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Penguin #1 (2023) cover a
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Series starts August 2023 DC Comics
(W) Tom King
(A) Rafael De Latorre
(CA) Scorpio Steele,Stefano Gaudiano
TOM KING AND RAFAEL DE LATORRE'S ALL-NEW STORY OF THE ICONIC VILLAIN! REVENGE IS FOR THE BIRDS. After retiring to Metropolis following his death, Oswald Cobblepot finds himself forced back into the unpredictable and violent Gotham City underworld as a pawn of the United States intelligence community! Gotham's criminal element has been evolving since he was last in the city, with his bastard twin children ruling the Iceberg Lounge. And what of the man he framed for his death--Batman? Is the Penguin walking into a death sentence? From award-winning and bestselling writer Tom King (Batman, The Human Target) and artist Rafael de Latorre (Daredevil) comes a bloody, hard-boiled tale of redemption and revenge!
Date Available: 08/22/2023
Reviews
Tom King's Penguin opens exactly like you'd expect- Batman and Oswald, mortally wounded, waiting for the Batmobile to sink beneath the waves. Flashback to one year earlier.
That's a pretty good intro, right?
King provides the best part of the book. The story seems like it will be another one of his mysteries, following how Oswald went from being The Penguin- crime boss of Gotham, to Oswald-flower shop owner of Gotham, and what comes next when that all goes wrong. King uses characters from the larger DC universe while continuing the story of one of his own detective from Batman Killing Time.
Now I'm giving this a pretty high rating, but that is not because of the art, and it is fully in spite of the coloring. Rafael De LaTorre's art is adequate for conveying what's happening, but not much more than that. But the color-there isn't a colorist on the book, there's a brownist. Flat, unappealing tones that drown every page. This isn't a very critical way to talk about sepiatown USA, but I hated it.
Like most King mysteries, we won't really know if this is all worth it until the end, but his finite stories usually fare pretty well.
Superman fans- there's a giant spoiler on page three. You've been warned.
Kevin Healy 8 out of 10 GRAHAMS
