Batman Sketch Challenge – Day Three – The Riddler
The magic Tupperware gave me a fun one today, Mr. Edward Nygma, the Riddler!
The Riddler is one of the best examples of how to do the grey characters right. One of the best things DC Comics did in the last ten years was make The Riddler a private investigator so he could challenge the Bat at his own game. It annoyed me when they rebooted it in the new 52 and worse, made him just another murderous psycho with a gimmick in rebirth.
One of the things I like about the Riddler is while he’s certainly insane, after a fashion, he isn’t criminally insane. Whatever flavor of OCD his obsessions are they’re probably perfectly treatable and don’t warrant him a cell in Arkham.
So in this mini sketch-verse, we have The Riddler as a consulting detective. Still an insufferable jerk and quite amoral, but not a criminal. He’s probably never even been convicted! On top of this, he’s the first person the GCPD call in on the tough cases. After all, you need to wait for it to get dark to light up the Bat Signal, while you have The Riddler’s Agency on speed dial.
He even gives press conferences and loves imagining how annoyed he’s making his caped rival.
Best of all, since this is comics, this version is still played by the late, great, Frank Gorshin!
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