Penguin: Pain and Prejudice

[Silver Nemesis]

Now that the series is finished, what's everyone's opinion?

I could see a number of Hitchcock references in it: Oswald's Norman Bates-like oedipal complex towards his mother, and the scenes of people being pecked to death by birds. There was a definite Citizen Kane influence too – the way you never see Oswald's parents' faces, and the scene where his mother drops the snow globe on her deathbed.

And maybe it's just me, but I thought Oswald's master plan was pretty similar to Batman Returns. He wants to avenge himself against the city by killing all the children. But instead of using real penguins with rocket launchers, he uses birds guided by rocket-propelled robot penguins.

I thought it was probably the best Penguin story in a while. Though there were a few things I didn't like about it, mainly relating to the scenes of Oswald murdering his siblings and punishing people by murdering their relatives, etc. I just found those scenes to be a tad excessive. They undermined the otherwise sympathetic depiction of Oswald and made him appear like a sadistic sociopath. It's probably the most evil and vindictive version of the character I've ever seen.

But overall, I liked how it referenced earlier Penguin comics and took a more psychological approach to the character. Hopefully this miniseries and the Arkham City game will help restore the Penguin to his proper place amongst the A-list of Batman villains.

[Paul (ral)]

I definitely got the Hitchcock and Returns influence.

The attacking birds was very much a mix of The Birds and the penguins going out to attack in Returns.

I'm surprised that Gregg Hurwitz stated that Returns wasn't an influence.

All in all though, a solid story. Penguin's own twisted sense of justice and justification for his crimes was almost convincing. Definitely a great character study and one of the best reads in some time. The artwork by Szymon Kudranski is brilliant throughout.