Batman / Catwoman #4

[cyberghostface]

Warning for animal cruelty

Comments

[lordultimus]

Honest question: is it animal cruelty if it's another animal doing harm?

[stubbleupdate]

If you allow it to happen, yes.

See also: dog fighting

[lordultimus]

Ah, now the first scan is being shown to me, it didn't for some reason at first. Now it makes sense.

[remial]

"No one sucks the life from my penguins except me! And maybe polar bears, because that's just nature Gunter."

[buttz]

This is a very geographically confused comment.

[remial]

yeah, that's kinda the Ice King right there

[donnblake]

But Oographically it makes perfect sense!

[deh_tommy]

Tom Kenny voiced all three, so that evens out.

Way to ruin the ending of Batman Annual #2...

[deh_tommy]

Friendly reminder that Oswald #?@$ed a penguin.

Re: Way to ruin the ending of Batman Annual #2...

[onsokumaru]

Was he drunk and thought it was a nun?

Re: Way to ruin the ending of Batman Annual #2...

[tinygaylaura]

I'm sorry he did w h a t

HE €&$?ED A P E N G U I N

[deh_tommy]

During Tom King’s run on Batman (which I think this is meant to be in continuity with), Penguin’s beloved Penny Cobblepot was murdered by Bane to get him to fall in line with his latest plot to Break The Bat(tm). You’re meant to think she was maybe a showgirl or a henchwoman or his secret wife or something, but the implications were clear enough and that was later definitely revealed she was a literal penguin.

Who knows, maybe she was humanish enough or could speak English (like Detective Chimp or Rocket Raccoon) and the relationship was consensual, but I doubt it.

Re: HE €&$?ED A P E N G U I N

[tinygaylaura]

We've gained notoriety

And caused much anxiety

In the Audubon society

With our games

They call it impiety

And lack of propiety

And quite a variety

Of unpleseant names

Re: Way to ruin the ending of Batman Annual #2...

[mesmiranda]

That is not friendly at all D:

[silverhammerman]

Could... could a cat really take a penguin in a fight? I mean, it's a small penguin, but a cat would have to be borderline feral to take on something that big for the kill, and a penguin could probably do some real damage with that beak.

[donnblake]

Oddly, I don't think Cat vs Penguin was ever a nature special, either on the Animal Planet *or* Spike TV.

[scorntx]

Only in the Mirror Universe, with David Attenbrough's award winning series "Feral Planet."

"Today, we have a rare, endangered species of bird, seldom seen by man. And facing it is a tiger, which we've starved and tormented for two days now, so it should be both extremely hungry and very angry. Brace yourselves, gore fans, but don't blink. This is probably going to be quick..."

[lego_joker]

Penguins have absolutely *no* instincts for land-based predators, and even in water their only form of defense is swimming away. IIRC, the only reason early European explorers didn't send them the way of the dodo (and God knows how many other birds) with their pets is because the place is way too big and cold.

[mrstatham]

Given the type of penguin that's depicted as (it looks like an Emperor Penguin to me), it should at least be a larger bird. Either that or the cat's gotten pumped.

[scorntx]

Given the number of times Gotham's water supply has been dosed / laced / pumped with goodness-knows-what over the years, could buy that the cats of Gotham are getting pumped off their drinking water.

"I just don't understand it. I put down Ginger's water for her, same as usual. Two minutes later, her eyes are glowing green, she's six feet larger, and trying to break my spine..."


(Canonically, the bats of Gotham are larger than elsewhere, and that was before the supervillains started up. Maybe it applies to cats as well?)

[shakalooloo]

Oh wow, so that's one way to take away all of Catwoman's likeability. Not cool.

I mean, if we had a character rock up to Selina's place and unleash a rottweiler to kill her cat in front of her, that would be clear signposting that they're an irredeemable asshole, right?

[janegray]

Seriously. It's even a freaking trope! "And your little dog too." It's a shorthand to indicate that somebody is vile.

[tinygaylaura]

There was no need for her to hurt an innocent animal like this

If she wanted to threaten Oswald she could have just kicked the crap out of him. I'd be fine with that as Oswald has done plenty to deserve an ass kicking.

That penguin is just a little bird that's living its life and doing penguin stuff. Leave it be :(

[mrstatham]

I mean, bear in mind this series seems to be positing the notion that Batman/Joker/Catwoman was basically some manner of love triangle with the two men basically having near-complete influence over Selina and how she elects to act, leaning more toward 'she's bad but Batman brings out the good in her'. And if that isn't the single most miserable take on Selina in forever, I don't know what is.

[lego_joker]

Oh hey, welcome back!

(And it's ironic - I'm usually one of the people who thinks BatCat unnecessarily defangs Selina as a character (hence Julie Newmar's utterly twisted version being my favorite), but it turns out there's such a thing as going too far in the opposite direction, as well.)

[mrstatham]

Thanks - I don't really tend to bother with superhero comics these days - but I got a reply to a comment I made a long while back and thought I'd poke my head in.

And yeah, I think Selina is occasionally a difficult character for writers based on what people want out of her - antihero, villain, the Batman Returns take lingering in popular culture (even if that doesn't work in the comics at all, as evidenced by the New52) - but this take is really a bit much.

[deh_tommy]

Tom King’s Bat-related stuff* is pretty much almost nothing but miserable takes, to be honest.

[mrstatham]

I don't think much of him as a writer, to be honest; a lot of it just reeks of the same tone and ugliness as Identity Crisis, which to me was DC's turning point from 'some series can be more mature and darker' to 'the entire universe is a miseryfest'.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I love cats.

But I also love penguins.

I don't love this.

And honestly, I know there was a warning for animal cruelty, but if I'd known that was the entirety of the post...

[tinygaylaura]

I hate stories where animals are hurt or killed

They don't have any malice in their hearts they're just these cool creatures we're lucky to have on the planet with us.

This is also very out of character for Selina.