Der Joker: Die geheimnisvolle Rätselbox

The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox #1-14

by Matthew Rosenberg

WER TÖTETE DEN RIDDLER? Die Leiche des Riddler liegt im Kühlraum der Gothamer Polizei, in der Asservatenkammer befindet sich eine geheimnisvolle Rätselbox – und im Verhörraum sitzt der Joker, der Police Commissioner James Gordon eine grandiose Geschichte auftischt. Aber kann man dem größten Psychopathen der Stadt glauben? Und was sagen die anderen Superschurken, die im Keller des Reviers schmoren, zu seiner wahnwitzigen Story? Die komplette, in sich abgeschlossene US-Miniserie direkt aus dem Verhörraum der Polizei von Gotham City. Verfasst von Matthew Rosenberg (BATMAN – DETECTIVE COMICS) und gezeichnet von Jesús Merino (JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK) sowie einem Dutzend namhafter Gastkünstler. ENTHÄLT: THE JOKER PRESENTS: A PUZZLEBOX 1-7

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Batman, Action, Superheroes, Crime

252 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 2022

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

"I haven’t always been a writer. My parents are writers and my brother is a writer, and I resisted that as long as I could. When I was 17, I hopped in a band’s van and I went on tour for a summer, and that was it, that was what I wanted to do. I ran a record label for 10 years, a small indie punk label. I did everything in music that you can do that doesn’t involve having musical ability. Eventually the music business, probably in a similar way to comics, will just start to break your heart, and I realized one day that I kind of hated music. I was resigned to thinking, if I’m going to be involved in music forever, I’m going to hate it for the rest of my life. I just stopped. I stopped having any sort of business with music, any involvement.

I read comics my whole life, so I just naturally fell back into another medium that is marginalized and hard to make a living in."

Source: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles...

Writer of comics WE CAN NEVER GO HOME, SECRET WARS JOURNAL, OUR WORK FILLS THE PEWS, 12 REASONS TO DIE, & MENU.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three times longer than it needed to be to get the point across, and pointless to boot since there was no chance at any point that the reader would ever believe a named, established villain was dead.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A simple recipe: Mix a little Rashomon with a generous portion of The Usual Suspects and sprinkle with Batman's rogue gallery.

An intriguing and humorous start has James Gordon and Harvey Bullock grilling a flippant Joker in a police interrogation room as he narrates the events leading to the bust that has over a dozen of Batman's foes sharing a holding cell down the hall. While the unreliable narrator aspect is fun for a while, the story overstays its welcome as it collapses under the weight of all the convoluted conspiracies, betrayals and back-stabbings as the villains pursue a Fourth World MacGuffin called the Master Engine and the police try to solve a murder mystery. Much too long for what it is.

FOR REFERENCE:

Originally published digitally as as The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox chapters 1-14 and in single magazine form in The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox 1-7, with two chapters in each issue. Does not contain the additional "Bonus Box" 5-page stories from the "Director's Cut" editions.


Contents:
Chapter 1. Step into the Box -- Chapter 2. Circles at Night -- Chapter 3. Blood and Snow -- Chapter 4. The River's Twist -- Chapter 5. A Hired Gun Hired for What -- Chapter 6. Madness at the Mountain! -- Chapter 7. Welcome to the Jungle -- Chapter 8. A Doctor and a Professor Walk into a Museum . . . -- Chapter 9. The More Things Come Together -- Chapter 10. Pick a Box, Any Box! -- Chapter 11. The Freezing Point of Clay -- Chapter 12. What's in the Box?! -- Chapter 13. Go out with a Bang! -- Chapter 14. Who Cares? -- Variant Covers

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The real "puzzlebox" is what actually happened in this book. The Joker has been arrested. So have most of Batman's rogues gallery. The Joker is the only one who is talking. But can Commissioner Gordon really believe him regarding who killed The Riddler?

No. The answer is no.

Anyway, there's a twist at the end, but it takes seven nearly interminable, poorly illustrated issues to get there. Not recommended, even for Joker enthusiasts.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox collects issues 1-7 of the DC Comics series written by Matthew Rosenberg with art by Jesús Merino, Joshua Hixson, Keron Grant, Dani, Vicente Cifuentes, Domo Stanton, Juni Ba, Vanesa Del Rey, Ricardo López Ortiz, Christopher Mooneyham, Freddie E. Williams II, Shawn Crystal, Juan Doe, and Mike Norton.

All of of Gotham's major rogues have all been arrested in one fell swoop. As the dust settles, it is learned that the Riddler has been murdered, the culprit is already sitting in a Gotham jail cell, and every villain has been trying to gain control of an ancient, magical artifact. Gordon, Bullock, and the rest of the GCPD must determine who the culprit is. This all leads to a series of interrogations from the viewpoints of the villains as they all try to place blame on the each.

Puzzlebox is a fun whodunnit if you suspend belief that Batman wouldn’t just swoop in and solve this case in a matter of minutes. The Joker being the lead in the interrogation case provides a lot of humor, but at times it feels to drag on and gets repetitive. The book is full of double and triple crossings as we get closer and closer to discovering what exactly is going on. The book features a ton of different artists with each villain’s side of the story getting its own artists. The only art that really stood out to me was the artist telling Harley’s perspective. The book is far from perfect, but tells an interesting Batman story with very little actual Batman.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

A complete and utter mess, which is what it would be like to talk to the Joker, I imagine. Gordon and Bullock listen to Mr. J meander while most of the rest of Batman's rogues allow themselves to be kept in the same jail lockup. What? Throw in a mother box and stir...

[Baston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es war ein sehr durchwachsener Comic. Das einzig positive bei dem war die ganze Vielfalt an Bösewichte zuhaben und diese in Action zu erleben. Das Comic an sich besteht aber nur aus Rückblenden die ae unschiedlich gezeichnet wurden und das deutlicher schlechter als DC es kann. Das Ende ist schon überraschend aber macht leider nix mehr gut. Witzig zu lesen aber gut ist was anderes

[Rama | RamaRambles · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love crazy men

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who did it?

A trip through the madness. A who did it mystery with 16 of Gorham's mist dangerous criminals as the suspects.

The Riddler started a game. The Riddler is found dead. Who did it? No one can be trusted, and some people are not who they seem. Twists and lies. Trust no one, Gotham style. Just when I think I have the answers they change the questions.

[It's just Deano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like what they tried to do here with Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox. It's essentially a 'Who dunnit?' story at heart - one that centres around the murder of The Riddler and the involvement of pretty much all of Batman's main villains. Sadly though, it wasn't without it's issues.

The main issue I had here was that it's pretty obvious Rosenberg went out of his way to make sure you know who commited the murder extremely early on. This is fine, expect it then feels like the reader is expected to continue the pretense until the rather pointless reveal. Sure, it's interesting to see 'how' the murder was done, but it just feels way off for what is essentially a murder mystery at its core.

That said, the art here is quite diverse. It's middle level in my opinion and seems to shift and switch style quite a bit in the later issues.

The characterisation here is great though. Jim Gordon is perfectly placed as the busy detective under pressure. Likewise, I think Joker himself is well captured also. The role of none reliable narrator is absolutely apt.

Overall, Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox is a fairly average read. It does feel this could have been significantly better if the reveal wasn't made so glaringly obvious from the get go. It's still a fun read, but I'd go right ahead and bump this down the reading pile.
___________________

My Score: 6/10
My Goodreads: ⭐⭐⭐
___________________

[Jorge Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as single issues in the spanish edition.

Interesting and well executed whodunnit. Although sometimes the story derails a little, Rosenberg has done a fairly good job constructing this story with Batman and most of his rogues gallery.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
This very long comic is what happens when you let The Joker watch The Usual Suspects. A ton of criminals from the Batman Rogues Gallery all get arrested for the same question: "Who Killed the Riddler?" Joker weaves an amazing tale that somehow gets corroborated by the others, and they all get off free AND The Riddler isn't dead.
A true genius Joker... but way too long.
Recommend, but at your own time.

[Paige Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, J retelling events w/ words he puts in others’ mouth. Riddler’s dead during a party where everyone gathers at J’s. I like when it’s J but when it’s not, it drags a lot. I guess Sion is okay because I like to learn more about that from Arkham Origins vid game and the Russian connection. Punchline in here briefly. Payoff not the best for way too much time spent in the middle on characters IDC about. I don’t even like Riddler but maybe he should’ve had a bit more there.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Riddler is dead, and only the Joker knows the truth of what happened. But to get to that truth, Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock are going to have to rely on the Joker's explanations - which are...less than cohesive, let's say.

This is a great idea in theory, but Puzzlebox kind of sags under its own weight. Each issue features two stories spotlighting different Batman villains as a world-spanning caper unfolds and convolutes further and further as the doublecrosses mount up. The issue comes in the fact that...I found it hard to care about any of it?

Like, we know the Riddler's not actually dead. This isn't one of those stories, obviously. And we all know that Batman's going to swoop in and stop anyone from actually getting away with their big master plan. So the stakes, as high as they are, don't feel real, and instead we end up siding with Gordon and Bullock as they practically beg the Joker to get to the bloody point already.

There are some good points, of course - Rosenberg's characterisations are pretty much spot on, and the different artists for the different stories usually suit the characters they're assigned to, even if Jesus Merino's framing sequence is easily the best of the bunch.

But despite those positives, Puzzlebox is probably one of those stories that should best stay unsolved and gathering dust at the back of the games cupboard.

[Chris Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Joker presents a puzzle box is one of those else worlds where not much is really very different. It’s really only out of continuity so that it doesn’t have to deal with continuity, not because it actually has any interest in contradicting continuity.

The other reason why this story doesn’t want to deal with continuity is so that it has a genuine shot at fooling you with its twist. If this was in main continuity then I think it’s safe to say nobody would have thought that the Riddler was really dead. But being its own standalone thing, it is possible to take his murder at face value.

It’s a brilliant idea for a story, having Gordon and the GCPD have to put together what really happened from Joker’s version of the narrative. This alone was enough to hook me in. The actual story itself is quite underwhelming but this turns out to sort of be the point.

We get treated to lots of short stories told from Joker and other villains’ perspectives detailing clashes between them. These are a mixed bag. The characterisation of Batman villains is consistent and mostly strong. I don’t agree with all of the match ups (Black Mask beating Two-Face feels wrong to me) but they are mostly entertaining.

What is make or break for this book is its conclusion. Some will hate it but personally I loved it it. It all turns out to be ultimately pointless because of course it does: this is the Joker. The answer to who killed the Riddler is nobody – this was just Joker pratting around for a laugh. The idea that the Joker would stage such an elaborate plot, using up his one magic wish for anything just to create a pointless mystery so he can have a go at making a riddle himself is amazing. No wonder Riddler is annoyed and I’m sure many readers are too but it is brilliantly on brand for Joker.

It turns out to be nowhere near as complicated a story as you think it is going in but I found it incredibly entertaining and re-visitable.

[Jipi Perreault · Rating 4 out of 5]

At a glance I saw the cover and was like: "Uugh... another dark take on the Joker which gonna be edgy as hell..." but then, I noticed it was from Mathiew Rosenberg (4 Kids walk into a Bank, What's the furthest place from here) and gave it a shot.
It's actualy a COMEDY!
The cover doesn't sells it well. We a got murder mystery delivered in a series of testimony from very shady suspects that we could have seen in a Batman: The Animated Series. It's funny and keeps you guessing the whole way true. It's also a depiction of the Joker that is a lot closer to the core of it that tends to be overlooked these days.
Brilliant!

[Clint · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars
The real joke here is on the reader, for giving this book their time. This is bad enough to make me wary of reading future comics by Rosenberg. I love his 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank and its ironic pastiche of heist movie tropes transported to a cast of middle school kids. While he mostly emulates pop culture tropes there too instead of synthesizing his influences into something new, it works for that specific story. Unfortunately, it seems like “attempting to recreate elements of movies he likes” is Rosenberg’s only approach to comic-writing, and when it doesn’t work (like here) it’s miserably tedious.

I imagine this miniseries was literally conceived as “a JJ Abrams mystery box plot delivered through Rashomon-style testimonies from 14+ of Batman’s rogues, each of whom is depicted through an irreverent Kevin Smith lens.” I’d be glad to see another DC book attempt the Rashomon POV stuff, but the mystery box plot is so needlessly complicated that Rosenberg ends the book by having Joker explain the master plan and Rosenberg is self-aware enough to have a side character comment how overly complicated it all is. Rosenberg presents it like an amazing final flourish akin to The Usual Suspects, but instead it has the feel of hearing someone tell you about a very convoluted dream they had that you listen to out of politeness.

I’m not really a Kevin Smith fan, but the lazily juvenile/irreverent depictions of all the characters here aren’t even up to the standard of a tossed-off superhero riff in one of his movies, and despite how indulgent Rosenberg is with larding up his panels with dialogue, it’s almost never funny or original or interesting. Beyond that, there’s no internal logic for how anyone acts. They all let themselves get arrested and put in a single huge holding cell? What?! I finished this instead of DNF-ing it partly because I thought there might be some hidden scheme to explain why they’d all submit to arrest at the local PD, but no, it’s just stupid.

The only positive here is the art. The character designs and overall style changes drastically depending on who’s narrating, and many of them are at least interesting and often even look nice. It’s a shame it’s supporting such bad writing.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before the review starts, this is a note that I'll be reviewing the COMPLETE story here. Amazon and Goodreads have this listed as being Vol. 1, but also being issues 1-14. I'm assuming they'd publish it in one volume.

Wow! I loved this one-shot. It's a 'whodunit' that's described to the reader as we go along. Joker is brought in to answer the question that drives the story, "Who killed The Riddler?". He tells the tale in typical Joker fashion. If it was visualized, it'd be similar to the dotted lines in a 'Family Circus' comic by Bil Keane. It wanders and strolls along, doubling back on itself a few times. Eventually, the answer if finally found.

Lost already? Want the quick version? The Riddler knew of a powerful puzzlebox, broken into pieces and needed help retrieving it. Who better to help than ALL the big names in Gotham crime?

Riddler's Crew: Professor Pyg, Killer Moth, Black Mask, Bane, and Harley Quinn
Catwoman's Crew: Mad Hatter, Penguin, Two-Face, Scarecrow, and Man-Bat

Bonus: Joker getting Jim Gordon's rank wrong every time he's addressed
Bonus Bonus: using Punchline ironically

[Carlo Gnutti · Rating 2 out of 5]

L’idea di costruire una storia con Joker come narratore ovviamente inaffidabile e di affidare ogni flashback ad un disegnatore diverso per aumentare il senso di incoerenza e discontinuità aveva un grandissimo potenziale. Il problema e’ che la narrazione si dilunga e si ingarbuglia a dismisura, ma non in un modo coinvolgente per il lettore (come potrebbe essere per Il grande Sonno di Chandler) bensì frustrante. Giunti alla fine infatti ci si rende conto che il piano di Joker è’ assurdamente complesso ed improbabile (anche per un fumetto di supereroi) e, peggio ancora, si conclude con un nulla di fatto che vorrebbe essere beffardo ma e’ solo irritante.
In generale la sospensione dell’incredulità viene tirata a livelli inaccettabili: basti pensare Bane viene rinchiuso nella cella senza che prima lo privassero del Venom.
A livello grafico invece non ho apprezzato per niente lo stile di Jesus Merino, il disegnatore a cui hanno affidato tutte le scene ambientate nella stazione di polizia: il suo joker per esempio ha un design orribile, col mento enorme.
Tutte le parolacce presenti nel volume, che pure sono tante,sono censurate: allora che senso ha inserirle?!

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite long. And, not bad, just not all that impactful. Especially since the end brings us right back to the beginning again.

Think of this as a mystery for the sake of the mystery. Go in for the cast of characters and that's it.

Things I did like:
I (surprisingly) didn't mind the collection of artists on this one. Overall, this is a fun book to look at. And Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock are the stars of this show. Along with the Joker. I really enjoyed reading whenever they were on the page.
(I did LOL at reading Joker call Batman "Arnold," and Batman thanking him for his help.)

Things I didn't:
Everything else weighed the book/story down, and the end was a bit of a let-down. (Joker's reveal was good, but Cat's "comeuppance" was eh.)
And the suspension of disbelief on this one was too much of a doozy, even for me; Gotham's craziest and most unstable Super Villains are being held in police detention together. Gordon is not that stupid. For real.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good idea in theory spoiled because of how long and tedious this is. The Riddler's dead and all of Batman's Rogues are in custody while they try and determine who murdered him. You know from the beginning this isn't going to stick. They aren't going to kill off The Riddler so the whole time I'm waiting for him to come back. Then all of Batman's Rogues are left in one holding cell (like that would ever happen with this bunch of psychos.) The conceit is that you have a whole bunch of unreliable narrators telling their version of this ridiculously complicated story. Some of it's fun when you get these really skewed versions of characters drawn by some wonky artists, but that's the exception not the rule. The last issue explains what really happened and it's so complicated I started to drone off. This was just not done very well and at 250 pages became a slog.

[Will Cooper · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I'm giving this 1 star and hate it because of how clever it THINKS it is. I LOVE heists and all the double double double crossing and things that seem random actually being the exact plan, but this...I'll put behind spoilers-

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
At the beginning ALL of Batman's rogues gallery are in jail- normal jail. Oh yeah? Don't believe that for a second. Some try to get out, sure, but they all kinda stay there. Naw.
Then several of the villains tell different versions of their story, but the story doesn't go anywhere or really gain more information.
And then the "clever" ending, which I figured out halfway through that the big wish would be used in the plan because wouldn't it be funny if the whole story was pointless because the Joker is crazy? No. The answer is no because I'm reading it and don't want to read a pointless story. MAYBE THAT'S JUST ME, WHO KNOWS.

[Alex E · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Riddler is dead, and the Joker knows something about his murder. The cops have Joker in an interrogation room but... can you trust anything the Joker says?

Matthew Rosenberg gives us a really solid premise, as the answer to that question is inevitably no. Every question has an answer that is a outlandish story. And the more Joker talks, the more of a picture he paints, and the more Gordon and Bullock have to decipher what to believe and what to ignore. I think Rosenberg did a good job of keeping the book interesting by letting the Joker just talk - as his tall tale weaves in an out of credibility.

The issues I had with the book is that it doesn't feel like anything is particularly urgent. You kind of know Batman is going to come in and either find the truth from Joker or say its a waste of time. The story themselves the Joker tells are also pretty unbelieveale - which I get is the point, but it feels frivolous and unserious.

This book has an interesting premise but falls a bit flat in my opinion. However if you are a fan of the Joker. I think you might have a better shot at liking it.

[Robby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has a great premise both in pitting the various villains against each other, and in seeing how they all act when thrown together in lockup. I wish the execution had been a bit better though. The choice of artists seems pretty random, and I would have liked to have seen takes more specific to the various villains' points of view, like we get in the surreal Harley Quinn chapter. There's not much substance to the central mystery, and things get messy pretty fast. It would have been great to see a writer like Tom King attack this premise, but instead we get way too many pieces that do not quite hold together.

[Daniel Freer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it, especially in everyone's story the way they are all drawn different

Thought it was clever and wanted to see where it would go from when the statement your listening to is the Jokers lol. But it worked great, the story had the right amount of humor, twists and ridiculousness that made it not only very enjoyable but also very original. Also in a classic joker piss you off move you'll see at the end, it's the only way you'd expect him to operate and also why he's the Clown Prince. A masterpiece if a story and plan and once again why joker is not only the best villian of all time but one of the greatest of them to ever do it... in a comic

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just too goofy. I love the Batman rogues gallery and it was kind of annoying to see them written like they are all so dumb and silly. Not at all the tone I was expecting. I'm not against using humor, but there should be a balance between how morbidly absurd they are and how genuinely threatening, weird and tragic they can be. I was surprised a book all about these characters had no atmosphere or sense of danger to it.

And the other reviews are correct: this is way too long. I honestly think this could have been a single issue, or like an annual.

[Kurt Rackman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who killed the Riddler?

This is a great collection. Slick writing, gorgeous artwork and a story as slippery as its unreliable narrator, this is a very funny and engaging whodunnit involving the pantheon of Gotham's most dangerous villains set against each other in an epic McGuffin search which may not be as it seems...

Riproaring fun from the pen of Matthew Rosenberg, this is a real treat for Batman/Joker fans looking for a bit of humour to go with their brutal villainy.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The basic concept, a mystery that unfolds through Joker's extremely unreliable narration, is really good, and the characterization is solid overall But there are way too many characters, and because they all need at least a little bit of spotlight, the story quickly gets repetitive. A solid ending helps, but the middle is just overly long.

[Wendopolis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The was just ok. There was too much going on for it to be coherent. I chose to read this not only because of Joker, but because of Chip Zdarsky's wonderful Spiderman comic, Life Story. That was so, so good, that of course i wanted everything else he wrote to be just as good. Alas, it was not to be.

[Ed C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really funny non batman related Batman comic. Joker is a great character here. There are a lot of gotham villain cameos here but overall the art style didnt do it for me. Ending is definitely worth the long winded journey.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure the complicated plot and clues really worked, but this was a fun "Long Halloween" style celebration of Batman's famous villains as they fight to tell their side of a scavenger hunt gone wrong.