EDWARD. Do they deserve a chance? How do they go on in a city that tells
them day after day that they are fractured and broken… that there is not way
out or up?
EDWARD. The pieces don’t fit. C’monnn, Edward, think! He knows! Just
breathe.
MR. STONE. You were right to flag it. I will talk to the
owner myself and handle any further investigation. Consider it taken care of.
Thank you, Edward.
EDWARD. Liar! But no one has ever thanked me before.
You’re welcome.
EDWARD. How do you do it? How did you take the leap? To take matters into your
own hands. When everyone else around you looks the other way.
EDWARD. Wake up, Edward. Brush your teeth, Edward. Don’t forget to eat, Edward.
Don’t chew on glass, Edward. Go to work, Edward. Be a good boy, Edward. Don’t
say anything, Edward. You’re risking your life, Edward. It’s been days, Edward.
No one’s coming, Edward. No one is ever coming, Edward.
EDWARD. The rich and the criminal legally hiding behind a corporate facade so
they can buy up property. A safe place to hide their money. Or to run it
through. It drives the housing market up, making the rent unaffordable to us
lowly citizens. The tools of the rich are the tools of the criminal. Protected
by the system. The ultimate tool they can hide behind.
THOMAS. I believe in Gotham. I believe in its promise. But too many have been
left behind for too long, and that’s why I’m here today. To announce not only my
candidacy for mayor, but also the creation of the Gotham renewal fund. Win
or lose, the Wayne Foundation pledges a one-billion-dollar donation to start a
charitable endowment for public works. I want to bypass the political gridlock
and get money to people and projects that need it now, like these children
behind me.
#super-heroes-on-social-order
Visceral artwork that capture’s Edward’s raw desperation.
EDWARD. Continue to find the truth. Know the answer to all your questions
already. Because they will LIE. And the people will believe them. Or even
worse, they won’t care. So beaten down and helpless (hopeless!) they can’t even
muster the courage to stand up from their stupor. They’d rather roll over like
dead dogs in the street.
#societal-apathy
EDWARD. To write any great riddle (let alone the greatest riddle of them ALL!),
you must first know your final answer. I will work backward from Falcone
him. But it’s the questions that take root in us. That help us. (Force them)
to think, see. Answers are cheap, unless you have to work (suffer!) for them.
It’s the questions that last forever…
Edwards descent into the Riddler grows with each page. Intrusive thoughts sneak in through the parentheses. Good storytelling.
KLEIN. This is the problem the Batman poses that the criminals, strangely, do
not: he strikes at the legitimacy of the state. His existence is their failure.
The public’s fascination with him, its growing support of him, is a curdling of
its confidence in them. The inability to police him reflects the broader
inability to police. Gotham does not successfully claim the monopoly of the
legitimate use of physical force within its territory. It is a failed state.
- The Riddler: Year One #1. Paul Dano; Stevan Subic. batman.fandom.com . 2022.
- The Riddler: Year One #2. Paul Dano; Stevan Subic. batman.fandom.com . 2022.
- The Riddler: Year One #3. Paul Dano; Stevan Subic. batman.fandom.com . 2023.
- The Riddler: Year One #4. Paul Dano; Stevan Subic. batman.fandom.com . 2023.
- The Riddler: Year One #5. Paul Dano; Stevan Subic. batman.fandom.com . 2023.
How does Edward turn out to be a villain and not a vigilante? hopes to illuminate the origin story for the Riddler in The Batman (2022).