The Penguin #1

[cyberghostface]

 

"I think of this book as like the Bird himself, underestimated, then explosive. It’s a dirty, fun, gorgeous exploration of power and corruption in the DCU." -- Tom King



A year before:

Comments

[blueprintstyles]

I wonder how she feels about Superman?

[superfangirl1]

How old is Oswald Cobblepot? He looks older than I realize in the Bat-books. I still can’t believe he sire many children.

[deh_tommy]

Never forget Tom King made Cobblepot boink a literal penguin.

[superfangirl1]

I had to research that. I was surprised that actually happened.

[super_fly]

To paraphrase another comic: "I did not *boink* a penguin, I made *love* to it."

[dcbanacek]

"Well, Agent Bleep let me explain a few fundamental truths to you. I've worked for Amanda Waller, I've been 'gently persuaded' by Amanda Waller, I've been a criminal in Gotham City with ALL the craziness that implies. Hell, I've even survived a mission with the Suicide Squad and routine tune-ups by the Bat... so if you think you scare me and can control me, you're more foolish than the nickname you were given. So sure, I'll sign on the dotted line, rebuild my power base, take your order and then I'll let you live just long enough to realize how thoroughly I've screwed you over when the 'right judge' puts a needle into YOUR wrong vein... Wak, wak, wak."

[cainofdreaming]

Yeah, this is clearly a catching the penguin by the tail scenario.

[john_drake1964]

You'd think at some point that folks in-universe would come to understand that a certain point, Gotham is it's own eco-system of crime. The rise of the Costumed Set of Criminality took out the old, "normal" mobsters. What organized crime is left mostly tends to lurk on the sidelines or is run by the few theme villains who do go for that sort of thing (Black Mask, Penguin, Two-Face, Great White Shark) they do so only because they can survive in the system that is Gotham. You have to be someone like Amanda Waller in terms of general disposition and resources to even think of getting involved in that mess and thinking you can get out mostly intact.

Heck, even the ones generally considered B or C-listers have survived long enough (unless culled to show off a villain or some big "event") in a city that has folks like Isley, Joker, and of course, it's dark knight defender.

Like "oh, that guy has an obsession with Eggs" or "that guy think's he's an ancient pharaoh," and then consider that if they've survived several years in a city like Gotham, then going after someone like Oswald Cobblepot, who keeps getting back up to the top of the organized crime heap, and has a long, long memory for those who've crossed him. Are you sure you're really going to end up in control?

[tcampbell1000]

The pages not scanned here make it clear that Agent @#$% is far from overconfident about her ability to keep the Penguin contained. She thinks it likely she's signed her own death warrant, but her pathological urge to try to bring down Batman is so strong she's doing it anyway.

[shakalooloo]

Good thing Agent Bleep censored herself rather than letting off a profanity like @%@$.

[dan_ingram]

Good thing, too.

I mean, imagine how dumb it would look if there was a dramatic scene where she's supposed to be cursing, and it's just "x!&*!'

[beyondthefringe]

Even at his most dastardly, I have never, ever pictured the Penguin as pants-pissing terrifying.

[dan_ingram]

It's Millar logic/fridge logic at it's most abused.

Batman is scary.

Thus, his enemies are scarier.

Thus, Penguin is super scary.

The reasoning seems to be that Penguin is a super genius for having built an empire under Batman, never mind how many times Batman has kicked it over or taken it apart.

[beyondthefringe]

My feeling is that Batman allows certain crime families/empires to exist only because he hasn't established a plan to deal with the consequences and fallout. Better by far to have someone like Cobblepot running things and know exactly what's going on, than to take him out prematurely and have dozens of lesser wannabe bosses running around.

Sort of the theory behind the otherwise misbegotten War Games storyline which "killed" Spoiler--Batman had a contingency plan to unite Gotham's gangs under Matches Malone.

This doesn't make Penguin scary--just predictable and a known quantity, preferable to dealing with a bunch of less established warlords.

That's my take on it, anyway, as a way to narratively justify why Batman hasn't completely eliminated some of Gotham's crime structures. That, and he's usually dealing with more urgent threats involving aliens and murder clowns.

[laughing_tree]

"Never mind how many times Batman has kicked it over or taken it apart."

See, that'd make him even scarier, because it means he keeps on coming back. You know that no matter what happens to him now, he'll eventually finds a way back into power -- and back in a position to utterly mess you up.

[zylly]

Some King stuff is just awful (Heroes in Crisis).
Some is good, but with debatable hold up on reread (Vision, Mister Miracle).

I don’t hate this just yet. Always good to see Oswald treated well.