Batman will take on the Riddler, who has begun killing people at random on the streets of Gotham, in a new one-shot from Tom King and Mitch Gerads.
DC announced Batman One Bad Day: The Riddler on their Twitter account, a new one-shot from King and Gerads launching this August. "Edward Nygma is meticulous… until one day he suddenly starts killing at random," the post reads. Batman must race to figure out the motivation behind The Riddler’s spree!" Gerads also posted an announcement on his Twitter account. "[The graphic novel is] my genuine long-time dream book, and [King] delivered the absolute perfect script for it. I’ve never been this excited to get a book into your mitts! I’ve been putting everything I have into every page."
Gerads and King have both worked on Batman before, as they collaborated on a number of past Batman issues for DC. The two also teamed up for Vertigo Comics' The Sheriff of Babylon and DC's Mister Miracle. DC is currently releasing Batman: Killing Time, which is written by King with art by David Marquez. The six-issue series features the Riddler as one of the main antagonists going up against the Dark Knight, along with Catwoman, the Penguin and others.
Created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, the Riddler first appeared in 1948's Detective Comics #140. A regular member of Batman's rogues' gallery, the original version of the character's life of crime began when he was a carnival worker who cheated customers out of their money by use of puzzles and mind games. Edward eventually went on to become the Riddler and began terrorizing Gotham with elaborate traps, puzzles and riddles, many of which are left for Batman to solve in Nigma's effort to prove his intellectual superiority. He's been portrayed in live-action numerous times, including by Frank Gorshin and John Astin in the 1960s Adam West-starring Batman show, Jim Carrey in 1995's Batman Forever, Cory Michael Smith on 2014's Gotham FOX show and Paul Dano in 2022's The Batman.
The Batman One Bad Day title references a line delivered by the Joker in Batman: The Killing Joke, a 1998 one-shot by Alan Moore, Brian Bolland and John Higgins. In the story, Joker tries to drive Commissioner Gordon mad in an effort to prove to Batman anyone can lose their grip on reality as he has. "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy," Joker tells the Dark Knight. "That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once. Am I right? I know I am. Why else would you dress up as a flying rat?"
Batman One Bad Day: The Riddler launches in August.
Source: Twitter