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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Job Creation: Supervillain Real Estate Brokers

I like the idea of The Broker in this image. Anybody who has ever opened a superhero comic book or has ever seen a superhero movie knows that a villain is likely to take up residence in a location where he or she (or it) could remain under the radar from the authorities. Outside of legitimized villains like Lex Luthor, who have the pleasure of living in their homes, typical hideouts include abandoned warehouses, factories, amusement parks, and toy stores. I still have not been able to come up with an adequate theory as to why villains have such proclivities towards toys -- perhaps it has something to do with having easy access to seeminly innocent gadgets, which could in fact cause substantial harm to a superhero with proper adjustments (those little bomber helicopters seem particularly dangerous).

Let's take the case of Gotham City. Indeed, when one thinks about poverty-striken and run-down cities in the DC Universe, one instinctively thinks of either Bludhaven or Gotham City. That means that there should be many abandoned buildings, warehouses and amusement parks for villains to choose from. Here's the problem: the villain count in Gotham city is growing rapidly, especially following the "death" of Batman. As such, there is heavy competition for the best hideouts, especially among the newer villains trying to break into the business. And even though there are likely many abandoned buildings, obviously not all of them are useable or are located in areas that maximize a villain's ability to remain hidden.

Hence, there are lots of villains and a limited number of vacancies. Not to mention, criminals might be a cowardly and superstitious lot, but there's no denying that they're busy. They have better things to do then look around for a place with adequate plumbing. So what's the solution?

Enter The Broker. An invention only possible from the mind of Paul Dini, The Broker seems to be an independent real-estate agent exclusively for supervillains, who finds potential hideouts for his clients and charges them a finder's fee. This might be a profitable enterprise for crafty businessmen. Let's take a look at average salary statistics for real estate brokers from payscale.

Median Salary by Employer Type - Job: Real Estate Broker (United States)

It looks like the self-employed brokers make the most annually. I am assuming that The Broker is self-employed and does not work for some evil supervillain brokerage firm, so this is fortuitous news for him. What about statistics by city?

Median Salary by City - Job: Real Estate Broker (United States)

If you take a look at New York (the closest model to Gotham City), you will note that average broker salaries seem to pretty decent, relative to other cities. It is not as high as Phoenix or Atlanta, but higher than Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston. So, it seems as though The Broker had picked a lucrative enough criminal profession in a decent location.

There are, however, a few major problems with The Broker's choice of a career path. First of all, I think The Broker would need to charge larger fees in order to compensate for occupational hazards. The guy is working with supervillains. It's a dangerous line of work and it is not unreasonable to assume that some of these villains might not pay, might turn on him, and might even harm him. Look at what happened to the gentleman who tried to sell the Joker the abandoned amusement park in The Killing Joke. I think that even a high of $60,000 a year is not a generous enough salary for dealing with the dangers that The Broker has to face on a daily basis.

Secondly, The Broker is limiting himself to buyer services. Typically, brokers act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers. They help buyers find affordable homes for the lowest possible cost, but they also help sellers sell spaces for the highest possible costs. The very nature of matching up criminals with abandoned hideouts prevents The Broker from providing seller services, from which brokers make a large percentage of commissions. He is not speaking to criminals on behalf of any owners and does not own the buildings himself. It is an illegal transaction, which also has the potential to be discovered by the authorities. Not to mention, he is most likely dealing with up-and-coming villains such as the BoneBlaster. These newbies are not likely to be able to afford the high-scale, upper-class abandoned warehouses, but rather the more modest ones in questionable neighborhoods.

Thus, it seems The Broker is actually quite restricted in the income he could make from his business. Though creative, a "thriving business" in Gotham City it is not. I highly doubt it would last long and I believe The Broker would be filing for bankruptcy rather quickly if he continued.

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