Review by Ian Keogh
One Bad Day is a series of hardcovers spotlighting the villains of Gotham and involving the idea of a single bad day, inspired by Alan Moore’s starting premise for The Killing Joke.
As Batman became more sophisticated, the Riddler was left behind, first in the 1940s, then after an unlikely resurrection in the 1960s Batman TV show he rapidly became a gimmicky relic of a byegone era. He remained a name villain to the wider public, yet unwelcome in the comics. That wasn’t the way Tom King saw him, and in The War of Jokes and Riddles, the Riddler and his analytical mind was restored as a chilling threat. It’s that cold Riddler to whom King returns in One Bad Day, committing what seems a shockingly senseless murder knowing he’ll be caught.
In what’s the most ambitious and complex of the series, King associates the Riddler’s sociopathic nature with a brutal upbringing, investigated by Batman as atrocities continue. It’s true to life, if not original, but King has a sadistic turn of mind that for some will make for a compelling insight into an unrepentant maniac. Others will feel a little soiled for the experience, and consider what King supplies stretches the bounds of credibility, while others still will find the Riddler’s dark story repellent.
As seen on the sample art, given the heavy narrative content, Mitch Gerads has his work cut out for him supplying suitably thrilling images to accompany blocks of dry text, yet there’s not a page that doesn’t hold the interest. Furthermore, they’re stylish while never sacrificing the detail Gerads loves. He redesigns the Riddler as well, now without the mask, but with green smudges around his eyes. At times he brings to mind Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, so perhaps Gerads used him as visual reference despite the eye adornments being completely different.
Ultimately, King drags the Riddler into credibility. Over the years he’s been considered as smart as Batman, which is reinforced via creepy plausibility also explaining the compulsion for riddles. The result will annoy some readers for reconfiguring the relationship between Batman and the Riddler, and although believable, it messes with the idea of an invincible and uncompromising Batman. It’s clever, but divisive. The ending, however, is clumsy. It’s a homage to The Killing Joke, that suggests without revealing, but given how things played out for the unfortunate John Oates at the start it strongly suggests Batman breaks a previously inviolable principle. King has set things up in a change or die way, but Batman isn’t Batman if some rules are broken, and for the sake of backing himself out of a corner King cheats. There’s an irony to this as the temptation to cheat is fundamental to the Riddler’s development.
All One Bad Day hardbacks are available with a standard cover, while the smaller comic versions feature four rarer alternatives, and despite being self-contained they’re all numbered as #1. The entire run is also available together as a boxed set packaged with a hardcover edition of The Killing Joke.
