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/the-riddler_1.jpg "Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler #1")
You meant a 1.0 right? this is the worst Batman comic ever written
Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler #1
7.7
Critic Rating
16 Reviews
8.5
User Rating
84 Reviews
| Writer | Tom King |
| Artist | Mitch Gerads |
| Cover Price | $7.99 |
The Dark Knight's greatest villains get their greatest stories yet! The Riddler, Two-Face, the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Bane, Clayface, and Ra's al Ghul-Batman's most iconic villains are all given 64-page Prestige format specials that show why they are the greatest villains in all of comics, spearheaded by today's top talent. We begin with Batman - One Bad Day: The Riddler! Tom King and Mitch Gerads, the Eisner Award-winning duo behind Mister Miracle, The Sheriff of Babylon, and Strange Adventures, reunite to dive deep into the mind of Batman's most intellectual foe...the Riddler. The Riddler has killed a man in broad daylight for seemi more
CRITIC REVIEWS Back to Top
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10
But Why Tho? - William Tucker
Aug 16, 2022Batman - One Bad Day: The Riddler #1 is a frightening yet irresistible tale. It removes the restraint from a character that can often be considered comical or ridiculous, turning him into something terrifying. The usual format that Batman and Riddler stories usually unfold with is fractured and it means that it is very difficult to predict what is happening. It is an achingly pretty one-shot as Gerads brings his evocative style to the book. This is a creative partnership that only leads to gold. Read Full Review
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10
Dark Knight News - James Attias
Aug 16, 2022Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler lives up exactly to what it needed to be. I loved it! This is the Killing Joke for the character. Read this book Batfans! You won't be disappointed! Read Full Review
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9.5
AIPT - Rory Wilding
Aug 16, 2022An excellent start for the One More Day series, as Tom King and Mitch Gerads deliver a compelling psychological thriller about one of the greatest villains the Dark Knight has confronted. Read Full Review
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9.5
The Super Powered Fancast - Deron Generally
Aug 16, 2022Mitch Gerads brilliantly captures the dark intensity of the story with the art. The style beautifully lends itself to the gritty, film noir detective vibe of the story and that final page is both intense and visually thrilling. Read Full Review
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9.2
Monkeys Fighting Robots - Matthew Sardo
Aug 22, 2022The artwork and writing connect on an emotional level that penetrates the soul. A must-read. Read Full Review
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9.0
Geek Dad - Ray Goldfield
Aug 16, 2022Definitely a strong start for the line. Read Full Review
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9.0
The Comicbook Dispatch - Dispatchdcu
Aug 16, 2022BATMAN: ONE BAD DAY THE RIDDLER #1 by King revamps the RIDDLER and puts a frightening spin on the character that fans will hope gets explored further by Tom and Mitch. Fans of the RIDDLER should definitely check this out, as well as King BATMAN haters. Sure, the narration and dialogue were disconnected at points BUT the overall theme and understanding were understandable, clever, and edgy. Continuity aside, as someone whos been extremely hesitant of Kings BATMAN work, I can openly admit that this issue of BATMAN: ONE BAD DAY was a winner and deserves a good read. Let me know what you think, have a great week, and God Bless! Read Full Review
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8.8
Comic Watch - Sean Winningham
Aug 16, 2022This is a great study in how to write and draw a psychological thriller that includes beloved characters that have a long and established history. Whatever you think you knew about the Riddler and the Batman - you can leave it behind when you turn the cover. Read Full Review
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8.8
Graphic Policy - Brett
Aug 17, 2022Batman: One Bad Day Riddler is a hell of a start to this series of one-shots. It delivers a rather unnerving tale as the Riddler unravels and builds himself back up. It's a new status-quo that hopefully becomes the Riddler we know going forward creating an even more frightening foe for Batman to tangle with. On it's own, it's one hell of a read that'll stick with you. Read Full Review
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7.5
Bleeding Cool - Hannibal Tabu
Oct 02, 2022The craft used in creating this book is breathtaking. If it were labeled as an Elseworlds, or better yet, told with analogies Watchmen style, this would be a bright star. As it is, it's good, but clearly, a cute detour before we turn back to the same circular road. Read Full Review
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6.0
Weird Science - Gabe Hernandez
Aug 16, 2022Batman: One Bad Day - The Riddler #1 has only one goal: Push Batman to break his one rule. Unfortunately, it's set it up in such an unbelievable way that you're horrified by the misery of the story while dismissing it under basic examination. This story will leave you feeling dirty and depressed. Read Full Review
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6.0
Lyles Movie Files - Jeffrey Lyles
Aug 16, 2022One Bad Day: The Riddler is another failing, flailing attempt by King to find that spark he once had on Batman before the aborted wedding twist. If youre a fan of Gerads art this is almost worth checking out for his stellar work. Otherwise, this start to the One Bad Day focus gets off to a mean-spirited, miserable start. Read Full Review
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5.9
Multiversity Comics - Robbie Pleasant
Aug 19, 2022"One Bad Day Tom King in his zone, doing what he does best, and with excellent artwork to boot. But if you're not a fan of nine-panel grids focused on character trauma, then it's okay to pass. Read Full Review
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5.0
The Batman Universe - Scott Waldyn
Aug 16, 2022Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler #1 is a beautiful book, but it stumbles over its half-earned attempts at cleverness. This is not an origin story we will remember in years to come. Read Full Review
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5.0
ComicBook.com - Chase Magnett
Aug 17, 2022It's a potent comic book that continues to engage Batman readers after nearly thirty-five years, and a fine point of inspiration for that exact reason. Yet the first installment of One Bad Day is so devoted to crafting an homage to The Killing Joke that it never bothers to define the most significant portion of its title: The Riddler. Read Full Review
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4.0
Batman-News - Cam Lipham
Aug 16, 2022This book is bad. The whole "One Bad Day line seemed pointless in the first place, and I'm still honestly not even sure what the theme is. Is it Batman's bad days? Is it a showcase of these villains origins? Do we need it? The Riddler issue certainly seems to point to no. Read Full Review
USER REVIEWS Back to Top
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10
Tom King has done so many stories that stay too long and get lost in themselves that it's easy to forget that he can do some really excellent work if his worst tendencies are curbed. Dropping the Riddler into Dead Poets Society is a really inspired take on his backstory, and while many attempts to make the traditionally goofy Riddler a terrifying sociopath are joyless and edgy, King & Gerads really hit the bullseye here. Maybe King should stick to one shots for a bit; the format clearly brings out the best in him.
+ Like • Comment• Likes (3) -
10
Riddle me this. I am four numbers, yet two numbers, yet one number. I am a fraction, yet I am still a whole. I represent perfection, yet dissappintment often follows in my footsteps. I am sought by so many, yet acquired by few. Once acquired, the quest to acquire me instantly begins anew. What am I?
+ Like • Comments (8)• Likes (4) -
10
Holy Crap! I did not expect this issue to end up the way it did.
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10
Before anything, I need those reading this to know I'm not King's biggest fan. And yes it's because of Batman and Heroes in Crisis. I haven't read anything else of his aside from Rorschach and the first 3 issues of Human Target. I know he's an EXTREMELY talented writer. I still have a hard time touching his work. I even love his first two arcs on Batman. This though... This is simply amazing. Its opening is unbelievable. It's such natural, flowing human dialogue that you'd just have this kind of conversation with anyone. So much comic book dialogue is filled with too much gravitas, emphasis or exposition that nothing ever feels grounded and real. Pair that with artwork and paneling that puts you right in the shoes of the perspective char more
+ Like • Comments (9)• Likes (6) -
10
This is some of the best Batman Tom King has put out. This is truly incredible.
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10
Fantastic- Kudos to King for a masterpiece!
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10
This was utterly spectacular. As someone who wasn't a fan of most of King's Batman run, I could not have been more pleasantly surprised that he crafted such a genuinely enthralling Batman story here. King made Riddler into a seriously terrifying villain and this is probably my new favourite Riddler story ever. That ending was just...so good. SO good. And Mitch Gerads' art was nothing short of perfect. Tom King haters are always gonna hate, and Batman purists who can't handle the slightest alteration from their perception of what the Dark Knight should be are gonna be thoroughly triggered by this story, but as for me, this will go down as one of my favourite Batman comics ever and another absolute masterpiece from King.
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9.5
King and Gerads together are a magical team and they do a killer job kicking off a new line dedicated to paying homage to Batman's greatest villains through the lens of The Killing Joke. This spin on the Riddler is a bone chilling one; he's angry, meticulous and untethered from the usual rules. King spends a lot of time exploring the nature of the game between Bruce and Eddie, and then delves into potential implications of what would happen if the rules of the game changed. The final scene alone was brilliant and absolutely worth the build up. But Gerads is the real star here, delivering on all of his signature techniques. He's a master of subtle movement and facial expression, which imparts a lot of humanity into each of his charac more
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9.5
incredible
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9.5
I'm late on this. As someone who sometimes truly dislikes King's work, I loved this. It was amazing. Simply put amazing. The amount of misdirection Edward gives here is just wonderful. Was the Killing Joke truly his idea? Or did he just make Gordon more angry, because he knew it would work? I really liked this.
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9.0
Riddler's Killing Joke! I loved how terrifying King and Gerads were able to make the emerald enigma in this book. The flashbacks were great, and addressing the cyclical nature of Batman and his rogues was done extremely well. I'm a big fan of Batman when a writer is willing to evolve the character or take him in new directions that stay true to his portrayal across his entire history. This evolution of the Riddler was very fascinating, although this story does the most possible to elevate his threat level compared to all the other rogues. Killing Joke was about two broken men taking trauma in polar directions; a study on the limits of sanity and the breaking points of good men. Dreadful Reins is all about the game; the rules of eng more
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9.0
We can argue all day long over whether or not this is the Riddler's "Killing Joke", a definitive story, or "not my Riddler", but at the end of the day, what is here is a cat-and-mouse thriller that offers an interesting possibility for the Riddler's backstory. There are times when the exposition is a tad too much, but when it comes to Batman and Riddler confronting one another, it's just pure tension. It's a story about self-imposed restraints, and asks how far can we go once those restraints are removed.
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9.0
Tom King and Mitch Gerads have another hit on their hands. It's a very unique spin on Riddler, a character I have always loved but hasn't had a definitive story. It's too early to say if that's the case for this one shot but I'd definitely recommend this. I truly believe that Tom King and Mitch Gerads will both go down as some of the best from this era of comics and this is just more proof positive of that.
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9.0
I recently reviewed Killing Joke and didn't like it. If you're interested in why, go look at that review. This book is very similar in construction as that one. I spent a lot of the middle of this book not really loving it. The big difference is that while Killing Joke's ending is great and it is fairly definitive for the Joker, it doesn't make what came before it worth it. It doesn't tie together properly at all, in my opinion. This book also has a great, definitive ending for the Riddler and it actually manages to tie the entire story together in a satisfying way. Are there a few moments that I think don't work? Yeah. But the whole thing together works very well. I am shocked that Tom King produced a good Batman comic.
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9.0
Conflicted because this was such an effective, engrossing, macabre story of crime, trauma, and senseless violence. The artwork is stellar, the writing is fantastic, the tone is consistent and engaging. There are moments here that are so horrifying it's essentially a horror book. It just doesn't feel like Batman, Riddler, or Gordon. It would be perfect if it wasn't Batman and I wish this would have been reworked as a separate crime thriller or something. Just the rules of a comicbook universe don't allow this to work as well. What came before it and what comes after it, this book won't matter. So I'll take it as a stand-alone elsewhere story, and like that this is one mighty, fine thriller.
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9.0
Perhaps overly dark and arguably out of character with some hard-to-believe elements, but this was a truly amazing and memorable read. Enough so that I felt compelled to create this account to review it and tell someone, "Wow, that was really great!" I don't know if I'll be collecting many of these, but this has me thinking I should.
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8.0
Continuing his characterization of Riddler from his Batman run (going so far as to blatantly copy a scene from War of Jokes and Riddles,)this out-of-continuity one-shot goes from a semi-realistic if a tad cliche take on Edward's origins to full on Looney Tunes near the end. Seriously, I was laughing so hard when I saw the Mary Sue-levels of ridiculousness that went into trying to make Riddler the scariest bad guy who beats everyone and doesn't afraid of anything. I'm not sure if this was the intended effect Mr. King wanted to inflict, but regardless, this easily remains the funniest work of his so far. After about the eight thousandth over-the-top showcase of Riddler's big brain intellect you kinda just have to smile to yourself, go with more
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8.0
the issue isnt bad, its good and tom king's Batman content is slowly getting better. just not a fan of the 9 panel issues and it may be a bit wordy and this is too similar to The Killing Joke. But its a good issue nonetheless. Just might not be for everyone
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7.0
Everything King does with Batman is so hit or miss. I guess OBD Riddler actually succeeds in what it aims to do, but is that necessarily a good thing? First, I am huge Alan Moore fan. By far my favorite writer of all time. That said, Killing Joke is one of my least favorites of his works. The whole idea of Killing Joke being the flip-side of Batman's origin sounds poetic but it's really corny and trite. My biggest issue was that it took this maniacal, unreasonable monster and made him sympathetic (like Rob Zombie's Halloween did for Michael Myers). You walk away going, "jeez, no wonder he's so messed up." Plus, there's the sadistic torture porn part with Batgirl. OBD Riddler was just Tom King emulating Alan Moore at his worst more
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4.0
Only the art has value -- because the writing is just TK using Alan Moore as a springboard while writing some edgelord crap on par with Mark Millar's Nemesis.
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1.0
Great art, awful writing
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1.0
That was quite possibly the worst comic book I have read, it's definitely the worst Batman story I have ever read. Tom king should never be allowed to write a Batman comic again after that. Don't try and ruin the killing joke because your a hack writer. No spoilers but everyone who gave this a 8/19-10/10 is on glue. Your all dumb for saying this is a perfect story. It try's to say the riddler came up with the plan for the killing g joke and also has Batman break his only rule it seems. Such an aweful book. Do not read this book save your money or just light it on fire or give it to a homeless person. Worst Batman comic ever.
+ Like • Comments (36)• Likes (2) -
1.0
More suicide fetish trash from Tom King. ....and he humps Alan Moore's leg on this one. HARD!
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1.0
Way to ruin a classic character just to make a name for yourself King. That seems to be all today's comic writers care about. I'm frankly surprised how many 10s this pile of crap got. I figured most old fans would be mad at King for trying to ruin a 34 year old classic, and so badly as well. All so this would be a modern day killing Joke. 30 years from now no one will remember this, except those of us it makes sick. The whole story just kills almost 75 years of great villainy, not to mention one of Batman's biggest foes. This is not the same guy I used to read about. And I mean he's literally NOTHING like the Riddler was created to be. This book is just an insult by a glory-hungry usually poor comic writer who doesn't deserve the acclaim more
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2025 In Review:
