Though Batman and Batman Returns loom large over comic-book cinema history, Michael Keaton ended his run as the DC hero with untapped potential. We’ll never know what a threequel may have looked like if Tim Burton had stuck around to direct the movie that became Batman Forever. Luckily, author John Jackson Miller was hired to imagine “what if?” His next book, Batman: Revolution, debuts The Riddler.
Miller’s first foray into the “Burtonverse,” last year’s Batman: Resurrection, picked up right after Burton’s 1989 movie, charting the fallout of Joker’s rampage, introducing Clayface, and probing how Bruce Wayne dealt with his first major encounter with a supervillain. That book ended with a clear tease of who might come next. And sure enough, Miller’s sequel brings Gotham face to face with the Riddler.
But to truly do justice to this new (old?) take on the character, Penguin Random House commissioned artist Joe Quinones, no stranger to the Burtonverse having illustrated Batman ‘89 for DC, to bring the new version of Riddler to life. Polygon can exclusively reveal the artwork, along with additional insight from Miller on what went into reimagining the character.
Introducing The Riddler, Norman Pinkus
Instead of leaning on the well-trodden persona of Edward Nygma, Miller’s book focuses on Norman Pinkus, the Gotham Globe’s daily puzzle writer. Imagine if the writer of New York Times’ Connections was behind a crime wave, and you get the picture.
“I’ve never imagined ‘Edward Nygma’ to be anything more than a pseudonym — a nygma is a spot on a sawfly’s wings,” Miller says over email. “But that’s the exact sort of thing Norman would know! A wordsmith with an encyclopedic memory, he literally lived in the library — and became the go-to person for facts at the Gotham Globe […] But he is also a tremendous puzzle-solver, cracking mysteries people didn’t even know existed — and when he decides to put his popularity to work, it’s to get people to question the powers that be in Gotham City. Including the police, Harvey Dent — and Gotham City’s still-new hero, Batman. I think their dynamic, both as allies and foes, is something that’s very new and entertaining.
That hidden brilliance is what makes Norman such a compelling Burtonverse figure. Gotham is a city where ordinary people often transform under extraordinary pressure. In Batman Returns, an ostracized Oswald Cobblepot embraced his monstrous Penguin persona. In Miller’s Resurrection, understudy Karlo Babić succumbed to his worst instincts as he melted into Clayface. Miller wanted the Riddler’s metamorphosis to feel cut from the same cloth.
“To most people’s eyes, Norman Pinkus is a meek, mawkish shut-in; yet he also has a double life, fighting crime by using the voices of characters of his own invention, far more flamboyant than he,” the writer says. “This felt like it would be quite in the spirit of Tim Burton’s films, where we saw nervous secretary Selina Kyle transform into the dynamic Catwoman. We get a similar transformation here, once again the product of tragedy.”
Miller is candid about how much past versions of the Riddler informed his work — but also about where he wanted to strike out in new directions. He admits that as a kid, he struggled to take Frank Gorshin’s flamboyant 1960s version seriously.
“Even as a kid I wondered whether hiding the clues to one’s crimes in riddles for Batman was the best way to avoid detection!” Miller jokes.
Instead, his Burtonverse Riddler strikes a balance between theatricality and practicality. Norman’s puzzles echo real-world word-game crazes, but they’re also designed to provoke Gothamites into questioning their leaders and to force Batman into a battle of wits. “We bring in bits like his attire and the question-mark motif, while heading in our own direction with the kind of person he was, and how the Riddler persona came to be,” Miller says.
As was the case in Resurrection, Miller promises that The Riddler is only a piece of the puzzle in Revolution. This is still the story of Batman and a city he has sworn to protect.
“After seeing the world presented in the two movies, I liked the notion that Gotham City was bigger than just Batman and the villain of the day — that there were other characters in Gotham City who might have been actively fighting or committing crimes, hidden until Batman’s presence drew them into the light,” Miller says. “And as we’ll see in Revolution, The Riddler isn’t the only one.”
Batman: Revolution arrives to bookstores on Oct. 21.
