Comic Retrospective: The Riddler: Year of The Villain
After yesterday's six-part epic I am in the mood for something shorter, so let's dig into a Riddler story from 2019's Year of the Villain.
This issue opens up with Riddler and, from Batman 66', King Tut eating at a diner. And it does not surprise me that Mark Russell has decided to bring back the campy King Tut to a mainstream DC comic. Glad Mark is having fun, just wished it continued throughout the issue.
This villainous duo is discussing two things. Firstly, Riddler is talking about how Lex Luthor is handing out weapons/upgrades to all the villains...except to King Tut and Riddler.
Meanwhile, King Tut doesn't care that the Legion of Doom is disrespecting him, he is just annoyed about how easily he lost to Batman in their last encounter. The two villains hug it out as Riddler goes to back to his lair.
Only for Apex Lex (Lex is called that because he made a deal with creator of the universe for power as long as he turned the world's future towards villainy) to finally show up in Riddler's lair.
Riddler asks Lex for his gift, only for the big bald mastermind to tell Nygma that he is disappointed in him. For all his brilliance, Riddler is trapped in a childish "game" with Batman; trying to make a big score when he could be so much more. Lex's "gift" is a call for Nygma is more of an intervention.
And personally, I think that sucks. The reason why Riddler works is that he is willing to play childish games to prove that he is smarter than everyone else. If you get rid of his desire to be the smartest, you just get another Joker, and we are barely okay with one Joker we got.
I am just tired of people not who write Riddler stories that try to turn him into something else (this is a Tom King callout). But back to this tale were King Tut calls Riddler to offer a team-up to take out Batman once and for all.
And this is the part of the book where Mark Russell's humor comes out. There are some jokes that Tut is spending a dead relative's inheritance on crocodile and other Egyptian themed traps for the Batman and the fact that Tut lives in a sphinx.
Batman gets a note summoning him to the trap at a Gotham PD Station, and minor digression, WHEN DOES THIS TAKE PLACE?
Because I know enough about Year of The Villain, that Bruce having free time to spend with Commissioner Gordon doesn't work. YOTV takes place at about the same time the Justice League is fighting across space and time, City of Bane is happening, and Gordon was Jokerized by the Batman Who Laughs. The timing is off for this dumb tie-in.
Anyways, Batman goes to the warehouse King Tut is set up at, and the hero survives many Egyptian themed traps. Fun action stuff with okay art by Godlewski.
But at the same time, Riddler is having some flashbacks about his past, doubting his villainous career. And it comes to an end with Edward deciding to quit being the Riddler as Batman corners King Tut. The story ends with Edward throwing his Riddler gear away until James Tyrion puts him back to the status quo 6 months later.
This is a one forgettable tie-in. It would be if this story was named Year of the Villain: King Tut after the best parts of this story; but that wouldn't have sold as well. Riddler isn't his fun usual self and the status quo this issue tries to establish is bad. But most of all this issue is just forgettable, as noted by the fact that I struggled to remember the plot as I was writing this.
4/10
