Showing posts with label The Riddler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Riddler. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Batman – White Knight | Comics

The maniacal Clown Prince of Crime is finally cured of his insanity and tries to right his wrongs by saving Gotham City from Batman!

On the gates of Arkham Asylum, a Batmobile stops by and a person comes out of it to meet a patient, Batman. The guards escort him inside and as they update the man named Jack Napier about The Dark Knight, he simply asks the imprisoned vigilante to help him.

Flashback to a year prior, The Joker was on the run as Batman was chasing him in his Batmobile throughout the city with Batgirl at his side. During the pursuit, the clown makes him endanger public life by making him recklessly go through construction sites and rooftops. Nightwing saves a worker on the go and even one security guard was knocked off by the Bat when he was fanatically chasing the clown.

Following a brief taunting, these two arch-enemies start a fight in an empty building of the industrial district where the clown argues about the duality of their relationship and how his sanity is kept in check by fighting crime. At one point he pushes Batman too far pointing out the tragedy of his life and the young sidekicks only to be beaten more viciously.

The Joker takes out some pills he believes will cure him and the Caped Crusader shoved the whole package down his throat in front of GCPD, Jim Gordon, Det. Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya, effectively leaving him chocked while a woman filmed the scene.

The city breaks out in two fractions; some arguing over condemning Batman after the Hail Mary chase he put throughout Gotham and some still believing in him after the video of their fight was leaked and gone viral. Even Gordon and Bullock argues on whether they are on the right side before Batgirl arrives to check on the condition of the clown.

Bruce is confronted by Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon in Wayne Manor about his recent display of near-psychotic fits of rage, because his behavior doesn't seem alright. He then opens a secret door to passage downstairs where they see a dying Alfred Pennyworth lying on a bed and Bruce has enlisted the help of Victor Fries AKA Mister Freeze.

While he is deeply upset about his father-figure lying in a dying state, he goes back to check on Joker and then leaves abruptly. Jim Gordon meets the mayor in City Hall and Doctor Leslie Thompkins gives her report on the patient, Jack Napier has recovered and fully sane now. Although Gordon suspects that he is faking it, Leslie confirms him it to be otherwise.

batman white knight dc comics
Batman – White Knight | Comics

With his newfound sanity, he is also working full-time on his legal case to file charges against Batman and GCPD. In a meeting with the cops, he gets out of his handcuffs and calmly explains how he can pin charges against them if he wants by going to trial, which he will win and claims that he is going to save Gotham from Batman as its White Knight.

In his trial, Jack Napier opens up about his recovery and how he was always a criminal who started with a bank robbery but was accused of committing murder or at least, the police never could show any evidence and been labeled as a super-criminal anyway.

He accuses the gatekeepers of Gotham to use his unstable mental condition as an excuse to scare the taxpaying Gothamites and used him as a source of revenue. With that, he walks free from trial due to lack of evidence and vows to eradicate vigilantism from the city.

He then goes back to Harley Quinn and although joyous to see him, she is almost immediately disgusted to see him not a psycho in makeup anymore. Napier apologizes to her for his years of abuse and negligence before proposing to marry her to make things right. She gut-punched him to the floor, only get kicked off by Harleen Quinzel.

It seems Harley left long ago and now came back to take him back with Bud and Lou. They catch up on their old days that are full of excitement but she was always blindsided by his obsession with The Dark Knight. Things went too far when Harley found him torturing Robin down in their basement and contacted Batman to get help without delay.

He beats down the maniac with an inch of his life before sending him to Arkham but they never found Jason Todd, ever. Even Napier couldn't remember what he really did to the Boy Wonder as The Joker. He wants to move on asks her help to rebuild Gotham together.

He calls for a meeting of his former colleagues including Baby Doll, Bane, Killer Croc, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Roxy Rocket, Scarecrow, Scarface/Ventriloquist, The Riddler and Two Face only to trick them into becoming his mind-controlled puppets with hat of Mad Hatter, by using Clayface as a signal conduit for a grand scheme to frame the Caped Crusader.

As planned, he unleashed an army of super-villains on the streets and police gave them chase before the Bat-Family arrived on scene. Wrecking havoc throughout the city, they are lured to the planned site of a library for Backport and it collapsed onto Batman. He came out badly injured and his life was saved at a great cost of a loved one.

Refusing to let go of the chance for Jack Napier to embrace The Joker persona once again, the Harley pretender suits up in an all-new avatar to get her lover back and finds out about the scheme Jack is playing and with help from Hatter, she managed to turn the tables.

Apparently, the pretender was a depressed banker named Marian Drews, who met The Joker during a bank robbery and became a part of his life. Now that he is gone, she intends to get him back and debuts as Neo Joker. She unleashes a crisis on Gotham that even Jack Napier sees no other way to save the city without the help of his archenemy.

For more information on this limited series, you can check out the link below.

Batman – White Knight (Comics) Wikipedia

Batman – White Knight (Comics) DC Wikia

joker and harley quinn white knight dc comics
Jack Napier Leads The Show

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Batman – White Knight

Back in 2017, DC Comics hired Sean Murphy (Hellblazer – City of Demons, Year One – Batman/Scarecrow) as both writer and artist for the eight-issue limited series title "White Knight" that run until 2018, primarily focused on one of Batman's worst villains and reflects on a side no one saw before as he ascends to sanity.

The long-running debate regarding the vigilante methods of Batman has crossed a few lines and it helped The Joker/Jack Napier to portray as a villain. Harleen Quinzel also played an important role to the overall plot and a huge ensemble of villains from Gotham showed up for a major clash with the Bat-Family and members of GCPD.

batman vs joker white knight dc comics
Unexpected Peace Offering

A fine nod to the poorly received Batman and Robin movie from 1997 and "The Dark Knight Returns" graphic novel are probably there regarding the fate of the trusted Wayne family butler Alfred Pennyworth. Pivotal elements from another popular storyline, "A Death in the Family" subtly played an influence for the ongoing Batman/Joker antagonism over the undisclosed fate of Jason Todd and unveiled new twist.

It appears that, Murphy took great inspiration from the popular TV show of 90's, Batman: The Animated Series and some classic characters like Baby Doll, Roxy Rocket and Veronica Vreeland appeared in the story, reimagined with almost same appearance resembling to the series. The sleek and edgy drawing style of Murphy was an overall refresher and was very well suited match to the dark tone of the story.
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Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Batman – The War of Jokes and Riddles | Comics

In a war between The Joker and Riddler, The Dark Knight tries his best to save Gotham City from burning down.

Following Batman's debut as a vigilante on Gotham City, he successfully decreased the increasing crime rate of the city by putting many super criminals behind bars. During the second year of his crime-fighting, one of his archenemy named Red Hood One came back and became known as The Joker.

He went on a senseless killing spree of comedians who was unable to make him laugh and no one could figure out why. Commissioner Gordon tried to apprehend the madman but more civilian died as well as his own men during his attempts.

Stuck inside of GCPD, master strategist and evil genius Riddler had became a means to solve crimes for them. Thinking he has solved the riddle of Joker's massive killings, he decides to escape and he did so by threatening the confronting group of guards of knowing about their loved ones.

He finds Joker and suggests that they team up to beat Batman together as the clown has lost the ability to laugh because of always being halted by him. The Joker shot him in the stomach after dismissing the idea and left him for dead.

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Batman – The War of Jokes and Riddles | Comics

Batman came in slightly late to stop this and chased Joker knowing Riddler will survive the gunshot wound. It was from that moment when Edward Nygma started amassing super-villains to fight by his side against the maniacal clown.

Evil that inherited Gotham has parted into two and started ripping each other. Joker tells Carmine Falcone over phone to kill Riddler but when his men failed to do so because of the intervention of Poison Ivy, the clown took out all his men and operation as well before killing his mother Carmen.

A common criminal and former associate of The Joker named Charles Brown is approached by Batman to be a mole in his former boss's gang and set up a meeting. That plan flipped when Riddler figured it out and had him abducted by Clayface to confront about it and he also told this to Batman.

The meeting was a mess and Joker sends him to Batman wired with fake explosives while Riddler poisoned his son. With that tragedy becoming a motivation, Charlie eventually become the Kite-Man and thus, a new villain is born.

By then only Catwoman haven't joined any sides and as Gordon approached the villains for a truce, all they wanted was Batman. Deadshot and Deathstroke were sent to kill the Bat but they got busy trying to kill each other with the causality of 62 civilians in five days.

Batman finally managed to stop them and got Floyd Lawton hospitalized in a fit of rage. He then plans to do something that even the Riddler never saw coming and the endgame of his decision would made him what he is today.

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Monsters Choosing Sides

Here is your links to buy "Batman – The War of Jokes and Riddles" storyline of DC Comics in issues from Amazon.

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Here is your link to buy "Batman – The War of Jokes and Riddles" storyline of DC Comics from Amazon.

Batman – The War of Jokes and Riddles

Coming from the best-selling creative team of Tom King (Batman – I Am Bane, Batman – I Am Gotham) and Mikel Janín (Justice League Dark, Superman – The Final Days of Superman) from DC Rebirth, "The War of Jokes and Riddles" is an eight-part epic saga from Batman's past in the Prime Earth continuity.

It all begin in issue #24 of the third ongoing volume of Batman, where The Dark Knight finally proposes Catwoman to marry him and before she can answer, he decides to let her know of an event that no one else knows about. Writer King took a unique approach in exploring Batman's early years with two of his arch-nemesis on his tail.

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Joker Vs. Riddler

The storyline collects issues #25-32 from the third Batman monthly series from DC Comics and features appearances of the villains including Clayface, Cluemaster, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Firefly, Killer Croc, Kite-Man, Mad Hatter, Man-Bat, Mister Freeze, Mister Zsasz, Penguin, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Solomon Grundy, Two-Face and Ventriloquist, aside from the two main antagonists.

Even though the story is told in the DC Rebirth era, the events of the book actually took place not long after the infamous "Zero Year". Coincidentally, that is also the rising point of both The Joker and Riddler in the Prime Earth continuity.
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Friday, September 18, 2015

Batman – Zero Year – Dark City | Comics

batman zero year
Batman – Zero Year – Dark City | Comics
Even though he failed to save Red Hood One from his fate in Ace Chemical Plant, Bruce Wayne successfully foiled the evil plan of the Red Hood Gang and saved the citizens of Gotham as the vigilante Batman. But just as an evil fell, another rises as Bruce’s uncle Philip Kane’s personal strategist Edward Nygma appears on TV and announces himself as The Riddler, who wants to make Gotham smarter. He plunged the whole city into darkness and it’s up to The Dark Knight to solve his riddle and save the city. Meanwhile, a mysterious killer named Doctor Death goes on a murder spree, who causes his victims bones to grow like vines and ripped apart by their own skeletons. Jim Gordon meets Bruce to praise him for his stand against the Red Hood Gang previously.

With Gotham completely blacked out now and it's citizens all panicked, Commissioner Loeb is still adamant on going all up against Batman instead of The Riddler and that makes it a devil's playground. Bruce Wayne goes to see Lucious Fox to know more about Dr. Death and the former appears there. Only for the timely intervention of Jim Gordon, Bruce and Lucious barely made it alive. Bruce and Jim still could not get along well for a shared past event from Bruce’s childhood. Batman soon gets framed by Dr. Death and as soon as the GCPD arrives there, they started showering bullets on him. After turning the whole city lights off, The Riddler unleashes more chaos by flooding entire Gotham City and blocking all way in or out. This is Zero Year!

For more information on Batman – Zero Year – Dark City storyline, you can check out the link below.

Batman – Zero Year – Dark City (Comics) DC Wikia
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A Knight In Savage City
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The Last Riddle
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Batman – Zero Year – Dark City (Softcover)

Batman – Zero Year – Dark City (Hardcover)

The New 52 groundbreaking crossover event “Zero Year” comes to a conclusion with “Zero Year – Dark City”. This storyline followed “Secret City” and also comprised of two arcs; Dark City and Savage City. The whole act has run through issues #25-27, 29-33 from the second monthly ongoing volume of the Batman series from DC Comics. Scott Snyder (American Vampire, Superman Unchained) and Greg Capullo (Haunt, Spawn)’s Zero Year did to The New 52 Batman what Frank Miller (The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again)'s “Year One” did to the Batman of New Earth continuity but on a grander scale. Not only the whole plot builds up the origin of The Dark Knight but it also introduced potential future allies and enemies as well.
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Sunday, September 13, 2015

Batman – Zero Year | Comics

batman zero year
Batman – Zero Year | Comics
A new band of psychotic criminals calling themselves as the Red Hood Gang is terrorizing Gotham City with their very unique way of organized crimes. On the grand opening of the Gotham National Bank, the gang goes there to rob the place blind after pre-poisoning everyone who worked there. A disguised Bruce Wayne is caught by their leader Red Hood One among the others by observing a simple flaw of his habitual trait. Bruce barely escapes through the tunnel from the crowd of GCPD and Red Hood Gang after a brief fight. While he was testing a Batarang and discussing about his recent endeavor, he is visited by Lieutenant Jim Gordon for a brief chat involving some irregular vigilante activities in the neighborhood which Bruce swore to know nothing about. In the meantime, the Red Hood Gang targets Bruce Wayne to pay an unpleasant visit.

Next up, Bruce starts flipping the bird right on the face of Red Hood One in every step he takes and pisses him off. In one morning Bruce’s uncle and the current CEO of Wayne Enterprises; Philip Kane comes to visit, who wants him to go public but Bruce is reluctant about it. Philip’s strategist Edward Nygma suggests him to kill his nephew to get ahead in the power play but he declines the idea. As Gotham City is about to be introduced to the greatest protector it ever had, it’s also going to have a mastermind villain making his grand debut who is literally about to bring the whole city to its knees with puzzles and riddles. Bruce comes out of shadow to face the evil but an accident may have given birth to another one.

For more information on Zero Year crossover event, you can check out these links below.

Batman - Zero Year (Comics) Wikipedia

Batman - Zero Year (Comics) DC Wikia
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The Red Hood Gang
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An Urban Legend Is Born

DC Comics – Zero Year (Softcover)

DC Comics – Zero Year (Hardcover)

As of The New 52 era has been running on DC Comics, some new and improved storylines and comic events are being developed along the way as well. Primarily taking place on the monthly ongoing Batman series, Zero Year is a comic event of 2013 which is written by Scott Snyder (American Vampire, Superman Unchained) and James Tynion, teaming up with artist Greg Capullo (Haunt, Spawn), Danny Miki, and Rafael Albuquerque. Also related tie-in issues from the respected monthly ongoing from Action Comics, Batgirl, Batwing, Batwoman, Birds of Prey, Catwoman, Detective Comics, The Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern Corps, Nightwing and Red Hood and the Outlaws has served as tales from their rookie season. It is a year-long event that would reboot the origin of The Dark Knight and two of his most formidable arch-nemesis in this new timeline.
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