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The Riddler's new look

NightwireNightwire
edited 2011-09-29 01:38:36 in General
I like Batman #1. It has a good story and pretty nice art. But the Riddler's question-mark-shaped mohawk still bugs the hell out of me. That dude's haircut looks awfully hilarious. Seriously, DC? The old suit-and-bowler-hat look is already perfect. The Riddler is an intellectual villain, not the kind of crazy punks you would find on the street. Do you have to make everything look 'edgy'?

Comments

  • MoeDantesMoeDantes
    no longer cuddly, but still Edmond
    Yes, yes they do.
  • NightwireNightwire
    edited 2011-09-29 01:37:19
    Apparently they think that a guy with OCD who wears a leaf green suit and leaves riddles at the sight of his crimes is not threatening enough to be a Batman villain.

    (beat)

    OK, I think my opinion needs to be rephrased.
  • MoeDantesMoeDantes
    no longer cuddly, but still Edmond
    I don't get why every villain has to be "threatening." I always liked the Golden/Silver Age Riddler precisely because he had a sort of Woobie appeal--you couldn't help but feel sorry for him a bit.

    Though in general, I kinda thought the Bat-villains were more credible when you weren't supposed to take them seriously.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    I doubt it will last. Buzz is largely negative.
  • TheConductorTheConductor
    I'm pretending that the stupid mockery of my favourite Batvillian was actually one of Riddler's henchmen. 
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    I simply acknowledge it as a stupid art choice and refuse to let it ruin a largely great comic.
  • NightwireNightwire
    It's not fair to judge him. He's just having a mid-life crisis!

  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    I actually liked the idea of the Riddler going straight and deciding to defeat Batman by being a better crime fighter and detective. Too bad it never went anywhere.
  • NightwireNightwire
    Did the Riddler return to villainy before the reboot?
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    Nope. It was a pretty minor thing though, so it hardly causes any continuity snags beyond me thinking he would be more interesting as a rival to Batman than an antagonist.
  • NovaNova
    If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.
    I don't get why every villain has to be "threatening." I always liked the Golden/Silver Age Riddler precisely because he had a sort of Woobie appeal--you couldn't help but feel sorry for him a bit.

    Though in general, I kinda thought the Bat-villains were more credible when you weren't supposed to take them seriously.

    I think he would have made a great villain if he was played for sympathy. But I disagree that he shouldn't have been threatening- a villain always needs to be threatening if they are to be taken seriously as a villain; otherwise, there is no... threat.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    I always like the idea that the Riddler is obsessed with proving he's smarter than the Bat, which is why he can't help but leave clues.

    One of my favorite episodes of B:TAS ends with The Riddler asking how Batman escaped his supposedly inescapable death trap and Batman just replies

    "Guess"
  • MoeDantesMoeDantes
    no longer cuddly, but still Edmond
    But I disagree that he shouldn't have been threatening- a villain always needs to be threatening if they are to be taken seriously as a villain; otherwise, there is no... threat.


    Yeah but... not all villains need to be taken seriously. It would be nice to have a villain every once in awhile who isn't the grimmest of the grim and the darkest of the dark. I mean, being not-entirely-threatening never hurt Team Rocket or Mojojojo any.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    Batman has a ton of villains that would be more suited towards being joke villains than the Riddler like The Carpenter or Maxie Zeus. The Riddler however represents a polar opposite to the Joker in antagonizing Batman. The man who has the world figured out completely against the man who just wants everything to burn.
  • NovaNova
    If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.
    Yeah but... not all villains need to be taken seriously. It would be nice to have a villain every once in awhile who isn't the grimmest of the grim and the darkest of the dark. I mean, being not-entirely-threatening never hurt Team Rocket or Mojojojo any.

    Team Rocket and Mojojojo aren't really applicable. Team Rocket is set in the Pokemon anime, which is very light-hearted, only one person has ever died, and is extremely optimistic in tone. Mojojojo is in the Powerpuff Girls, a series aimed primarily at little kids and also lacked pretty much any credible villains.

    Batman, as a show or a comic, is more serious and, yes, quite a bit darker than those two. It's a show where we're expected to believe that the villains can pose a threat to him.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    edited 2011-09-29 03:58:03
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    One of the strengths of B:TAS was that it took a joke villain like Mr. Freeze and made one of the best stories in Batman mythology.
  • MoeDantesMoeDantes
    edited 2011-09-29 05:02:21
    no longer cuddly, but still Edmond
    Batman, as a show or a comic, is more serious and, yes, quite a bit darker than those two. It's a show where we're expected to believe that the villains can pose a threat to him.


    That's true of the more modern incarnations... the problem is that they're trying to apply a gritty twist to characters that were originally created for a sillier version of the comic, and it really doesn't work. The Riddler, just as a case in point, was meant to be silly from the get-go, and there's really no way you can work him in a serious context. Okay someone like Malkavian would say its possible, but he grew up with comics, so its no different than if I (who grew up with cartoons) said that Cobra Commander could be taken seriously.

    And I have trouble buying that Batman himself even can be threatened without being handed the Idiot Ball. I mean he was trained by ninja and is supposed to be a top-notch martial artist and detective, and has technology that would make every Tatsunoko character ever green with envy, and yet he's being pitted against guys with mental disabilities who commit random acts of larceny or terrorism. It's similar to how in the second Iron Man movie we're supposed to believe that billionaire industrialist Tony Stark and his amazing armor are seriously threatened by some greasy peasant from nowhere. This kind of shit is why, when I reinvented Batman, I scaled him back considerably.

    EDIT: I'd also like to add that just because something is serious doesn't mean it can't have a sense of humor. Indeed the time-honored purpose of comic relief was so that people wouldn't become dulled to the more serious aspects of your story. But like most things, this is yet another time-honored tradition that modern writers simply chuck aside without actually understanding why it was there in the first place.
  • SaigyoujiSaigyouji
    But you never had any to begin with.
    "The Riddler, just as a case in point, was meant to be silly from the get-go, and there's really no way you can work him in a serious context."

    Tell that to Arkham Asylum.
  • MoeDantesMoeDantes
    no longer cuddly, but still Edmond
    The game or the graphic novel?
  • SaigyoujiSaigyouji
    But you never had any to begin with.
    The misnamed sanitarium in Arkham, Massachusetts.

    The game.
  • SotiCotoSotiCoto
    RE-ANIMATOR
    Can't find pics.
    Post pics? 
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