The Hush storyline in 2002/3 had a massive impact on the character; he played a pivotal role in the plot, which meant he was hard to fit into the comics in the aftermath. Following some violent retribution from villains who had been affected by the story, the genius criminal was stripped of his deductive reasoning skills and left to fend for himself as one of Gothams many homeless people. As Gotham had such a gigantic number of homeless people The Riddler blended into the background until an ex-NSA codebreaker offered him respite and an environment where he could hone his intellectual skills again, allowing him to reclaim his title as The Riddler. This storyline is where The Riddler realised his father had mistaken his intellect for cheating and had beaten him this is why The Riddler has a compulsion to tell the truth, albeit through cryptic means. By putting Edward Nigma into such a desperate situation we saw how a troubled youth sent him on his journey into notoriety this level of character development is pretty rare in comics, and reading this storyline offers a unique insight into such a popular character.
A 21 year old History graduate looking for someone to listen to his ramblings. Lover of comic books, movies and all other superhero related things. Published in The Independent, always looking for interesting things to write about...Follow me on Twitter at @samclements1993, and check out my blog: http://samuelclements.wordpress.com/
