COMIC BOOK REVIEW - Detective Comics: Emperor Penguin
By The Masked Medic
Since we’re on a good run, and I’m really enjoying reading comic books again, I thought, let’s return to what I know best: Gotham. The last few Batman novels I’ve been reading have all been part of the “Death Of The Family” storyline, and I was sort of looking forward to being done with all of that. So it was time to return to Detective Comics!
‘Emperor Penguin’ starts with Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin, putting out a hit on Bruce Wayne in an attempt to become the most prominent philanthropist in Gotham City. Great way to do it, eh? However, thanks to several criminals keeping Batman busy, Bruce Wayne arrives late to the fundraiser, where he was supposed to be assassinated, and Cobblepot manages to find a way to gain popularity without inciting murder. There is then a one-shot story with Poison Ivy trying to find a way to destroy many of the Penguin’s “legitimate” businesses, but she enlists the help of Basil Karlo, aka Clayface. But this is Poison Ivy we’re talking about; she’s smart. She feeds Clayface some sort of hallucinogenic plant that makes him think they’re married and in love. Aww. The novel then focuses on The Penguin’s right-hand man, Ignatius Ogilvy. When the Joker comes back to Gotham during the events of “Death Of The Family”, he takes Penguin with him to Arkham to set a trap for Batman. In that time, Ogilvy sees his opportunity and takes over the Penguin’s empire, and all of his legitimate and illegitimate businesses. He comes up with the moniker “Emperor Penguin”, which is both hilarious and the stupidest thing I’ve heard. Can Emperor Penguin take over a crime empire without attracting the attention of the Batman? And can Batman finally find a way to stop Oswald Cobblepot?
‘Death Of The Family’ was a great event, but it focused so much on what Joker was doing that I think it definitely left a bit of a gap in terms of showing us what Gotham was like during that time. In that sense, ‘Emperor Penguin’ was the perfect novel, focusing mainly on the streets and those villains that we didn’t see during that entire debacle. I enjoyed the majority of this novel, and the few issues in between, focusing on Clayface and Poison Ivy, were great. I think Batman has such an iconic gallery of villains that novels that are able to showcase lots of them at the same time are the best. The only qualm I had with this novel was that I don’t particularly think that Emperor Penguin is a great villain, and I hope he’s not here to stay!
Look, the artwork was good, honestly, some of those panels were beautiful, but the real standout? Those covers. Every single cover in this novel was fantastic, but the one I chose above, oof, goes in hard. Overall, you know that Batman never disappoints, so returning to this series was a good move. Let’s go and read some more comics!
Favourite Panel:
I’m glad he understands the irony!
Favourite Character:
It’s a Detective Comics novel, guys, it was always going to be Batman!
Rating:
Story Arc: ★★★½
Character Development: ★★★½
Artwork: ★★★★
Enjoyability: ★★★½
Re-readability: ★★★½
Level: Intermediate