Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Batman, batmanonebadday, dc comics, Mitch Gerads, one bad day, riddler, Tom King

Tom King & Mitch Gerard's New Riddler Origin in Batman: One Bad Day

Spoilers for Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler by Tom King and Mitch Gerads published by DC Comics today. But first, we go back seventy-five years. In the Riddler's original origin story in 1948 in Detective Comics #140 by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, he was Edward Nigma, beat a school puzzle test by breaking into the school at night to practice the puzzle.

This saw developments over the years, such as Chuck Dixon and Kieron Dwyer's take on his story in Detective Comics Annual #8 in 1995, reusing elements, reshaping others, a younger, less smarmy Nigma, and an older, less blonde and buxom teacher.

But with more pathos for the young Edward Nigma.

Sorry, I mean Eddie Nigma. A greater amount of breaking into the school.

But a similar response

But the same sleight of hand from that original story.

But there were other explanations, from Alex Ross' Justice from 2005…

Edward Nigma, beaten by his father for not telling the truth…

…exhibiting it a resulting desire to tell the truth at all time manifested itself into an obsession with riddles, but also with fair play when playing his games with Batman as he descended into madness and crime. But another version saw his cheating not as cheating at all, but just the accusation of a jealous father.

From Detective Comics #198, by Tommy Castillo and Shane McCarthy, from 2004. And the accusation was enough to spur Edward Nigma into becoming the Riddler.

It may be worth at this point referring to Batman Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, in Batman #619 from 2003, in which The Riddler reveals that he knows Batman is Bruce Wayne.

But Batman has nothing to fear from his knowledge, as if Riddler were ever to use it, it would become worthless. And telling Edward Nygma that he knows who is he is.

This was all removed in the New 52 of course. But that did let Tom King give us this Riddler in his Batman run.

We'll get back to that as well. But just the whereabouts of Jason Todd's body is enough for Batman to strike Riddler and for the Arkham guards to come running in. Now, in today's Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler we go back to his school days, to find something different. He is Eddie Tierney. he has a remarkable memory. But he gets a school test… wrong.

And his teacher is one who tried to connect with Eddie on an individual level.

But it's harder when this Eddie's father is headmaster at the school and has exacting standards for his own, which don't take into account riddles.

With his father beating him for not getting a perfect score with a rather peculiar turn of phrase while doing do.

And so next time, he returned to his original origins and breaks in.

However, unlike the original version, it does not go quite as well. And as his teacher confronts him on the basketball court…

…about his own cheating on the test.

The revelation goes badly.

And years later, as Batman confronts Edward's sickly father… the depths of Eddie's intelligence are brought to light.

And the baseball court, presumably where he killed his teacher.

That was The Riddler's one bad day. But it is seated in his father's own self-hatred, given the low status of his mother.

A sex worker on the streets of Gotham. Who delivered Eddie to his father, who cannot reconcile the circumstances with his birth, his success at school but also his ultimate failure. Not that The Riddler is any better at that.

He killed his mother. He killed lots of people. But somehow, his father survived.

But he's not playing those games anymore. He knows who Batman is (again).

While challenging Batman's previous statement, he has no idea who the Riddler is. And the Riddler knows who the guards' families are again.

And if Batman, Bruce Wayne, wants to hit him again?

The Riddler is not going to let anyone hit him ever again. not his father, not Batman, not the rest of Gotham. He's playing a different game now.

BATMAN ONE BAD DAY THE RIDDLER #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR A MITCH GERADS
(W) Tom King (A/CA) Mitch Gerads
The Dark Knight's greatest villains get their greatest stories yet! The Riddler, Two-Face, the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Bane, Clayface, and Ra's al Ghul—Batman's most iconic villains are all given 64-page Prestige format specials that show why they are the greatest villains in all of comics, spearheaded by today's top talent. We begin with Batman – One Bad Day: The Riddler! Tom King and Mitch Gerads, the Eisner Award–winning duo behind Mister Miracle, The Sheriff of Babylon, and Strange Adventures, reunite to dive deep into the mind of Batman's most intellectual foe…the Riddler. The Riddler has killed a man in broad daylight for seemingly no reason, but…there's always a reason. The Riddler is always playing a game, there are always rules. Batman will reach his wits' end trying to figure out the Riddler's true motivation in this epic psychological thriller; this is not to be missed!
Retail: $7.99 In-Store Date: 08/16/2022

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