Today, learn why one of Riddler’s fiendish schemes was just kind of stupid of him.
This is “And Of Course,” where I spotlight particularly outlandish/convoluted comic book plot resolutions.
Something that I’ve written about a lot in the past is the fact that the very nature of Golden Age comic books are SO different from modern superhero comic books in that the comics of the Golden Age were both oversized and anthologies. Anthologies meant a lot of different things. On the one hand, it meant that there could be a variety of comic book creators contributing to each issue, but at the same time it meant that there were a LARGE amount of stories being produced for each issue and this was the day of the “done in one” story for the most part (not always, of course, but generally speaking stories were resolved in a single issue). Stan Lee later noted that one of the best things for coming up with plots at Marvel was the advent of the multi-issue storyline, as now suddenly you only had to come up with one plot for three issues instead of three plots for three issues (granted, it was likely the artists that he was working with who were coming up with the plots in question, but the basic principle still applies). So that sort of thing was a problem that the Golden Age writers like Gardner Fox and Bill Finger, as they routinely had to deal with coming up with multiple plots in their work at the time.
Finger’s way of dealing with it was something he called his “gimmick book,” which was a notebook that he just filled with ideas whenever he thought of something interesting or saw a article about something interesting. He would the flip though his gimmick ook (he had may of them) for ideas when he was writing his stories. Like he might have a good idea for a death trap or something like that and he would then adapt it to the story that he was writing at the time.
Gardner Fox had a similar approach, where he would have a collection of newspaper and magazine clippings that he would use in very much the same way that Finger used his gimmick book (Fox would later come up with a supervillain for Green Lantern called the Black Hand that was an affectionate riff on Finger, where the villain would fight Green Lantern with a variety of gimmicks that he had written down in a book). The downside of this approach is that sometimes it seems like a plot in a story was really just a way to get in some interesting thig that Fox or Finger happened to read, whether it really made sense for the story or not.
One of these sorts of things happened in the historic Silver Age return of the Riddler in 1965’s Batman #171 (by Fox, Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Giella).
WHAT WAS THE RIDDLER’S “CLEVER” PLAN TO DEFEAT BATMAN AND ROBIN?
The Riddler had not appeared in a comic book since 1948’s Detective Comics #142 at this point.
It turned out that Riddler was in prison his whole time. When he was released, he was intent on catching Batman’s attention, but the Caped Crusader was busy with the Mole Hill Gang, so Riddler actually solved the Mole Hill Gang’s crimes and got them captured so that A. he would trick Batman into thinking that he was reformed and thus lower his guard around him and B. he could get Batman’s undivided attention. Besides the Mole Hill Gang, the issue was partially notable because Fox used the phrase “Stately Wayne Mansion” to describe Batman’s home. That was the first time that that had ever happened in a Batman comic book.
Anyhow, eventually, the Riddler’s true colors showed themselves and Batman and Robin had to hunt him down. They cornered him, but Batman learned that his costume was set to electrify anyone who touched it…
Since his costume was protected, only the Riddler’s face was exposed, so Batman went to knock him out and nothing happened, the same happened when Robin tried, as well…
The Riddler seemed very confident in his plan…
After Riddler bragged that he could escape eventually, Batman realized that there WAS a way to turn off the field of the costume and he deduced it was the dot in Riddler’s question mark on his costume…
Okay, so it seems that his plan was to exhaust Batman and Robin and when they were too tired, he would turn off his electric field and then escape. However, how was he ale to have them pummel him in the face without any effect? Can you guess before I give you the answer?
HOW DID RIDDLER SURVIVE THE PUNCHING ATTACK?
Well, as it turned out, the Riddler had his face anesthetized! That is why he made sure that Batman and Robin punched his face and not his body. Yes, that was seriously his plan.
Obviously, Fox has read somewhere that it was the pain from the punch that actually knocks people out, so if you did not have the pain, then you would stay awake even after getting repeatedly punched in the face. That’s true, I’m sure, but at the same time, you’re still getting pummeled in the face. That’s NOT GOOD. That’ s a very, very bad plan for the Riddler that seemed to be solely based on Fox just coming up with something interesting that he read somewhere and using it for a villain plot.
I can only imagine the Riddler going to a neurologist after this, “But no, Doc, it is all good, I anesthetized my face! So it’s all fine!”
That’s it for this installment. Please send in ideas for other comics with convoluted or bizarre plot resolutions to [email protected]!
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