Batman: TAS, episode #41: If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?

There were a number of basic differences in this episode from many of what's come before. Not only was the visual style somewhat different, as we open in a suburban office park that has sunlight and pastel colors, as opposed to the grim shadows of Gotham City, but the title also didn't give a clue to the villain/problem of the story. The casual phrase that has been used to suggest that only money matters in modern society (as well as to implicitly justify the rapaciously wealthy ("He's obviously a genius because he's rich-!")) doesn't really clue us into what might follow, until we see a worker in the pastel maroon building of Competitron see his nameplate come off the door with the letters "E. Nygma" imprinted on it. This is the first appearance of the last of The Batman's "big" opponents to appear: The Riddler. The latter has never been one of the more interesting of the rogues' gallery, largely because he lacks either mystery or tragedy in his origin. He's mostly just a guy out for revenge, unlike stalwarts like The Joker, Two-Face, or Mr. Freeze. But he also provides room for a lot of gimmicks, which is often seen as one of the downfalls of the comic series in the 40s and 50s, before Neal Adams and Denny O'Neill took over in an attempt to return the lead character to his roots (and compete with Marvel.) In fact, the best presentation of The Riddler was probably in the TV series, Gotham, where he was shown as Edward, withdrawn forensics expert, long before he was walking around under a green bowler.

But there are some interesting references in this episode that could easily have been calling out typical corporate culture of the US at the time (and now) but also could have been sly references to Warner Bros' own past. Daniel Mockridge boasts that not only is the company the real source of the profits generated by Nygma's game design, Riddle of the Minotaur, but that he also convinced the latter to sign a work-for-hire contract, giving the company total control of the game and all its revenue, which is why they can fire Nygma in the opening scene. This is ripped right from comic book reality, in which work-for-hire was the standard, such that the brilliant characters and stories that were created for publishers and which earned them millions, not just from the comics but from merchandising, granted none of that largesse to the people who had actually created them until the 80s began to change that pattern. The most notorious case was with the other big name of DC Comics, Superman, who was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. In the late 70s, when Richard Donner's Superman was finally bringing the character back to the big screen, the assembled media kept asking DC: "Who created Superman?". The response was always: "DC Comics created Superman.", just like Mockridge insisted. Later, of course, both Siegel and Shuster were found living in poverty while their creation had earned DC and its parent companies uncounted millions over the decades. They had signed a work-exclusive contract and, after they got out of the army in the 40s, were let go. In the end, DC was shamed into paying them $35k/year until they died. Bob Kane, creator of The Batman, OTOH, had signed no such thing and, in fact, had made it part of his contract that any publication of the character always had to have the label "Created by Bob Kane", which it still does to this day.

After we see Bruce Wayne attempting to buy into Competitron, supposedly to bring jobs to Gotham, we also see him expending great effort to rescue the wealthy Mockridge from the clutches of The Riddler, which is a contrast to his usual endeavors defending those who can't defend themselves. So, along with the visual style, it's a bit of an interesting thematic departure for our hero. That visual style change extends to the major fight scenes, as well, since The Batman and Robin mix it up with hired thugs under the lights of a nightclub that create quite the visual spectacle in our usually more staid presentation and later are jousting with golden griffons and their artillery explosions. As with a few other episodes, we're left to wonder at a couple scripting shortcuts, in that when The Riddler takes over Gotham Light & Power, it also knocks out the Batmobile's systems. Also, our introduction to The Riddler just took place and yet he insists that both of our heroes abandon their "utility belts" before entering the maze of the minotaur. This was definitely a script aimed at the more experienced Batman fan, since the assumption of knowledge about the main villain and his knowledge about our heroes is seemingly expected. That's also why I think the references to the contract situation were also very much "insider jokes", in that the older members of the audience would understand the references, while the younger members might at least be tempted to ask about the injustice being cited on their screen. In that respect, it's a tip of the hat once again to the writers and producers, not least for being able to get this past the heavy hand of the parent company.