... Moriarty?
... Moriarty?
I can agree with the Dr Moriarty theory though joker did kill him and I think the joker stole the plans the others made and is using them or one of the original designers underlings well that is my theory on that
I saw him as a pastiche or homage to Moriarty than the man himself.
My headcanon is the detective he(?) mentions was the Crimson Avenger or Slam Bradley etc.
I'm currently reading Batman, Detective Comics, DCeased: Dead Planet, Dark Knights: Death Metal, Daredevil, Thor, Nightwing, The Rise of Ultraman and Red Hood and The Outlaws. I'm also trade-waiting the Hickman-era of X-Men comics.
I'll toss out a conspiracy theory.
The Designer's great nemesis is meant to be Holmes' predecessor, the origin of all detective fiction: Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin.
We don't know how Dupin's career ended, but in his final story the villain is a man only ever named as D--. Dupin describes D-- as a poet and a mathematician, with a mind that is both creative and logical. The story ends with the mocking victory message that Dupin leaves for D-- after outwitting him:
"Un dessein si funeste, S'il n'est digne d'Atree, est digne de Thyeste."
(If such a sinister design isn't worthy of Atreus, it is worthy of Thyestes)
Atreus and Thyestes fit in well with the Designer's Greek underworld aesthetic, and their myth is about two brothers constantly scheming against each other and escalating their schemes until the whole kingdom goes to ****. This all happened because of a curse on the House of Atreus starting with their forebearer Tantalus, whose punishment for his crimes against the gods was to be cast into Tartarus for eternity.
This is probably all just coincidence. But I like finding coincidences.