The Riddler's Brilliant Crime Fighting Strategy

Gotham City Sirens #10 by Paul Dini and Andres Guinaldo, DC Comics (2010)

Say what you will about the Riddler's constantly wavering loyalties and his psychological obsession with puzzles. The man still proves himself, time and time again, to be a brilliant strategist.

Whereas once he was one of Batman's greatest foes in the long list of rogues, the Riddler is now one of Gotham's more successful (and legitimate) private investigators. This means that whenever Batman is working a pretty rough case, the Riddler usually wiggles himself into it. It's a wonderful plot source, as this tends to drive a wedge into Batman's own detecting process. Is this a permanent change? Hard to say. However, it has been going on for quite some time and the only signs we have of the Riddler's return to villainy are minor.

It looks like he's in it for the long haul. But we have to ask ourselves the following question: how exactly does the Riddler stay successful?

We need a little bit of background first.

You see, Gotham City law enforcement is organized in a strange way. We actually went over this a little bit in our post on signalling and Batman's crime-fighting strategy, and also here in our post on the effect of superheroes on local law enforcement. Basically, we have a city that is a breeding ground for crime. And not ordinary crime. We're talking about a supervillain haven. Gotham City is polluted not only with ordinary muggers, burglars, robbers, murderers, rapists, mobsters, drug dealers, and thieves, but also with the nutjobs you've come to know and love.

This is why we have law enforcement. Unfortunately, the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) is simply ill-equipped to deal with all of these problems. They could barely handle the widespread criminal activity and systemic corruption before the appearance of any supervillains. Now they are completely overwhelmed and this is all coupled with the fact that the Gotham City budget keeps shorting the department. Less equipment. Less manpower.

This means that the GCPD has to prioritize. Obviously, catching The Joker before he sets off a bomb in Gotham Square is more important than patrolling the narrows to prevent ordinary muggings or drug deals. Yet, even with all police resources focused on supervillain threats, we still don't see results. The crime rate stays up, supervillains are still on the loose, and people are murdered every day.

The police are, simply put, not intelligent enough or equipped enough to handle destruction on such a grand scale.

Batman, of course, has the brains and resources to handle these supergeniuses. After all, he is one himself. And he is almost always the one who rounds up these villains and brings them back to Arkham. The police force--especially Commisioner James Gordon--can help, but it strikes me that this help is usually no more than offering minor clues.

If we were to adhere to the principles of comparative advantage here, then it would be clear that the GCPD should then let Batman handle the supervillains by himself (or with his cohort of Bat-friends), while the force exclusively focus on smaller crimes. However, this does not happen. In fact, the police keep going after the big guys alongside Batman. Inevitably, they get frustrated when he steps in on their game. It makes them look like they are incapable of performing their jobs and so department funding gets pulled all the more.

All of this is explored in Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker's wonderful Gotham Central.

Indeed, this is a strange system. One would think if the police department was being constantly overshadowed by Batman and overlooked by city hall, then this would provide more of an incentive to make low-level, easy arrests and build up stats. At the same time, the police department cannot officially support a vigilante doing its high-end work and I suppose it cannot project the appearance that it is weak on supervillainy either.

Where does the Riddler fit in? Well, apparently his success lies in the fact that he mostly takes on smaller cases. The same ones that are beneath Batman's pay grade and the same ones that the police ignore as they attempt to reign in Mr. Freeze.

It's actually a pretty brilliant strategy. It allows the Riddler to simultaneously earn a "fat check" while establishing his reputation in the community as a legitimate problem-solver. Of course, he doesn't want to be stuck with the reputation of being a guy who takes on easy cases. So every so often, he throws in a hard one, wherein he steps on Batman's own detection process. In effect, the Riddler is edging out the GCPD from law enforcement completely (although he claims that his strategy helps him establish credibility--I just don't see it).

Good for the cops? Absolutely not. Good for society? Who knows. Good for the Riddler? Absolutely.

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Criminal Organizations of the Marvel Universe: A.I.M.

Advanced Idea Mechanics (or A.I.M. if you prefer) is the weapons manufacturing/techonological terrorism giant of the Marvel Universe. Like most Marvel criminal organizations, they are split into different cells and desire to rule the world. But A.I.M. also wants to make a profit. They sell weapons to both heroes and villains in the Marvel universe. They then use these profits to work towards realizing their dreams of a world dominated by bizarre science.

And like any good organization that serves the public and wants instant recognition for their employees, A.I.M. has an employee uniform. Granted, it's much more advanced than your average McDonald's cap or blue shirt for Best Buy. It's a yellow radiation suit that makes every member of A.I.M. look like a nefarious bee-keeper.

Which brings me to a question I've always had. What is it like to be A.I.M.'s in-house tailor? A.I.M. has to have an in-house tailor. You can't be invoicing out for uniforms if you run an underground illegal weapons manufacturing and fringe science group. People would start to notice that sort of thing after a while and report you to the authorities. So A.I.M. needs an individual specifically tasked with clothing their brilliant and mentally deranged members. Garrish yellow bee-keeper outfits that resist radiation don't sew themselves.

And these outfits would need a lot of work and thought put into them. A.I.M. workers walk around in their personal outfit constantly whether they're fighting Iron Man or lounging in A.I.M.'s mad scientist employee staff room. And I would hope that any garment that is worn so much in so many different circumstances would be fitted to the user. After all, if one is going to make evil schemes dressed like a yellow bee-keeper, one should at least be comfortable.

The tailor of A.I.M. has an important jobs since the tailor's work affects the work performance of hundreds of A.I.M. members on tasks such as designing laser guns with 18 barrels and making a UFO that walks around with spider-like legs. Comfort affects job performance and it is the A.I.M. tailor who helps to decide whether A.I.M. will succeed in taking control of a small Caribbean island or get burned up by repulsor rays. And that's a lot of pressure on a tailor's hand and needle. But it seems like the tailor of A.I.M. is up to the task.

Sometimes...

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Criminal Organizations of the Marvel Universe: The Hand

Ah the Hand. They are Marvel's mysterious equivalent of the Yakuza. The Hand rule the criminal underworld of Japan with an iron fist, using ninjas to enforce their whims. These silent and deadly assassins make the Hand particularly terrifying since they are able to strike quickly and silently to eliminate their foes.

But how effective are ninjas once superheroes are thrown into the mix? The Hand have frequently found themselves in conflict with the likes of Daredevil, Wolverine, Electra, and other costumed heroes (including the New Avengers and the X-Men). In all of those cases, the heroes have come out on top, resoundingly trouncing the Hand and their well-trained enforcers. Granted this is usually the outcome whenever a criminal organization goes up against a hero or heroes, but the amount of energy required to train hand ninjas makes these losses even more devastating.


Let's break it down. In order for a single Hand ninja to be an effective enforcer, they require a certain baseline level of skill. To be effective, the average hand ninja needs to be able to at least take out one average street thug with a gun. But the training required for a ninja (who fights primarily with short range melee and thrown weapons) is obviously greater than the training required for the average street thug. In order to be a threat, a Hand ninja needs to learn the use of multiple weapons and martial arts styles quickly and effectively. The ninja also needs training in stealth. By cultivating these skills, a well-trained Hand ninja will be able to negate the inherent advantage provided by using a firearm, allowing the Hand ninja to dispatch his/her enemies with style and efficiency. But this can only be achieved by having a ninja train extensively for many months with several masters of respective styles and skills (swords, shuriken, stealth, etc.).


It also seems likely that the Hand will need to recruit individuals into their service who are outstanding physical specimens. Proper ninjas need a baseline amount of speed, strength, and dexterity that not every human being possesses. As a result, the Hand would need to screen and recruit applicants prior to their ninja training. And in some cases, the Hand ritually murder their trained ninjas and resurrect them to give them superhuman strength and endurance. This ceremony takes at least a day and requires the efforts of a dozen of the Hand's gifted sorcerers. All in all, this is a lot of time and energy invested into a single Hand ninja.


And then Wolverine kills several hundred of these ninjas in a single day. The investment hardly seems worth the return.




To produce a single ninja requires at least several months and the continuous effort of multiple ninja trainers. Hundreds of man-hours are expended. And Wolverine merely needs to flick his wrist to negate all of that effort.

In a world where heroes can wade through your well-trained sycophants, it certainly seems more economical to hire random thugs with some marksmanship training and provide them with automatic weapons than to imbue hundreds of ninjas with mystical powers. Sure, undead ninjas are cooler but if they're just going to be torn apart anyway why not save yourself the time and effort of training your cannon-fodder?

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The Recession, Crime and Superhero Incentives

We've spoken before about the link between poverty, economics and crime. Consider the panel above, suggesting that rampant unemployment in Liberty Hill has contributed to the surge in violent crime and death. Well, it looks like there is more real-Earth evidence that links harsh economic times to crime. Specifically:

Emerging research from sociologists, journalists, trade journals, and law enforcement suggest that certain types of crime are rising and began rising in early 2009/late 2008 when the pains of the recession first began being felt. This has led some analysts to investigate a link between the two, theorizing that the anxiety, suffering, and loss of the financial meltdown has made criminals more likely to commit crimes.

Of course, the majority of these crimes are not violent crimes (as suggested in Ink), but rather crimes associated with a financial gain or incentive. According to USA Today, robberies and burglaries are on the rise and have been increasing 39% and 32% in 2009. Vehicle theft has been increasing 40%, drugs and prostitution have been linked to an increase in foreclosures, and domestic violence against women has surged since 2009. In addition, there has been a rise in insurance fraud and identity theft. Nationwide's 2009 survey demonstrated that 10% of the respondents had missed payments due to identity theft.

In fact, violent crime seems to be the only type of crime that is decreasing (at least in certain areas). According to Freakonomics, murder in New York has fallen compared to last year by 21%. Rapes are down by nearly as much.

Add to this the fact that police departments across the country are feeling the economic squeeze. McClatchy reports "Declining sales and property taxes are forcing law enforcement agencies across the country to postpone buying equipment, cut recruitment classes, freeze overtime and redeploy staff to save money." So the police officers that are still on staff end up having less of an incentive to effectively fight crime, as depicted in the following panel.


What are the implications of this recession for the major comic book universes? Well, one thing that I had not considered until recently is that mutants, aliens living on Earth, and all metahumans in general might be increasingly tempted to use their powers and abilities for evil rather than good. The recession could actually breed more supervillains, albeit ones likely interested in holding people hostage for ransom and robbing banks. If you're someone with the power of invisibility and you have just lost your dead-end job, have barely enough money to sustain an even meager living in New York, and are struggling with the difficulties and prejudices involved of being a mutant, you might consider walking into a bank and taking some cash. Consider Alan Moore's depiction of the Joker's origin in The Killing Joke. Here, the Joker was just an ordinary man, struggling with a career change and trying to make it as a comedian. Down on his luck and deprived of the funds to support his family, he agrees to be part of a heist against a chemical plant. He has a run in with the Batman and we know the rest. And he wasn't even superhuman!


So what can be done about the recession, crime, and supervillain problem? It seems to me that a crucial measure would be to encourage those on-the-fence metas to take up a life of heroism rather than villainy. This means offering monetary incentives and rewards for fighting crime. We've seen the likes of this scheme before with such organizations as the Thunderbolts, which employs "former" supervillains as employees of the government to catch unregistered, unlicensed superheroes. But we also see it here with the Tattooed Man, a former Green Lantern villain who has now apparently reformed and is enjoying a perks of being a superhero, being an official member of the Justice League of America, and who is apparently receiving money for his work.


I did not quite catch in this issue how the Tattooed Man is receiving a "payday," but I assume it is something similar to Booster Gold during 52, who received endorsement deals from companies and made some advertising revenues. Essentially, he promoted himself as a flying billboard. Indeed, the point is that the Tattooed Man now has an incentive to be a superhero. That means he is not causing trouble for the Justice League. It also means that he is helping to foil bank robberies, murders, heists, evil dark deities' schemes to take over the planet and force human beings into submissive obedience, and pretty much the whole gamut of comic book crimes.

Governments should do everything in their power to offer some sort of payment for these metahumans. This can even go beyond an actual paycheck, but include additional on-the-job benefits. As the Tattooed Man noted, he receives many extra perks for holding an official Justice League club card. It's just like being in a labor union. I am sure that the Tattooed Man now has health benefits, a pension plan, job security, influence on union policy, and discounts at all major alien technology outlets. These are the sorts of benefits that could deter wayward metas from a life of broken bones and exorbitant medical costs on account of being pounded by Superman. That in addition to reducing the potential supervillain population and helping the United States government alleviate its steadily augmenting crime problem.

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Can J. Jonah Jameson Stop Spider-Man Using Economics?

Poor J. Jonah Jameson. For so long he's held such a passionate grudge against Spider-Man's vigilantism and has employed every means in his power as editor of The Daily Bugle to slander and whittle Spidey's popularity away from the public's eye. It's worked with mix results. But now, Jameson has just landed a position of power as the mayor of New York City. And that means things are going to be different. He has the political and budgetary power to take out Spider-Man through a variety of new methods. He's going to make life really rough on our web-crawler.

Except things are sort of the same.

You see, Jameson's first order of business was to use government funds to secure a special operative task force with the sole purpose of hunting Spider-Man 'round the clock. Aside from Spidey's quip about spending all this money in such a financial climate (Ecocomics Recession Watch!), there is a larger problem: it's not working the way Jameson had intended. His master plan is to either catch Spider-Man or force him into hiding, which would ensure him victory over New York and earn him respect for being a "no-nonsense, law-and-order, zero-tolerance arachnid" politician.

The problem with this plan is twofold. First of all, governments are generally lousy at catching superheroes. Many times in the comic book world have such task forces and organizations been created and it seems like they consistently get nothing done, while draining the economy's resources for high-tech surveillance gadgets. But the more interesting problem is that Jameson's actions are actually having a strange, adverse effect: rather than forcing Spidey into hiding, he actually decided to don the suit and fight crime 24/7, foregoing his Peter Parker persona. Jameson has actually increased Spider-Man's popularity.

I think that if Jameson really wants to beat Spider-Man, it's about time that he uses his newfound power and influence in a more creative way: economics.

Despite the fact that Spider-Man battles with an array of supervillains, most of his duties involve taking out regular crimes -- robberies, street thugs, gang violence, etc. This is what he is seen doing during Mark Waid's "24/7" story arc. And this sort of crime is currently running rampant in New York (at least in the Marvel Universe). But other things running rampant as well: poverty, uninsurance rates, health care and education costs, etc. These are factors that are known to contribute reductions in crime. A strong economy, for instance, is shown to have reduced the incidence of nonviolent crime (the kind with financial incentives--burglary, robbery, etc.). This paper from the Quarterly Journal of Economics shows that providing families with opportunities to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods significantly reduces juvenile violent crime. This article from The Washington Post describes investment in social programs' effect on reduction of gang violence.

Admittedly, a strong economy does not explain the whole story and there is plenty of evidence to suggest other factors in crime reduction (see Freakonomics, which argues that the legalization of Roe v. Wade in the 70s has played a large role in the reduction of crime rates in the 90s). Yet, Jameson should consider taking the money that he is spending on police forces, especially this anti-Spidey-squad, and funneling it towards anti-poverty measures, health care, education, job training, etc. This way, he accomplishes two things. First, he actually has a chance of achieving the reduction in crime that he preached in his campaign. This would win him the favor of the public. Second, he slowly but surely diminishes the need for Spider-Man, correcting the 24/7 plot that he accidently instigated and reducing Spidey's influence on the city. In this way, Jameson could demonstrate his considerable prowess and show to the people of New York that he is more effective than Spider-Man. Oh yeah, and it could also help reduce poverty, insure more people and help with education. Those things are nice too.

Economics: it might take a while and it might backfire, but it is certainly an idea that Jameson should try out if he's serious about finally nabbing that pesky arachnid.

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