The House The Cards Built
The House The Cards Built was part of DC’s Joker’s Asylum series. Top creators from all corners of DC Comics came forward to lend their skills to write a special month long weekly series of one shot issues. The one shots would each feature a well-known Batman villain. The house The Cards Built, leak every other issue, is narrated by the Joker him-self. It gives us a unique insight into the life of the Riddler and how he got where he is now. The life and times of the Riddler before and during his encounters with the Batman are shown in vivid detail. It is a highly acclaimed one shot and among all the other villains that that also featured in successive issues like Clayface, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, and the Mad Hatter, Joker’s Asylum II: The Riddler is considered the best of the lot.
Zero Year
Zero Year revisited the formative years of Batman’s crime-fighting career. A green thumbed Bruce Wayne is only learning the ways of the Batman. Greg Capullo and Scott Snyder bring this New 52 reboot story to life. Many prominent Batman Rogues gallery villains like Killer Croc and Two Face made their way into this series. The Riddler was one of the earliest and deadliest Batman villains in Zero Year. Flooding the city of Gotham, the Riddler took control of Batman’s curb. He then gave the citizens of Gotham a literal run for their money. In order to stay alive and safe their city, they must answer his riddles. Zero Year would basically give the same entry to the Riddler as Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight. Both would be newcomers that would bring the entire city to its knees using chaos and anarchy.Also Read: The Batman’s Riddler is DC’s Reincarnation of Heath Ledger’s Joker
Dark Knight Dark City
The Riddler has been the butt of many jokes. He is a villain, who despite his smartness, is always out-witted by the Batman. For a guy who excels in riddles, he sure can’t out-riddle his mortal enemy. In Dark Knight, Dark City, the Riddler is no longer a joke. A rather dark representation of the Riddler, Grant Morrison and Scott Snyder gave the Riddler a supernatural spin and made him a part of Gotham’s very own mythology. The Riddler forces Batman into a series of deadly rituals in order to control a supernatural demon god called Barbatos. Batman’s connection with Barbatos would then be explored in detail in Dark Nights: Metal.
April Fools’ Day
A sub-plot of The Long Halloween arc, the Riddler played a huge role in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s The Long Halloween arc. The series is being given an animated adaptation under the DC Animated Universe Banner. The Riddler does not have a major role to play in the series but his participation in the arc is crucial to the development leading to the climax of the series. The Holiday Killer is at large and Batman and the GCPD are hot on his heels. The Falcone Crime Family hires the Riddler to become their personal Private Investigator. The Riddler acting as a consultant and using his sharp wit to rival the powers of deduction of the Batman could make for a very good story line to explore.You May Like: The Batman: Why the New Batmobile is Better Than Dark Knight’s Tumbler
The Last Riddler Story
The Batman Adventures were released during the same time as Knightfall and other great Batman titles. The Batman Adventures #10 was one of the crown jewels of the series. The Riddler has become fed up of being bested by his greatest enemy almost every time. He does not want to continue being a criminal in Batman’s Rogues Gallery. He wants out. But like every other trickster in the trade, he wants to have one final score before calling it quits. The Last Riddler Story is exactly how it sounds like. E Nygma is ready to hang the question mark. But he has one final riddle for the Batman to solve.
E. Nigma, Consulting Detective
The Riddler may not have been as overlooked as he thinks he is. There have been multiple times his skills have been acknowledged by his peers as well as rivals. E Nigma, Consulting Detective saw the Riddler come back to offer his services as a private consultant. And Gotham does bite. The Riddler has multiple intentions to fight on the good guys’ sides, chief of them being he wants to flaunt his mental prowess and deductive superiority over the Dark Knight. The story is the brainchild of Paul Dini, one of the pillars of on which the legendary Batman The Animated Series was founded. Our only complain with this story was that it was very short for an idea that could have been explored in vivid detail.
Riddled
The Riddler’s expertise is in puzzles and games. But he is not the only one with a fetish for clues and hints. But he is not the only sheriff in town. There is another villain with pretty much the same skill set. Called the Cluemaster, he is a low-time rival of the Riddler. In Riddled, the Riddler and Cluemaster team up to challenge Batman. The team-up was just a ruse. All the Riddler ever wanted was to put Cluemaster behind bars for trying to steal his modus operandi. The Riddler does get captured in the end but it a worthy story to read if you are a fan of his work. It revealed just how brilliantly cunning Edward Nygma could be.Also Read: Batman: All Three DCEU Versions Explained!!
Run, Riddler, Run
The Riddler starts framing Batman for crimes he did not commit. As a result of being framed, the Batman is now targeted by the advanced private security force known as Perfect Security. Agents of the firm come equipped with high tech exo-skeleton armor suits which the Batman has a hard time dealing with. Mark Badger and Gerard Jones help pen and illustrate the story. In the end, Perfect Security becomes such a menace that Batman and the Riddler are forced to join hands and work together to take it down.
Hush
The comic book story line was adapted into an animated movie. Both have very different version of the Riddler. We are talking about the former. Ironically, even though the comic book adaptation did not give the guy as much panel time, it was the better representation of the character. The Riddler and Hush team up to take down the Batman once and for all. Batman’s secret identity is no longer a secret to Edward Nygma. And he intends to use this information to turn Bruce Wayne’s life and his career as the Batman a living hell.
