to kill you and a rather exasperated Joker explains that he only wants his car watched because it's a nice car and a bad neighbourhood, and he only kills people when it's FUNNY, and there would be NOTHING funny about killing HIM, so he's safe.

[bardbrain]

That's what I miss. I like Batman's villains having legitimate pathologies. The kind that keep them from being pure evil.

If the Joker just kills everyone (and not for a gag) then why is he even the Joker?

Two-Face should be bound by his coin. The Riddler by his compulsion to outsmart people. The Joker by his need to be funny.

Heck, I remember the Joker going after an impostor once because the impostor killed people ironically (sandwich tycoon suffocated n a sandwich, that kind of thing) and the Joker found that cynical and not at all funny. That version of the Joker would not kill for something as cliche as life being a cruel joke. Or an ironic deathtrap. No. It had to actually have a functioning joke in the death. Setup and punchline.

And he'd never kill anyone who didn't walk into the punchline. It was as if he appreciated the comedic mind that could anticipate a punchline. That version of the Joker would probably offer you a job as a gag writer, pay you well, and never mess with you.

I don't care for a chaotic Joker. My ideal Joker is LAWFUL because comedy is playfully lawful.

Batman...? Now there's the chaotic one. In a Sherlock way but Sherlock is chaotic too.

[btravage]

That's a good take on the character but IMO there's no version of the Joker who wouldn't harbor a murderous grudge if somebody sidestepped his punchline. He'd take it as an insult to his comedic genius and while h may spare the guy today he'll spend all night thinking of a joke that's twice as funny for tomorrow.

[darkknightjrk]

Have you read the Villains Month issue for Two-Face? That was pretty solid--kind of the usual "Two Face takes control of a court" story, but well told, and was a good take on him.

It should also be noted that was from Pete Tomasi, and he's going to be using Dent as the villain in the next arc of Batman & (Robin).

Also, what did Snyder bury Harvey with? I mean, he used Harvey near the end of Death of the Family, but he really didn't play that big a role.

[zapbiffpow]

If you're asking me: I totally forgot about that story, but it was great!
Best part was the flashbacks of him walking to the courtroom - showed what a good DA Gotham lost.

"Before you know it you'll have Gotham looking like Metropoils."

As for Snyder's Dent...I can't remember him doing anything with him. Maybe lego_joker can tell?

[funbox]

Is there any chance of someone posting these scans? This sounds really cool!

[lego_joker]

John "about_faces" Hefner articulates it better than I ever could here:

http://about-faces.livejournal.com/87724.html

[polly1788]

i want to like this, but robot chicken ruined or left a version of the riddler in my mind that cant be changed

[zapbiffpow]

Ooh! Was that the one with Mark Hamill voicing Joker, or the breakfast sketch?

"What I want is the color of snow and makes snails understand death."

[polly1788]

mark hamill always voices the joker on the show, it from the dc comics special where he forms a gang cause the legion of doom gives him a hard time

[zapbiffpow]

You know, I haven't checked that out! Lemme get back to ya.

[thezmage]

Who is the Punctuation Posse?

[big_daddy_d]

Reminded why Riddler is one of my absolute favorite villains.

[mrstatham]

I picked this up last weekend and loved it; Yes, it's mired in the New52, but the best part about the issue was that beyond the 'Batman is missing, presumed dead' part, there ARE no references to anything except Zero Year. Even the Riddler kind-of dimisses any bullshit coming out of Forever Evil by actively stating he knows Batman isn't gone.

But overall, I thought it was great character-wise. The last time Riddler was well-done, it was as Dini's private detective take on the character; Riddler as a villain was seriously devalued by Loeb and Sale, and then Hush - even if he won, there - and the increasingly shitty fallout from that story topped off by the sudden switch back to villainy for Daniel's Batman run. This painted the Riddler as incredibly petty, as an obsessive-compulsive with a total need for control, and it still made him compelling and interesting to follow; Yeah, the guy from Arkham's eventual fate is slightly gruesome, but for once, I actually feel like it's an act justified by the villain's character.

If I could be certain they could maintain the quality shown here month after month, I'd almost want a Riddler ongoing from this team.

[zapbiffpow]

Wow, so Riddler, P.I. was Dini's idea? I thought that was Johns'.Anyway, I have a story from that era I've been itching to post.

As for the Forever Evil part: I did not notice that, but now I do, and although I'm still stoked about that event, I think minimizing the references made it a better issue.

That way, it's "A Riddler Story Tied to Forever Evil" and not "A Forever Evil Story That Just Happens to Have Riddler."

[mrstatham]

I have no idea if it was Johns' idea, but Dini carried most of it out; One of his first Detective Comics issues directly handled the fact that Riddler being clobbered about the head during Infinite Crisis' finale had basically 'cured' him of any compulsion for evil - in that usual comic book sense - but still maintained that mystery about him knowing Batman's ID. So I'm not sure if it was Johns' idea, but Dini did the heavy lifting, in my eyes.

And yeah, I'm not interested in Forever Evil at all, so the absolutely minimal ties to that story here were great for me.

[icon_uk]

I've always thought it was a Dini story idea because it always felt like a much more Dini take on it than Johns, Johns would more likely have taken him back to Gorshin like psychotic loon (Which can also REALLY work with the Riddler IMHO).

[icon_uk]

Does the Riddler ponder the implications about Batman from the unmasking of Nightwing in Forever Evil?

Since giving away the ID of Batman's #1 lieutenant must surely make it more obvious to him who Batman is...

[zapbiffpow]

Not this issue - this seems to be more of a tie in to Zero Year, with only fleeting references to Forever Evil.

But who knows what's whirring in that head of his? If anyone has the brainpower and the time to put all that together, it'd be Riddler or Lex Luthor.

[icon_uk]

Well yeah, but that's sort of my point, of ALL the Batvillains, the ID of a former Robin is a reveal which should be obsessing the Riddler more than anything else.

[zapbiffpow]

Heh, I agree. I can only imagine the thought process in his head, like Post-Its tugging on string. I'd be willing to bet that's exactly what he's thinking about while playing that solitaire game of his.

Maybe come Forever Evil #2 we'll find out what his reaction to Nightwing is.

[superfangirl1]

I was thinking the same thing. If anybody can connect the dots and ponder the implications about Batman from the unmasking of Nightwing.

It would definitely be done by The Riddler.

[q99]

This isn't bad. Sure, could go with him being less bloody, but he doesn't kill the guy just because, and doesn't target him randomly, and he's all about Riddles and the challenge.


This is, in short, The Riddler.

[jlbarnett]

a villains year would nearly end my time as comics buyer