One of the most well-known Batman villains or even comic book characters

>one of the most well-known Batman villains or even comic book characters
>barely has any good comics

but why?

he's kinda hard to write for

Because it takes wit to write a good riddle. Much like there are rarely any good Etrigans.

He should have remained a P.I. and eventually butted heads with the Question.

As the other guys above said blame his gimmick, it's hard to write for and even harder to get a compelling story that is at the level of other great Batman villains.

Detective Riddler was great, but then they dropped all that and made him a villain again.

Because everyone is so convinced that he's stupid that no one is willing to even try to write a good story for him

Everyone says this, but I think the bigger problem is that at his core, Riddler is a *very* Silver Age villain (yes I know he showed up in the Golden Age). To write him well for a modern audience, you have to walk a very fine line between serious and camp, without falling either way into being so camp that readers think it's dumb, or going full edge.

He's hard to write for.

He's only as smart as the writer.

He's only well-known because of appearances outside of comics.

This, a good riddler story involves, y'know, riddles... and most writers aren't that clever and even if they found some obscure ones by googling it theyd have to fit some random riddle into whatever plot they had planned.

I mean look what Snyder did to The Joker in his Batman run... an even easier gimmick villain to write and he went full on psychokiller.

Riddler is involved in the next story arc on Batman by King though.. so, who knows....?

Barely? There's been some amazing Riddler stories told the last ten years.

Care to list any other than Dini?

>inb4 "Zero Year was good"

There are barely any good comics as is.

Not every villain needs to be done over and over and over ad infinitum.

>The Riddler tells a better joke than the Joker
>The Joker makes up a better Riddle than the Riddler
>they decide to start a city-wide gang war over it

the idea is cool, and king aint no dummy, BUT.. we'll have to see I guess, some of this run so far isnt so great. I hope he's clever enough to make a good story about the two of them, they're perfect villian-rivals

Batman Confidential #26-29
Joker's Asylum: Riddler #1
Gotham Sirens #3

The various Dini "Detective Riddler" stories in Detective, Gotham Underground, Batman & Outsiders, Countdown, and Sirens.
Zero Year and the Riddler one-shot during villains month, along with the other Batman Confidential arc that had Catwoman/Batgirl fight each other than team-up to battle him in Arkham.

I liked King's writing for Nigma when he showed up with Bane so I'm excited to see how he handles him

They should bring back his henchmen

>Joker's Asylum: Riddler #1

This is one the best examples of the Joker's Asylum series where a decent story is ruined by the Joker's constant butting in/narration.

1: In Batman's new and dark age, there hasn't been a definitive Riddler appearence for writers to use as guideline. Neither the comics nor the movies have managed to update the character beyond his camp days, and since campy Batman is something modern appearences want to avoid, Riddler is often seen as a joke. Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader even poked fun at this. Joker had The Killing Joke. Penguin and Catwoman had Batman Returns. Mr.Freeze had Heart Of Ice, and so on. Riddler doesn't have that.
And to clear things up, I'm not saying Riddler doesn't have good comics, far from it. What I'm saying is that the character needed an appearence in media that was so influential and popular it could be used as a guideline for the comics, and unfortunately, the biggest thing Riddler ever had going for him is still Frank Gorshin from the 66 show and the Arkham games (which only cemented him as an ineffectual joke).

2: As mentioned above, he's hard to write. Riddler is only as smart as the writer, and most comic book writers are not very smart. Riddler is tricky to write, especially because he's so silly. A good Riddler appearence has to walk a very fine line between serious and camp, which requires a finesse that, again, most writers don't care about.
If you can't come up with a way to portray his specific intelligence and quirks, he just ends up coming across as a lesser Joker. Which leads to the third problem.

3: Joker. Joker covers several of Riddler's character traits. He's funny, he's goofy, he can be threatening, he likes to play, etc. But Joker has the added benefit of, not just being the most popular Batman villain, but also being way, way easier to write because of how loose his gimmick is. Thus, potentially good Riddler stories end up becoming Joker stories because Joker is more popular and easier to write while doing nearly the same thing.

Riddle me this, Sup Forums!

How is the Riddler like an amateur photograph?

Batman is too smart and solves all riddles instantly because he's OP.

>Batman Confidential #26-29
>Joker's Asylum: Riddler #1
> Gotham Underground, Batman & Outsiders, Countdown
>Zero Year and the Riddler one-shot during villains month, along with the other Batman Confidential arc that had Catwoman/Batgirl fight each other than team-up to battle him in Arkham.

These were all mediocre

He's just not a good villain

>ctrl+f
>no Dark Knight, Dark City

I actually like Arkham Riddler's character, it does a reasonably good job of distancing himself from the Joker while maintaining what I feel is an important quality that often gets forgotten with him: he's not as smart as he thinks he is and he's got way too much ego.

although his actual gimmick in Knight was retarded.

They're both faggots

Wrong again, Sup Forums! They're both *underdeveloped!*

I'll give you another chance.

I'm dirty but beautiful and hang around old buildings, what am I?

He's not fully or properly developed.

He has no focus?

Too slow, Sup Forums, see here

A whore, you whore.

srsly though uh, a Gargoyle?

A tapestry. They've missed laundry day hundreds of times, have exquisite sewing detail that makes them beautiful, and they're hanging from the walls here and there.

or that.

Not what I was looking for, but your answer is acceptable. My answer was "stained glass." Now you must continue with a new riddle to puzzle our fellow Sup Forums goers.

What is something that is full of beans, breaks, and isn't what you really want?

nah Ed, I'm just gonna go make a grilled cheese sandwich, jerk off, then go to bed.

Writers need to think up riddles that are supposed to be good enough to legitimately stump "the World's Greatest Detective", and generally feel compelled to use Riddler to help Batman flex those overhyped deductive skills of his that other rogues tend not to seriously challenge with their standard cat-and-mouse Modus Operandis. But unlike other mystery-genre antagonists; there's usually no strange or unusual crimes that need to be resolved in his stories, or any conventional tried-and-true formulas to exploit (like the millions of Sherlock Holmes derivatives that exist). Riddler explicitly uses brain teasers in and of themselves to outwit Batman, and any real criminal activities are just tacked on as the preventable outcomes for if he can't crack Riddler's bullshit brain teasers in time.

That's pretty the sum of his problem. "Actively antagonizing the protag because this is all just a game" is a fine motivation in theory, it's worked for at least the more fleshed out adaptations of Moriarty, but the trouble with Riddler with the way he works is he's either too fair with his own rules - and will seem toothless against Batman when he inevitably wins, or they don't even matter but he inexplicably loses anyways, usually when he's being characterized as a petulant man-child who singles out hopeless idiots in the meanwhile to showcase what an asshole he is to anyone less intelligent than him (or Batman).

Riddler?

I really liked how The Batman did Riddler (yes, even the costume.) He was smart, but he still got upstaged by Batman and other people because he was so convinced of his own intelligence that he was outright incapable of seeing his own mistakes. Then the one time he decides to bond with someone it fucks him over, so he goes back to being a villain because it's more fun.

...

I agree with you. I like several aspects of his portrayal in the Arkham games. I'm especially fond of how he gets more and more frustrated as the games go by and I like how it portrays that, although he's intelligent, he's not nearly as effective as he could be due to his ego and because of his compulsive habits.

But I think we can both agree that the Arkham games did not help at all to dispel the idea that Riddler is an ineffectual joke villain incapable of being anything but an annoyance to Batman, which is one of the reasons why writers avoid him (even though Riddler has potential to be much more than that)

>incapable of being anything but an annoyance
I'd argue that's mostly because the challenges in City and Knight (and partially in Asylum) are just annoying rather than challenging

wind?

This makes me wonder when was the last time Batman was forced to actually use those detective skills instead of just letting his gadgets and allies figure out everything for him.

Who is Batman's "Moriarty" ? As in, the villain who poses intellectual challenges rather than physical ones ?
Joker gets often compared to Moriarty but it doesn't seem accurate.

Time's up, co!
It's a coffee mug! It's full of beans- boiled, powdered, or frozen, breaks at the slighted provocation, and I don't care what it comes in just hand over the coffee before I start eating it from the can with a spoon.

The easy answer is Ra's, but I like to think pic related as his Moriarty.

What is someplace you lost, someplace you can't see, and someplace that's full of colours?

He actually made for an interesting detective when he was supposedly good. They should incorporate his skills as a problem solver more and have him figure out other villain's schemes before Batman does for his own benefit. He's done it before to good effect. Writers just haven't been that good at the follow through.

No one has suggested this one yet
>tfw query and echo are never coming back cuz they're too similar to harley now

Because everyone focuses on the "Riddle Me This, Riddle Me That" gimmicks and not the true the true heart of the character.

When Batman fights the Joker, it becomes a proxy war for Gotham's soul, and the battle of good vs. evil. Whether Gotham will collapse into chaos and anarchy or stand firm in the light of justice and order.

When Batman fights with Two-Face, it's a becomes a proxy war for Gotham's morality and destiny. Whether the fate of the city is arbitrary and attempts at compassion are pointlessly naive, or if Gotham is able to decide its own fate and good deeds go rewarded.

In the same way, Batman's battles with The Riddler should be a proxy war over Gotham's potential. Whether Batman and the city are really the troglodytes Eddie thinks they are, dressed up in civilization but really a bunch of mouth-breathing animals doomed to wallow in their own muck until their rip each others throats out, or if Gotham is a city that can rise up and achieve goals once thought impossible, reaching heights of progress few ever dreamed of

I almost don't count this given how (understandably) out of character Eddie was due to being possessed

>When was the last time Batman was forced to use his detective skills
He just did in brave and the mold.

Ooh, insightful. You realize that that make Nygma out to be Batman's Lex Luthor?
We could build a paradise out of this world- and perhaps a few others. But there isn't as much money in it for the few who hold the reigns, who tell us to keep the same old game going.

In the early days it was Hugo Strange. Nowadays it's Ra's.
Although I'd argue Penguin also had a very good claim to the role, back when he was still an active character. His crimes were more cerebral but not in the way Riddler's are, he was a criminal genius who made up for his appearence by being a cunning businessman and criminal mastermind.

a lot of Batman's biggest villains fall into Evil Opposite territory, Penguin is just another permutation of that.

Time's up, co! The answer is: The woods!
You can't see the forest for the trees! You lost a whole forest?! But it has all those bright colours ever autumn!

Hmm. There's a few scenes from last year's "Batman rescues The Riddler from a cabin in the woods" that would have made a good image post, but I can't seem to find them in digital.
Oh, well, it's someone else's turn next!

O'Neil literally created Ra's with Moriarty in mind

IMO The Riddler is at his best not when he's a raving lunatic like the Arkham series or a straight criminal with a riddle compulsion like the earlier years, but when he's just trying to show off. He should be exactly as smart as he thinks he is and equally egotistical about it. That's why Dini's PI Riddler worked so well, because that's when he makes the most sense. The only time he should be turning to crime is to challenge Batman or when he's contracted by another villain.

I really didn't like Snyder's Riddler (who has become the current template) because he was too BIG and too evil. I don't think he has good enough motivation to be like that. He should just see challenges and want to overcome them so people know that he can do it.

RIDDLE ME THIS Sup Forums

The first clue is that it is something to eat

The second CLUE is that it is something round

The third clue the color of this thing is orange

Query and Echo are nothing like Harley though.

Shit like this is what annoys me about The Dark Knight; it's a Riddler story in format and themes.

Something you have to remember is that the Riddler is a very petty man.

It's not just a matter of being an evil opposite (half of the rogues gallery consists of those). It's about how Penguin is more of a manipulative and cunning character who's crimes were less overly destructive but more calculated (his very first appearence was him framing Batman for an art theft and pulling the wool under everyone's eyes because no one suspects him to be dangerous). And plus, Penguin is closer to the "educated criminal" archetype, the respected gentleman who secretly controls the criminal underworld. Or at least, that's what he wants to be.

But still, as I said, it is Ra's al Ghul who takes the role of Batman's Moriarty. I was just arguing Penguin also had a strong claim for the role.

Yams. Mistakenly called sweet potatoes, these yams are orange in colour, have a sweet taste and can be prepared the same as potatoes. While there's a lot of variation, they being lumpy root veggies, a bag of baby potatoes are all round, and the size of a golf ball. I assume that's the same for baby yams.

Sweet potatoes are a real thing, and if it's orange, it's a sweet potato. Real yams are a different thing.

riddles just turn goofy if you don't do them right

Zero Year was one of the best Riddler stories

i cant stand the comical lunacy to the arkham riddler. he's too goofy and he reminds me of eisenburg's lex luthor.

Imagine bendis writing riddler

ew no

>Joker's Asylum: Riddler #1
This was real crap though.

but he's fun and completly refreshing compared to the rest of the brooding cast. I think he is great entertainment in the Arkham games what more do you want?

>I really didn't like Snyder's Riddler (who has become the current template

I can't really think of anyone who's used Snyder's Riddler other than Snyder

The answer is a knot.
Can somebody explain this to me? I geht the birth part but how does a knot Knie it's worth.
The only right answer would be a coin made out of an inner and an outer ring.

Just like when they fucked over Sandman as an Avenger for no reason except a hack writer wanted to.

Zero Year was bloated to Hell and back and is ridiculously overhyped

Gotham has the best Riddler

Riddler was one of the few good things about Zero Year

ive been enjoying gothams eddy spaghetti

its like they mixed 66 riddler in a burton/nolan Gotham scenario

the scene where he killed the actor on stage and called out the court of owls was amazing