Have you been watching Gotham, the new fall television show that centers around the death of an important, rich couple, the start of one good man’s policing career, and the origins of a despicable, crime-ridden city that will eventually require another man to dress as a bat, meting out vigilante justice to help keep order amidst sheer chaos?
It’s a smash hit – a program I make sure to set my schedule around every Monday night.
A riddle, then, in honour of that new television show: Where can you go in order to fully understand all that you already know?
It’s a simple riddle, really. Follow me after the jump and I’ll point you to the right answer!
Batman Vol. 5: Zero Year-Dark City H/C
Written by: Scott Snyder
Illustrated by: Greg Capullo
Published by: DC Comics
Where can you go in order to understand all that you already know?
To the beginning, of course!
For the past two years, DC Comics has been publishing the origins of Gotham City – and the character of Batman – within the pages of the monthly Batman comic book, written and illustrated to great acclaim by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Today DC releases the latest, and possibly greatest, of the hardcover collections thus far: Batman Volume 5: Zero year-Dark City.
Really, since the New 52 launch three years ago (time flies, don’t it?), Batman has consistently been, in my humble (and well-read) opinion, the best of the DC titles. You can’t go wrong with picking up any of the preceding four volumes of the series. In fact, I highly recommend it! Still, Batman Volume 5: Zero Year-Dark City was something special to read.
Not only was it a story that firmly took place in the early days of the Batman, as he was still figuring out his modus operendi, but it was also the origin tale of one of his greatest, if also one of his historically most bumbling, villains in the Riddler.
That’s right, he of the green, question-marked attire and the penchant for wacky, melodramatic riddles.
For some reason, the Riddler has always been a popular, but second-tier, villain of Batman’s rogues gallery. Perhaps it’s because writing him smartly always seems difficult to do: it takes thought and research and a grand imagination. And probably time. Time enough to craft a great, intricate story by any decent writer. And the crafting of great, intricate comic books stories on a monthly basis can be a difficult endeavor.
Enter fan favourite writer Scott Snyder who, with Batman Volume 5: Zero Year-Dark City has crafted not just a great, but the greatest of Riddler stories! Bold words, I know. Here, the Riddler has plunged Gotham City in darkness, it’s population servant to a master manipulator and tactician with a flair for the dramatic that is playfully deadly. It’s up to a young and inexperienced Dark Knight to bring order to the madness that grips his city!
Today, the answer to any riddle is to make the run to your local comic book shop and pick up the new hardcover compilation of Batman Volume 5: Zero Year-Dark City and experience one of the newest and greatest Batman stories ever told!
