We would be remiss if we did not look into the comics after the box office triumph of the new Batman feature. We decided to discuss the Riddler since the film provides us with everything we need, including the attractive Robert Pattinson, stunning Zoe Kravitz, and the incredibly enigmatic Riddler. But first, let us take a look at how we came to have Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight.
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight premiered in 1989 as the third major monthly Batman issue from DC comics, following the success of Tim Burton’s 1989 film Batman. Many of the stories in this series have a tone comparable to Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One. The majority of the stories in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight take place during Batman’s early years, but a few are set in the present or even the future. Early in Batman’s career, stories are sometimes referred to as “Year One” stories, alluding to Bruce Wayne’s first few years as the Dark Knight.
Today, we will look at a very intriguing section of the Batman comic series with the Riddler. Shane McCarthy, Tommy Castillo, and Rodney Ramos worked on “Riddle Me That.” a five-part issue.
Let the Games begin
Our first issue takes place before the ‘War Games’ and starts with our beloved Batman breaking into a room on a rainy day to rescue Dr. Dallaway, only to find out that he is being played by the Riddler.
He goes to Commissioner Akins to warn him about the kidnapping of Dr. Dallaway and the clue given by the Riddler. The Commissioner, however, does not think of this as a very big threat. He doesn’t understand what the Riddler would want from Dr. Dallaway, even though the doctor’s research and abilities make him a threat on multiple levels. The riddle that Batman received was quite an easy one for him to solve.
It said, “The maker doesn’t want it, the buyer doesn’t use it, and the user doesn’t see it,” along with a casino chip. It links to a highly respected businessman called Nathaniel “Tiger” Koughun (pronounced as Coffin, which was the answer to the riddle, and the tiger is what the casino calls the chip Batman received) with a lot of old money. As the savior, he is, Beloved Bruce wants to run away to rescue the businessman and learn more about the Riddler’s plans when Akins brings in a plot twist.
Kara Harris, a reporter from Metropolis, saunters in wanting to “get started as soon as possible” yeah, Batman, we are just as confused as you on this one. It turns out that City Hall has demanded full cooperation on doing an article on Batman. He doesn’t forget his manners even in a moment of crisis, obviously, and apologizes to her. He can’t cooperate as the Riddler poses a serious threat at the moment. Kara, like the Commissioner, doesn’t think so. Turns out that the Riddler made it on the “Most Pathetic” list on the criminal mastermind expose done by Newstime. Again, like any other character, Bruce also loses his patience with the two. He leaves the two alone and goes to Koughun.
Batman has sneakily, again, broken into a room. This time, it is Koughun’s house, or well, mansion. On being asked about the Riddler, Koughun refuses to be aware of anything. Which quickly turns out to be a lie. Batman notices a fake Renoir at Koughun’s mantel with longitudes and latitudes written on it. Somehow, he knows the exact location the numbers point to, the old hydro plant on Blake. The Riddler had been at Koughun’s residence and threatened to kill him. As Koughun is telling Bruce this, he smells a chemical and figures out, yet again, another location to find the Riddler or get a clue about what is to come next.
Someplace else, we see a man talking to people on a call, trying to convince them of something that hasn’t been revealed yet. There is a homeless-looking man sitting next to him who is sneakily writing his crossword puzzle. Apparently, the crossword that the homeless man just solved was created as a test by the man on the phone. He reveals himself as Professor Jarrod Buttery, and the homeless man is called Edward.
Going back to Batman, he has left Koughun’s house to an unknown location where he would find the chemical he smelled. Meanwhile, Kara reaches Koughun’s home asking him to tell her what Batman said, word for word, in exchange for keeping his name out of the papers.
Choo Choo Boom
Riddler, Riddler, Riddler. He managed to lure Batman in for the second time, and he has had a little makeover as well. He has undergone a minor surgery, bought a new suit, and had a noticeable makeover as well. Turns out, his plan wasn’t to lure Batman at all. He got Kara captured instead. She is shown trapped in a hexagonal box or room with the statement Riddler question mark drawn on the floor.
While she is trapped there, the Riddler riddles Batman again and then informs him that a child had managed to ‘pick up a bomb while getting on a train. He makes Batman wear a watch with a timer and go after the train and find both the child and the device containing the bomb before it blows up the entire train.
Meanwhile, the story of Edward and Jarrod also steadily progresses in bits and pieces. Jarrod has brought Edward to his house in order to unlock his true potential. He brings him to an extensive library. While Edward is reading, Jarrod shows up with his son, Martin. Now, Martin is a huge person with features that one won’t find to be easy on the eyes. He ended up scaring Edward. Jarrod tells Edward that Martin is not intellectually gifted like them, which, from his looks, makes Martin feel upset. It is quite understandable, really, as no one would want their parents to belittle them in front of others.
The story switches back to Batman. We see him trying to use his Batmobile to find out where the explosive is but to no avail. So, he enters the train and starts searching manually for the device. The Riddler had put up an advertisement for a game box on the train, leading Batman to the child with the game box. He immediately threw the device out of the window, and it promptly blew up.
Of course, the issue can’t end just like this. Remember Kara? Her little box room has started flooding during the time Batman was busy saving the people on the train. The issue ends with the water having risen to her neck and her screaming for Batman to come and save her.
Rain on the Riddler’s Parade
Batman has leaped out of the train and emerged through the flames of the bomb he took from the kid. The fire doesn’t leave him unscathed. His suit has burned in a couple of places, but thankfully his skin is okay as it’s pouring down in Gotham City. While he is trying to figure out his next move, a voice speaks up from behind. Martin, the so-called dumb son of Professor Jarrod, seems to know not only about the Riddler but his plans as well. Guess he isn’t as dumb as Jarrod believes.
Shane McCarthy decides to leave us in suspense and takes us to the Riddler instead. He is in a museum looking at the Scroll of Minos. He meets a young professor who tells him more about the Scroll. He is busy charming her and whizzing her away for dinner. While this is happening, we go back to Edward and Jarrod. Jarrod has gone ahead and done some digging into Edward’s past.
He brings up traumatic past incidents that Edward had buried deep in his brain. His parents were the ones who repressed his abilities and talents. Edward’s father was an abusive man who did not believe in his son or his abilities. He accused Edward of cheating and beat him up so much that Edward convinced himself that he cheated on the test. Of course, bringing up repressed memories is extremely difficult to process, so he tells Jarrod to never go digging in his past again.
Going back to Batman, he uses a little bomb to blow up one of the walls of the hexagonal room the Riddler had trapped Kara in. She falls out of the room with the gushing water and thanks to him for saving her life. He helps her up, and immediately a watch starts beeping. Apparently, the Riddler had somehow put the same kind of watch he made Batman wear on Kara’s hand as well.
And voila, the Riddler suddenly appears with the beeping watches. But he isn’t there in the flesh, it is a holographic image of him, and it can speak as well. Looks like Batman can’t get rid of Kara anytime soon now. One of the watches will blow up while the other acts as the time for the bomb if they are more than ten meters away from each other.
This little encounter makes Kara completely change her tune about the Riddler. He has become incredible instead of pathetic in her books. While thinking about the sequence of events that occurred so far, Batman catches onto the wild goose chase and the intention behind it. He jets set with Kara to Koughun’s house and confronts him. This time, he doesn’t hold back.
The Riddler’s plan is to use one of Koughun’s buildings that has a large vault connected to the museum underground. He wants access to the museum through the vault to bypass security. The only reason Koughun agreed to all of it was because of Riddler’s threats. The threats, however, weren’t to his own life but to his lover’s. Yes, you guessed it, Koughun had been having an affair with Dr. Dallaway, which was why he was kidnapped. With this, Batman now has the conviction to end this little game right now.
As the Worlds Collide
In this issue, the past and the present collide. Batman and Kara are on their way to stop the robbery from happening. He uses Oracle to find out about the security systems of the museum so that he can bypass it and guard the Scroll of Minos. In this issue, we see the making of the Riddler. The scene jumping that Shane McCarthy had been doing so far was a back and forth between the past and the present.
Edward, it turns out, is The Riddler. According to the past, there is an unknown misunderstanding going on between Edward and Jarrod. Jarrod seems to have cheated and used Edward like a Guinea pig. This fight turns physical, and Edward beats Jarrod the way his father had, except Jarrod dies in the process. Martin is the one who discovered his father’s body. He knew that his father died at the hands of the Riddler, which is why he had told Batman in the previous issue that he wanted the Riddler to pay.
In the present, Batman and Kara find the vault wall blown up. They assume that the Riddler has already gone in. He disables the security measures Oracle had told him about and gets ready to face his enemy. We switch back to the past. Martin has gone to a bar back in his hometown looking for a job which he gets. The significance of this job isn’t shown in this issue, and we switch back to the present.
Batman and Kara find out that the Scroll is untouched. The moment he realizes that they have been fooled, Riddler shows up with backup, ready to steal the Scroll.
The Final Battle of Wits
Nigma is taunting Batman about being strapped to a bomb and leashed to a reporter, most probably unable to stop him from taking the Scroll and surrounded by some of the world’s best fighters. In this issue, we learn about Edward’s deep-rooted issues – his incessant need to prove himself and get praised for his wits. While he is monologuing, Kara pulls out a syringe.
But Batman knew something was up. The reporter wasn’t Kara; it was her sister Marie whom the Riddler had convinced to help with this plan. But Batman had figured it all out. The two of them were in constant limbo, a battle of wits, in which one doesn’t quite know who is winning till the end. He threatens to use the bomb which Marie is wearing. Using her as leverage, Batman gets Riddler to hand over the actual reporter Kara. Once he has her close, he rips off his watch. He had deactivated it sneakily back at Koughun’s house. While he is trying to belittle Edward, the five men Eddie brought with him attack Batman.
Edward grabs the Scroll and tries to leave during the fight. However, Batman beats the fighters with ease. To buy more time, he shoots through an exhibit as it will activate the security alarms. He gets out of the museum just before the emergency door shuts, but he comes face to face with Martin instead. He beats up the Riddler and hands Batman the stolen Scroll.
There are police officers everywhere, and it seems like everything ended well. Except it didn’t. Martin was actually one of Riddler’s cronies, and he gave Batman the fake Scroll. He drove away with Marie and Riddler, leaving us wanting more.
Review of the Comic
The main goal of this five-part comic series was to redefine the character of Riddler. As previously said, the Riddler is a well-known Batman villain, yet he was not taken seriously by many and often came across as a joke. This is acknowledged throughout the novel, as many people are taken aback by the Riddler’s actions when he first attacks. Riddler’s arrogance used to be a cover for his ineptness, but now it’s a result of his supreme confidence and influential acts.
This is a brand new persona for him of a man who is in command and highly calculated. The new Riddler is supposed to be a much younger-looking, dress shirt and slacks-wearing man instead of the statement green jumpsuit, looking like a psycho pretty boy with the riddle tattoo covering his body with an urge to impress and prove himself. It is an excellent read with great visuals.
I really enjoyed the plot twist at the end when Martin, who seemed to be here for revenge, turned out to be the villain’s crony. It is definitely good to read it before you watch the new Batman movie, I feel. It is always good to know your villains better.