{"id":14077,"date":"2013-11-20T15:22:12","date_gmt":"2013-11-20T20:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=14077"},"modified":"2013-11-20T15:22:12","modified_gmt":"2013-11-20T20:22:12","slug":"the-riddler-when-is-a-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2013\/11\/the-riddler-when-is-a-door\/","title":{"rendered":"The Riddler: When is a Door"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today's review of the Batman (Classic TV Series)<\/i> Riddler figure<\/a>, yo said that Frank Gorshin had a better understanding of the character than most comic writers do. Naturally, there are a few exceptions to that statement. Paul Dini, for instance. And currently Scott Snyder is doing a great job with Riddler in the \"Year Zero\" storyline.<\/p>\n

But in 1989, DC released Secret Origins Special<\/i>, featuring three tales about the early days of various Bat-villains. You had Alan Grant (and Sam Kieth!) doing the Penguin and Mark Verheiden writing about Two-Face, but the star of the show was Neil Gaiman, writing what may be the best Riddler story ever told.<\/p>\n

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The art, though credited to just \"BEM,\" is by Bernie Mireault, a guy whose art influenced Mike Mignola. Nice how the first page is styled like a door, with hinges on one side and a lock on the other.<\/p>\n

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Notice how the giant caterpillar on page 2 forms a massive question mark. And the barrel of the gun on page 3 ends up in exactly the same spot on the page. In the original book, those pages were printed back-to-back, so the circles lined up perfectly. You'll notice that circles are a bit of a theme in the layout as we continue.<\/p>\n

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If this is the greatest Riddler story ever told, then the last six panels on page 5 are the greatest sequence. \"Was I away when they changed the rules?\" This comic isn't just about the Riddler, it's about Batman<\/i> (as a property, not as a character). It's about comics. It's about entertainment in general.<\/p>\n

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As a side note, this comic was the first time Riddler wore a suit in the comics, rather than just the spandex costume. Now the suit is more accepted as the \"regular\" outfit, and the spandex looks weird.<\/p>\n

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If your local comicshop doesn't have a copy of Secret Origins Special<\/i> #1, it's been reprinted a few times. The first was in Batman: Featuring Two-Face and the Riddler<\/a><\/i>, a tpb collection released to cash in on the popularity(?) of Batman Forever<\/a><\/i>; more recently, it was used to pad out the collected edition of Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?<\/a><\/i>. Both those editions have better coloring and printing than these little scans, so if you liked this story, you can own a nice copy very easily.<\/p>\n

<i>And now, some more OAFEry:<\/i><\/H5>