Batman #31 - "The War of Jokes & Riddles, Part 5"

[laughing_tree]

We’re trying to elevate Riddler the way that movie elevated the Joker. Sort of be a villain worthy of that much attention. -- Tom King

Comments

[cyberghostface]

I'm all for elevating Riddler but this guy might as well be a new character for all he has in common. IMO Gotham did a much better job at making the character a threat while still being recognizable as the Riddler.

[miramira]

Nobody here sounds right. Except Kite Man, I suppose.

[shadowpsykie]

okay.... I kinda love Kiteman.... Hellyeah!

also, they totally leaked the answer on USA Today.... again....

also:
Bruce: And thus Ended Kite-man. What happened N-
Selina: Wait... "Thus ended Kite-Man? Really? Bruce?
Bruce: I... What?
Selina: Thus ended Kite-man? could you be ANY more dramatic? I mean yeah...you dress as a bat, I dress as a cat, Kiteman... a kite.... but "Thus Ended?" you sound like an over eager English major...
Bruce: I... I was raised by a british
Selina: DON'T BRING Alfred into this! you Know he wouldn't be so dramatic.
Alfred: Thank you Ms. Wayne...
Selina: I haven't said yes.
Alfred: Oh we all know you will
Stephanie, Jason, Dick, Damian, Cassandra, Barbara, Kate: YEAH!
Batman: HAVE YOU ALL BEEN CREEPING ON US?!?!
Selina: Bruce, please... glass houses....

[cricharddavies]

ROFL!

[shadowpsykie]

thank you. i'll be here all night... waiting for Selina's response :D

[locuatico]

I don't mind. I honestly feel this arc should have been three issues shorter and given us the answer already.
My one problem is that we are probably have to wait two more weeks before getting ANY progress on the engagement beyond Selina saying yes.

[riddler13]

Alfred was a thespian, though

[shadowpsykie]

yes, but there is ACTING, and there is "being dramatic" Alfred would have taught him better.

[sarahnewlin]

No. No character ever needs to take inspiration from SS Joker. Fuck Leto. Nasty herpes ridden **method** actor. Hes playing hugh Heffner they just announced. Blech

[cyberghostface]

Does he actually have herpes or are you just using ad hominem attacks on him?

[christianconnor]

The quote is referring to Jack Nicholson's performance, not Leto's. Or Ledger's, for that matter.

[agharta75]

Okay, I ROTFLed at Eddie's "hell yeah."

[lucean]

There's a lot of stuff Tom King is doing which I wonder how hard they will stick, especially because I feel he is really just trying so hard to make it happen that it doesn't feel organic at all. The Riddler here and the Catwoman proposal being the clear examples of that.

[kalanyr]

Yeah, this doesn't really feel like the Riddler , but I think Year Zero kinda of torpedoed that happening , N52 Riddler is just way more psycho.

The Selena proposal is okay because they've been dancing around it for literally my entire god damn life.

[shakalooloo]

JERRY's the mouse, Riddler.

[bradygirl_12]

The Bat-Blimp? How Adam West of you, Bruce! :)

[zylly]

Does the Riddler really "need" to be elevated? I've always felt he was fine as is, especially the post-villainy version, who became a detective to continue being able to show up Batman, or as done on B:TAS and its companion comics.

Not every villain needs to make people shit their pants at the mere mention of their name. Some of them just need to be a fun challenge for the hero. And that, to me, is where the Riddler should fall. He's not out to be the crime master of the city, and it's not even about amassing a fortune. He just wants to outsmart Batman.

[indy2012]

What is this? Why isn't anyone talking? These versions of the villains are less verbose than Jeph Loeb's versions who all spoke in lazy, repetitious one-liners. You have such rich personalities to play around with here and it would be fascinating to see them play off of each other. I know they're hyper-focusing on the contrived dick-measuring going on between Riddler and Joker, but all I've seen from this series is the likes of Two-Face, Ivy, Scarecrow, and Freeze standing arount silently in the background like nameless James Bond villain henchmen. If you're not going to use these characters to their full potential, why have them at all? And it is possible to have a large number of characters and have them play off of each other without sacrificing focus. Any sitcom writer could do better here.

And why is Two-Face even here? He's not a melee villain. He is a scheming criminal mastermind.

[crinos]

See, if I wanted to Elevate Riddler, I would just make him Gotham's premier code breaker and Hacker.

He's a guy who loves riddles and puzzles, and what is someones Pin number to their bank account or the password to their lap top but a riddle to be solved?

Riddler doesn't need to work a day in his life because he has a little green book (with purple question marks on it) that is filled with bank account pins he can draw from. He can escape Arkham any time because he knows about one of the guards has an online gambling problem they would rather keep quiet.

He may not be much of a threat on his own, but he'd be an indispensable behind the scenes worker in Gothams underworld.

Like, if you need a crime scene cleaned up before the Bat gets to is, you call Pencil Head, if you want someone to build you a secret hideout with all the trimmings, you call the Carpenter, you about to break out and you need a little extra starter cash for your next caper, you talk to the Great White Shark. You need a Government computer hacked so you can find out where the experimental doomsday weapon his hidden? You get in touch with The Riddler.

[kalanyr]

Hasn't Calculator already pretty much called dibs on that role ?

[adriantullberg]

Calculator does the brute forcing, Riddler does the social engineering.

[crinos]

...Yeah lets go with that.

Besides which, Calculator is more about coordinating and coming up with tactics. Riddler would more be about finding out secrets. If you are planning a heist and you want to plan a heist in Metropolis, and you need to know when Superman is out of town and where you can get Kryptonite, you call Calculator. If you want to blackmail a DA to get an early parole by holding his browser history hostage, you call The Riddler.

[crinos]

...crap yeah you're right.