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Post by driver1980 on Aug 24, 2023 7:56:44 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing this, I didn’t realise chronologies could be looked at on Mike’s site. In black and white, those appearances really do look small in number. If you count just the stories where he wasn't part of some assemble of villains, he appeared only 5 times during the Bronze Age. It’s a peculiar statistic, eh? No doubt more Bronze Age appearances than the likes of Catman and Blockbuster, but far fewer appearances than the likes of Joker.
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Post by zaku on Aug 24, 2023 8:10:18 GMT -5
If you count just the stories where he wasn't part of some assemble of villains, he appeared only 5 times during the Bronze Age. It’s a peculiar statistic, eh? No doubt more Bronze Age appearances than the likes of Catman and Blockbuster, but far fewer appearances than the likes of Joker. They weren't even really good stories. The Riddle leaves a riddle, Batman resolves the riddle, he catches the Riddler. The end. If you remove the camp factor, it was your average Batman '66 episode. I suppose the writers didn't really know what to do with him.
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Post by tarkintino on Aug 24, 2023 8:14:35 GMT -5
It’s a peculiar statistic, eh? No doubt more Bronze Age appearances than the likes of Catman and Blockbuster, but far fewer appearances than the likes of Joker. They weren't even really good stories. The Riddle leaves a riddle, Batman resolves the riddle, he catches the Riddler. The end. If you remove the camp factor, it was your average Batman '66 episode. I suppose the writers didn't really know what to do with him. I found Bronze Age Riddler far more mature (as much as the Riddler could be mature) than the one who devolved as a result of the 1966 TV series. The Batman title editors and writers made a considerable effort to shed the stench of the TV series from their characters in the late 60s, and the Riddler did benefit from no longer channeling Frank Gorshin, although his 1970s appearances were limited.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 24, 2023 8:17:56 GMT -5
This is the correct answer.
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 24, 2023 9:30:19 GMT -5
How do we get DC to do a Superman/Riddler encounter? (If I buy WB one day, it’ll happen)
Do we get much “cross-pollination” nowadays? I feel so much emphasis is on the latest event and/or crossover, that standalone tales featuring some “cross-pollination” seem rare, if not extinct.
I could imagine Superman being bemused by the Riddler deciding to make Metropolis the latest location for clues/crimes, but with him utilising his journalistic skills to try and solve riddles, which aren’t his strong point.
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Post by jester on Aug 24, 2023 10:05:34 GMT -5
Riddler's always been a favourite of mine. Seeing him match wits with Superman would be cool, but if I had to pick a non-Batman DC hero to go up against, I'd like to see him face off against Wonder Woman. For Marvel, Spidey or Daredevil would be my pick probably.
For favourite Riddler stories, the Neil Gaiman Secret Origins is also my pick. I'm also found of that Gardner Fox 60s story where he tries to abandon his gimmmick but finds it's a compulsion that he can't control, as it was quite rare to see that kind of psychological motivation established for villains in the Silver Age.
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Post by Prince Hal on Aug 24, 2023 10:13:03 GMT -5
Earth-Two's Superman had his own kinda/sorta version of the Riddler who showed up six years before the Riddler: He used puzzles as opposed to riddles in his very few battles of wits with Superman. I'm guessing that the Toyman and the Prankster must have taken the place of the Puzzler as gimmicky foes for Superman. By me, they were still two too many. Especially post-Atom Age. Interestingly enough, the name and gimmick of the Puzzler were resurrected for the Batman TV show when Frank Gorshin stood up the show looking for more money after he'd been nominated for an Emmy for his performance as the lead-off Bat-villain. The script for the planned reappearance for Gorshin was retooled for a villain called the Puzzler (Maurice Evans). No idea if anybody knew there had been a minor Superman villain by that name. www.metv.com/stories/batman-villain-profile-the-puzzler
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 24, 2023 10:50:12 GMT -5
The first issue of Batman that I bought brand-new off a spinner rack was #279 with the Riddler. It was 1976, I was 12 and I knew the Riddler from the 1960s TV show. He’s long been one of my favorite comic-book characters. It’s always amazing to me that #279 is only the Riddler’s 12th appearance! #279 is a lot of fun and I also love Batman #263, which I bought at a used-book store later on in the 1970s. My favorite Riddler story is the arc from Detective Comics #705 to #707. The Riddler, assisted by Query and Echo, abducts the Clue-Master and uses him in a rather complex game of wits with Batman and Robin. It was a great time for Batman, written by Chuck Dixon with art by Graham Nolan and David Roach, and this Riddler story is a highlight of the Dixon run. Another Riddler story that stands out for me is the one in Batman #362. It’s so over-the-top with the riddles and the impossible puns that I suspect it was always meant as a parody. Here’s a link to an article I wrote about the Riddler some years ago ... mushtown.blogspot.com/2012_03_04_archive.html?m=1
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Post by Calidore on Aug 24, 2023 19:15:37 GMT -5
Denny O'Neil's last really great work, in my opinion (The Question, that is). Certainly my favorite of what I've read by him.
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Post by Calidore on Aug 24, 2023 19:26:21 GMT -5
Post didn't work, will try again later. I had a problem quoting Badwolf’s post. And now this. Is the Riddler hacking this topic? Or are you the Riddler, is this some sort of clue? Nope, just a clumsy phone poster. But clumsily troubleshooting a clumsy phone post when I need to be also getting ready for work wasn't going to happen. So I just hoped that nobody else would post my idea first.
Nobody did, so I present Riddler's ultimate foe.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 24, 2023 20:29:57 GMT -5
I had a problem quoting Badwolf’s post. And now this. Is the Riddler hacking this topic? Or are you the Riddler, is this some sort of clue? Nope, just a clumsy phone poster. But clumsily troubleshooting a clumsy phone post when I need to be also getting ready for work wasn't going to happen. So I just hoped that nobody else would post my idea first.
Nobody did, so I present Riddler's ultimate foe.
You'd have to get him to stop mooning over the receptionist.....
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Post by Calidore on Aug 24, 2023 20:59:31 GMT -5
Nope, just a clumsy phone poster. But clumsily troubleshooting a clumsy phone post when I need to be also getting ready for work wasn't going to happen. So I just hoped that nobody else would post my idea first.
Nobody did, so I present Riddler's ultimate foe.
You'd have to get him to stop mooning over the receptionist..... To be honest, I was expecting you to post a cover showing that it had already been done.
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Post by chadwilliam on Aug 24, 2023 23:27:53 GMT -5
My favorite Riddler story is still his first - Detective Comics #140. Not saying that it's all downhill from there, just that that story set one hell of a high bar to pass. He's pretty ruthless in it too, what with his setting an asphyxiating man at the center of a maze Batman has to patiently work his way through before he can reach him. Bill Finger writing, Dick Sprang on pencils - perfect combination. DC will be doing a reproduction of this comic - back-up stories, ads, and all in the next month or so if anyone wants to check it out. It might have been where I learned that maze (well "maize") is another word for corn too come to think of it.
Batman #179 is a pretty strong contender for runner-up though. Gardner Fox's psychoanalysis of Edward Nigma of a man suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder years before even medical professionals understood the condition is remarkable writing on his part. It seems so endemic to the character now, but the idea in 1966 that The Riddler's strange compulsion to leave clues to his crimes prior to committing them as a sort of ritual he cannot avoid performing without breaking into a sweat must have seemed like psychobabble to even adult readers. Fox pulled it off perfectly however.
Foxley's pick of Batman #292 would be my third choice. It's been said that every writer has at least one great Batman story in them and "Where Were You the Night Batman was Killed?" was David Reed's. I especially liked Two-Face challenging him on how he could possibly have killed Batman since doing so would leave him in a position where he could no longer send the caped crusader clues to his crimes any more. "Wrong! I can still send them to his grave!" Great answer!
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 25, 2023 10:40:29 GMT -5
You'd have to get him to stop mooning over the receptionist..... To be honest, I was expecting you to post a cover showing that it had already been done. After posting, I realized I should have extended his ears.
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Post by driver1980 on Sept 16, 2023 7:45:49 GMT -5
Seems like I’m gonna get my wish for a Superman/Riddler encounter:
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