Batman #23.3: Penguin Review

One could argue that Penguin is the Batman rogue least in need of a Villains Month issue, between his recurring presence in books like Batman: The Dark Knight and the recent Penguin: Pain and Prejudice mini-series that offered an excellent new take on his origins. Luckily, Frank Tieri doesn't waste time exploring familiar ground with this issue. Only a few token references are made to either Penguin's past or the current Forever Evil status quo. Tieri is able to deliver an entertaining reminder of what makes Oswald Cobblepot such a dangerous member of Batman's rogues gallery.

The gist of the conflict here is that Penguin has a chip on his shoulder following Emperor Penguin's brief reign. And when a popular politician/former boyhood chum places the Iceberg Casino in his crosshairs, Penguin sees the opportunity to rebuild a wounded reputation. Simple, but effective. Tieri is able to write Penguin as a convincingly dark and twisted villain while retaining just a trace of sympathy for a man who has been bullied and despised his entire life.

This issue manages to avoid many of the same tropes found in other Villains Month issues. In fact, the story doesn't seem to fit within Forever Evil's confines very well, as if this issue has been sitting in storage for a while and was quickly modified for the purpose of Villains Month. But all that really means is that the story stands alone better than most.

The artwork in this issue is nothing remarkable, with fairly bland page layouts and characters (apart from Penguin himself) that tend to look very similar and interchangeable. The storytelling is competent enough, but this bird might have soared a little higher if the visuals were able to exploit the full depravity of Penguin's world.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

Source : ign[dot]com