Monday, December 21, 2020

Good god, was this setting up 'Three Riddlers'?

We saw Batman #710 some time back, and I thought it was the last storyline before the New 52: there was still an issue left, but this concludes a three-parter with Two-Face, his estranged wife Gilda, and...the Riddler? From 2011, Batman #712, "Pieces, part three: Gilded Lily" Written by Tony S. Daniel, pencils by Steve Scott and Andy Smith, inks by Walden Wong. Of course I'm missing the middle issue, but we had last seen Two-Face shot, repeatedly, by his wife Gilda, who's now the moll of gangster Mario Falcone. The unwilling moll: Gilda had been believed dead at some point, and somehow got wrapped up with him. So, she hired the Riddler, to get Harvey involved: he set up the trap with the knockout gas, then set him up with a squibbed bulletproof vest, although I'm not sure how he got Harvey to Falcone. Riddler is getting paid with some information he wanted, and Gilda has set up Falcone with a fake deal, which Two-Face then shoots up.
Oh, god: be sure to find the actual issue instead of digital, there's a Justice League Subway insert with Jared. There's something that didn't age well. No scan of him, but here's a Manhunter getting stopped by...something.
Gilda set up Falcone but good: the meet was on a partially built skyscraper, which Two-Face has rigged to blow. DickBat fights a lot of goons, which just seems to make sure they'll die in the explosion: he escapes, but Falcone may not. Gilda returns Two-Face's lost coin, saying she believes in both Harvey Dent (callback!) and Two-Face. He isn't sure he can still believe her, and flips the coin to decide her fate, but still seems unsure. We don't get to see the results of the coin toss, since Dick comes down on him like a sack of bricks, only to get shot in the head by Gilda!
Dick wakes up to Alfred fixing him up back in the Batcave, picked up by Damian--who we don't see this issue! Two-Face and Gilda were both gone, alone or separately; although Dick seems mildly suspicious if that was even really Gilda. (This one already inexplicably had the Riddler, that better not be a Clayface!) A loose plot thread is snipped off here, as Dick gets a letter from Katrina Falcone, heading off to boarding school; while only the Riddler seems pleased with how things have turned out, although he does seem to turn on his henchwoman-slash-possibly psychotic daughter Enigma. Well, I don't think any of this would be followed up on, so all right.




1 comment:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

You joke, but you watch and see if that 3 Riddlers idea isn't reconsidered later in the not-so distant future and it'll be all your fault for unofficially suggesting it ;)