Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 24, 2023 | 1 comment

Riddle me this: What Facsimile Edition have we wanted for a long time? This one…

This is a big one, folks: DC Comics in October will be releasing the Detective Comics #14o Facsimile Edition, featuring the first appearance of the Riddler.

Dig the official solicitation info, released by the publisher:

DETECTIVE COMICS #140 FACSIMILE EDITION

Written by BILL FINGER, OTTO BINDER, and others
Art by DICK SPRANG, JIMMY THOMPSON, CURT SWAN, and others
Cover by WIN MORTIMER

Batman and Robin meet the Prince of Puzzles in his 1948 debut. Obsessed with puzzles and driven to win at any cost, Edward Nigma decides to create a costumed persona—the Riddler—and taunts the Dynamic Duo with clues about his upcoming crimes. Will the World’s Greatest Detective finally be outwitted by this cunning criminal? Follow along with the Dark Knight and see if you can solve the Riddler’s riddles in this facsimile reprint collecting the Batman tale, all the backup stories, and vintage ads of the 1940s.

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Several thoughts:

— The issue is due Oct. 3, 2023 and lists at $4.99. (It’s a 48-pager.)

— I first read this story in the seminal hardcover Batman: From the ’30s to the ’70s but it was in black and white. I finally got to read in color years later. But this is something else altogether and I could not be more excited. (For folks asking: The Facsimile Edition is expected to be in current comic-book dimensions.)

— Hardcore fans know this, but this issue was adapted into the Batman ’66 two-parter where John Astin plays the Prince of Puzzlers — Batman’s Anniversary/A Riddling Controversy. No knock on Astin, but I can only imagine what Frank Gorshin would have done with the same material.

— Y’know what kind of amazes me? That we haven’t gotten a Facsimile Edition for Detective Comics #168, which revealed the Joker’s beginnings as the Red Hood. Gotta be a matter of time, right?

— This is one of two DC Facsimile Editions coming in October. Click here to check out the other one.

— Obligatory Price Comparison: A slabbed, 8.0-graded copy recently sold at Heritage Auctions for $37,200, including buyer’s premium. This one’s five bucks.

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MORE

— DETECTIVE COMICS #58: The PENGUIN’s Debut to Get FACSIMILE EDITION Release. Click here.

— BATMAN #1: Landmark 1940 Issue to Be Re-Released As a FACSIMILE EDITION. Click here.