Snapshots
BATMAN. Mr. Tierney, despite the rumors in the press, I am not omnipotent.
I have an unfortunate weakness for mercy that has too often led to careless
mistakes and lingering pain. However, the moment you fired that gun at me, I
lost my taste for any… mercy. So, as you pull that trigger, know that the
weapon is aimed at you. That you are making a careless mistake. That
your mistake will lead to… lingering pain.
WITNESS. So what do you want? Seriously? I hear screaming, I’m supposed to
do what? Rush all around, like a #%@$% hero? Banging down the door! Hey,
it’s me! Stop it! I don’t know you, but I guess I’m dying for you!
RIDDLER. Between our games, solving the riddles on giant typewriters, I used to
go into your mansion during the day. I wanted to check on you. Make sure you
were doing all right. Getting close to solving whatever it was we were working
on.
RIDDLER. If you touch me, ever again. I will kill a random person,
someone you and I don’t know. Just a stranger who’s going about their day
and then… nothing. Never knowing it was you not listening that cost them their
life.
BATMAN. You want me to kill you.
RIDDLER. You
could beat me that way. It is, in fact, the only way you could. But you
won’t, and so I will walk away, out into my city, while you stand and watch.
And some time will pass, and you will come to me, and beg for my charity.
BATMAN. Smart enough to know that I have a weakness for mercy. A weakness
that leads to… a weakness he has been exploiting these last months. But,
and it took me some time to see this, on that court, he showed me that being
smart can be its own weakness. That you can get lost in your assumptions. You
see, I was smart. I assumed who he was. He tells a riddle, you solve it,
case closed. I assumed he couldn’t question himself. That he couldn’t
change. That he would never let go of the reins holding him back. That was
my mistake. Thinking I knew him. Assuming there was no limit to his fun.
I was smart, and I was a fool. Just like him. You see, now, in his room by
himself… He is making the same mistake I did. He assumes that I can’t change.
That I can’t question myself. That I cannot let go of my own reins. That
there is no limit to my mercy. And. And he assumes that this isn’t a
recording. That I’m actually on this rooftop actually saying these things.
Riddle me this, Edward. Though we meet but once, you know me forever thereafter.
What am I?
The panels in this scene mirror those at the beginning of the comic. The POV art-style immersed me more. It wasn’t overdone either. The POV was central to the story. Gerads' artwork is captivating.
BATMAN. Victor Fries. I think he can be redeemed. Some of Batman’s villains
have a bad day… some have long emergencies that end in tragedy. He was
a man of science who refused to accept the cards that life had dealt him. In the
end, he was a man born not of cruelty or accident, but of heartbreak.
DRIVER #2. Batman! We’re saved!
DRIVER #1. Stupid kid. He’s as bad
as the rest of ‘em. You know he dropped a guy into a vat of acid at Ace,
right? [To Batman] Hey! Just let Mr. Freeze take the money! This is just part
of doing business in Gotham City!
NORA. You have that great big heart, but it’s unguarded. Things that should roll
off your back seem to wound you grievously. Sometimes I worry that you want to
live your life that way. Moving from one grudge to the next, it’s not a life
worth living, Victor.
NORA. I know you don’t mean it, or hope you don’t – but sometimes I get the
feeling that you’re mad at me. Is it because when you disappear into work my
life goes on? My therapist says she wonders if you think time stops for me when
we’re apart. And now we’re going to apart forever, and I want my last gift to
you to be insight into yourself. Your temperature runs so hot that it
intimidates people. Victor, it intimidated ME. Try to run cooler. Let that big
brain flex, and protect that heart. Take people as they come. Now we need to say
GOODBYE.
Others’ Snapshots
: Pretty well-done art by Gerads to remind us of Nygma’s one bad day:
Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1
’s misgivings: treating young neurodivergent-coded Edward as an overly obsessive loser who simply isn’t trying hard enough; the ending.
This is more than criticizing plot direction, which I tend to shy away from. Sure, Edward’s teacher and father could have handled him better at a young age. I saw King’s point though, Edward tried hard in structured learning and was reportedly perfect, but when it came to riddles, he wasn’t resilient to failures and resorted to cheating, leading to his bad day.
notes that while Professor Yellin would be the inspirational, motivational type in another world, in , he’s blind to the distress that Edward is in.
The comic is focused on anger and trauma, and Gerads' art helps bring out these emotions, e.g., coarseness, shadows and darkness. However, the Riddler didn’t need a traumatic reason to drive him to be the smartest person in the room completely obsessed with riddles.
Intelligent uses of perspective, e.g., the opening is presented in first-person but the main event isn’t shown; the event is then shown again through a TV screen and pixellated.
It removes the restraint from a character that can often be considered comical or ridiculous, turning him into something terrifying.
The Killing Joke retains its power because it suggests a compelling cause for evil. does not weave together its concepts, e.g., a lack of creativity is inconsistent with current day Riddler. fails to distinguish itself from The Killing Joke.
The story only works if every mobster, assassin, and aspiring criminal in Gotham was as unwilling to kill as Batman. Gotham has no shortage of killers, so the basic premise falls apart.
References
- Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1. Dreadful Rents. Tom King; Mitch Gerads. dc.fandom.com . Aug 16, 2022.
- Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler #1 review | Batman News. Cam Lipham. batman-news.com . Aug 16, 2022. Accessed Sep 30, 2023.
- “Batman: One Bad Day – The Riddler” #1 – Multiversity Comics. Robbie Pleasant. www.multiversitycomics.com . Aug 19, 2022. Accessed Oct 1, 2023.
- Batman - One Bad Day: The Riddler #1 Review - But Why Tho? William Tucker. butwhytho.net . Aug 16, 2022. Accessed Oct 1, 2023.
- Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1 Review: Building a Bearable Batman Sequel. Chase Magnett. comicbook.com . Aug 16, 2022. Accessed Oct 1, 2023.
- Review: Batman: One Bad Day-The Riddler #1 - The Batman Universe. Scott Waldyn. thebatmanuniverse.net . Aug 16, 2022. Accessed Oct 1, 2023.
- Weird Science DC Comics: Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1 Review. Gabriel Hernandez. www.weirdsciencedccomics.com . Aug 16, 2022. Accessed Oct 1, 2023.
- Batman: One Bad Day - Mr. Freeze #1. Gerry Duggan; Matteo Scalera. www.dc.com . www.hoopladigital.com . Nov 15, 2022. Accessed Dec 15, 2024.
Chilling moment. The Batman that criminals fear. I hope this gets to the big screen at some point!