The Riddler Speaks - Casefile #0076 (Patreon)

EDWARD: Damianfuckingstark asks: Do you have a favourite partner in crime, or do you only work with your fellow rogues if you absolutely need to? And, anonymous asks: If you had to team up with a fellow villain, who would it be? And, anonymous asks: Hey, do you know any other villain you'd be willing to, like, team up with? And, itseasytoremember asks: Mr. Nygma, out of all the villains in Gotham, or even the world, who would you be willing to work with? Also, I picture you being influenced by Professor James Moriarty - Would that be a fair assumption?

Hm. Lots of interest in seeing me work with other criminals, it seems. But honestly, listeners why would I want to? Oh, I used to get involved in group schemes back in the day, we were all new at this and there were so many of us appearing every day, it seemed the logical thing to do. Team up against the Bat. If he could barely take on one of us, a team-up was guaranteed to take him down. But unfortunately, reality interfered. Turns out that having five raging egos in a group of five - well, six if you count poor Wesker - was a bad idea, cooperation wise. Once I got out of traction, I promised myself that I'd never be in a situation where I wasn't giving the orders. Of course there have been exceptions, once in a while. A genius needs to be able to adapt, and if necessary, use someone else in order to get things done. Most of the time though, it's yours truly in the lead - with my loyal girls watching my back. I know of no other criminal I'd like to team up with, and personally, I'd like to keep it that way. As the saying goes, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. 

As for the other question - no, itseasytoremember, I'm afraid I'm not at all influenced by Professor Moriarty. Firstly, Moriarty - as written in the original Holmes stories - was something of a cipher, being mainly a plot device and making very few appearances. Secondly, why should I be? He's a plotter and a schemer, true, but there's plenty of those in literature and plenty more in actual history for me to draw inspiration from. Thirdly, if I were to be inspired by anything from a Holmes story, it would be the Baker Street Irregulars. Talk about intelligent use of resources! The Irregulars knew how to use what they had, and dealt in information - the most valuable weapon of all. What was Moriarty? A plot device. Used by modern day writers who consider him the only memorable Holmes villain, and therefore turn him into some kind of boogeyman. Moriarty is amateur hour, its easy and I've got no real use for fictional idols who can't even kill one detective.