Review:
This is a stunning deep-dive exploring the origin, back-story, motivations and state of mental health of the Riddler. A far cry from Frank Gorshin's green-unitarded Riddler of the 1960s, Paul Dano's Riddler of the 2022 film The Batman is a dark and dangerous serial killer. Dano is the author of these tales, a project he began as a way of getting into the mind and skin of his character.
We are all the better for him following some sage advice and turning it into a limited-series comic, collected here in a beautiful hard-cover edition.
Orphaned, marginalized through twists of fate and history, ridiculed and taken for granted. Yet obsessed with puzzles, including those buried in the sketchy account books of powerful people, agencies and institutions.
Admiring Batman from afar, and driven to punish the people who do bad things with their power and influence, he slowly descends into a madness of obsession, meting out gruesome vigilante justice. Dano's tale is dark, heart-rending and terrifying. We feel his frustrations, his powerlessness, and we admire his creativity in untangling the crimes he then punishes.
Artist Stevan Subic is a rookie in the North American comics scene, but he has already made a name for himself in Europe. He explodes onto the North American radar with these pages. Gritty cityscapes, dark deeds, incomplete and shadowy images, all cast in muted greys and browns, all work to give us a sense of Edward / Riddler's bleak, pathetic existence in a crime-filled Gotham. His struggles to survive, and his struggles with sanity, jump from these beautiful pages.
From a single page with seventeen narrow, vertically stacked panels, to a whole chapter told as scrapbook clippings and journal entries scribbled on ledger paper, his visuals are bursting with innovative ideas and concepts.
He steals this show with standout art that injects fun and amazement into a tale that swirls into obsession, stalking and mayhem.
The book itself is a work of art, a gorgeous hard-cover beautifully encased under a stunning slip-case, with so many extras that push its value into the next level.
This is so far from those campy green tights, and so well-done. Heartily recommended.
Description:
Actor and writer Paul Dano understands the Riddler’s every motivation… come see Edward Nashton evolve into the menace known as the Riddler.
As depicted in Matt Reeves’s hit movie The Batman, the Riddler wasn’t simply an amusing eccentric with an affinity for wordplay and baffling clues, but as terrifying a villain as any in the annals of the Dark Knight. How did an unknown forensic accountant uncover the dark secrets of Gotham’s underworld and come so close to bringing down the entire city?
This collection is an immediate prequel to The Batman—the detailed, disturbing, and at times shocking story of a man with nothing to lose.
Artist Stevan Subic makes his American comics debut, collaborating with Dano to deliver a shadowy and gritty tale of a society’s forgotten man who refuses to go unnoticed any longer. Subic’s recent Conan the Cimmerian for French publisher Glénat has brought him great acclaim in Europe, and he’s about to break out globally with a Batman series unlike any you’ve seen before.
Collects: the entire six-issue miniseries: The Riddler: Year One
Authors: Paul Dano
Artists: Stevan Subic
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Nov. 21, 2023
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1779523068
Pages: 232 pages
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