Comic Review and Recap: Crime's Puzzle Contest!
After his 1940 debut in Detective Comics #140, The Riddler had manged to escape both Batman and obscurity and made his second appearance in Detective Comics #142. Often overlooked in favor of The Remarkable Ruse of the Riddler from Batman #171, the Riddler's next crime romp cemented some of his defining characteristics. Namely, his obsession with showing off his intelligence in grandiose ways.
I present to you: Crime's Puzzle Contest!
After jumping into the ocean after his first caper, The Riddler travels via storm drain to safety. This was a common way for early Batman baddies to return, and the Joker himself pioneered the technique for his return in "The Joker's Crime Circus!"
Days later, E. Nigma strikes again.
I have never heard of a Chinese wire maze, and it seems to be a creation of the writer. One of the biggest problems with Riddler is that unlike Joker, it's hard to come up with great criminal props. Being a mental opponent, we are forced thorough the same exploding puzzle pieces and traps that have "puzzle" in the name conveniently enough to fall in Riddler's territory.
Naturally, it doesn't take Batman and Robin long to start the hunt for the Riddler.
I have a few notes about this page, the most glaring being that Riddler didn't tip anyone off about the Puzzle Society job. He simply shows up and ransacks the place. I suppose you could count his "Chinese wire maze" as a riddle, but this is one of the few times Riddler ever commits a crime without his trademark MO. The abstract puzzle theme wasn't even something Batman would stake out, as this was only his second encounter with a foe he thought had perished.
Second, I love Eddie's old hideout. I always suspected Riddler was a patron of the arts, and his home would be full of Magritte style whimsy. The crossword flooring, the framed jigsaw puzzles, and the bent nails object-d'art are all things that would be happily at home in the Adam West series. Riddler is one of the few characters that can have a lair that doubles as a piece of pop art and it make perfectly rational sense to its owner.
Finally, we again are shown another of Riddler's trademarks. His manipulation of media. In his first appearance he hijacks a computer that controls a crossword puzzle sign, and now he manipulates the lights of a skyscraper to send a message. It's no wonder that of all the Batman villains to adapt to our times, Riddler was the most at home with computers and electronics.
Eddie just happened to jigsaw the floor. HAW HAW HAW
Which begs the explanation, if Riddler had jigsawed the floor that way, how did he not fall through himself? I also love the image of the Riddler at the controls, he looks downright Frankensteinian.
You also have to love what constituted a riddle back then, and I myself would never think heavy wagon = cart. Maybe in an America that had the depression still fresh in its mind, I would know my farm transport terminology better. Nevertheless, the citizens of Gotham somehow deduce that the Riddler's clue, vague as it is, refers to a car theater.
What do you call those things? You know, where you go watch a movie and just drive in? Oh yeah, a car theater.
The Dynamic Duo arrive to the theater to find a crowd of cars (wouldn't that be a given?) making it difficult to catch the Riddler as he speeds between the cars, all vying to win the Riddler's cash prize. That prize being a small cut of the loot he just amscrayed with.
Batman, proving he's the world's greatest detective.
The Riddler's next clue, is a little more direct, but no less vexing.
Something I could never understand, if he can tow a blimp with the message on it, why not just draw the message onto the blimp? It would be much more visable than a few objects dragging behind.
The rebus obviously points to the Rainbow Club, which time has not been kind to. No one can convince me otherwise that this is not Gotham's most swinging gay bar, and that Riddler might have a few Judy Garland records somewhere in a Chinese Puzzle box under his bed.
After escaping via a "puzzle parachute" (in actuality, just a parachute with a question mark on it, but we have to make it puzzling!), Eddie makes his final annoucement after clubbing a news anchor on the noggin.
Well now this is starting to get silly.
Batman and Robin push back the crowds to find Riddler hiding in a Sphinx (becuase Earth-1 Eddie's life is rife with irony).
They chase him into the hall of mirrors (which musems have) and Riddler presents his final challenge, to find the real him.
In a bit of cunning that most first graders experience, Batman resolves that the real Riddler™ is the one with properly facing question marked uniform. Batman tackles Eddie, bringing the Riddler back to those uncomfortable High School years with football players, and Batman finally apprehends the puzzle pirate.
Hardly anything to write home about, and the only real note is the wonderful art by Dick Sprang. Even if most would turn away from this campy piece of work (I doubt even the Adam West series could work with this one) it still cemented the Riddler's place as a Batman foe far more worthy than a one time engagement, unlike many of Bat's other one shot wonders. (Gambler anyone?)