When you’re writing anything, you don’t want to sound repetitive, but it’s hard not to be repetitive when talking about the visual masterpiece The Riddler: Year One. With two issues out, it’s fair to say Stevan Subic should be up for an Eisner Award this year and the third issue continues that trend. Out today, The Riddler: Year One #3 continues to follow Edward Nashton’s crusade to stop something truly evil. The difference is he’s not on the same path as Batman, especially due to his mental illness.
Visually speaking, this issue is very layered. Paul Dano assuredly supplies some interesting ideas in what to show, like the computer terminal Edward speaks to a character through or the tattered envelope given to the police department at the start of the issue. We see language visually in multiple ways, be it a body bag stretching, expenditures paperwork listing off Edward’s notes, or a striking “why” making up a web of nightmares later in the issue. One can assume these visuals through text connect to Riddler’s deeper fascination with riddles and communication, and it’s easy to see that difficult thing represented here.
If you were to sum up the plot of this third issue, Edward gets far deeper into discovering truths about money laundering and how the leaders do things in Gotham. Dano doesn’t let us forget that our unreliable narrator taints Edward’s findings. Not just unreliable to the reader, but to themselves. If not for the nightmare imagery, though, one might believe Edward is a hero with no ill intentions.
That dude creeps me out.
Credit: DC Comics
Little nods to The Batman movie are present, like the rats that show up. Batman continues to be a mysterious shadow figure in the series, which is fine since this is Riddler’s show. It is nice that he’s present in some capacity, though.
This issue continues to show Edward gain confidence in himself and his detective work. He continues to desire Batman’s help and has insecure thoughts about himself, but he’s taking more chances and getting bolder. One can see he’s on a path that’ll eventually lead him to spend all his energy gaining Batman’s attention.
His progress in the detective work leaves something to be desired, though. However absorbing and intriguing it is to be inside his mind, the larger plot feels a bit stagnant here. He certainly does things, but it’s unclear what he’s accomplishing in his discoveries. Certainly, the characterization is amazing, but what plot progression is light.
Aside from the visionary stylings of the nightmares Edward sees in real life or his head, Subic is also a master in the atmosphere and realistic scene setting. This comic is one short step removed from being a live-action production, with great details in the simplest things like nameplates in an apartment building or the refuse outside a shady building.
The Riddler: Year One continues to be a beautiful rendering of an unsettling mind. Madness and mania are ever present but not yet fully formed as Subic and Dano continues to show a man falling further into an abyss of disturbed thoughts and tainted interpretations of the real world.
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