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Penguin: Pain And Prejudice (2012)

by Gregg Hurwitz(Favorite Author)

3.92 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1401237320 (ISBN13: 9781401237325)

languge

English

genre

Graphic Novels & Comics

publisher

DC Comics

review 1: Wow! This was amazing! So much more than what I was expecting! First, I recently ran across Kudranski's art and love it. This book's illustration is wonderful, dark and atmospheric. The contrast between Penguin as a child and adult is amazing and it hits you in the heart. I hadn't expected to actually have any kind of feelings for Penguin, not a character I particularly like. However, this story takes us back to Oswald's birth, flashback's to his childhood while showing him in action as the current crime boss. When one sees the sweet baby at birth one feels for the mother whose love surmounts a birth defect. The tale of Oswald's childhood bullying, torture and neglect at the hands of his own father and brothers along with classmates really showed an emotional background th... moreat made the reader feel for the boy. While at the same time, the behaviour of the current criminal Penguin, getting off and enjoying torturing those who even look at him the wrong way is such a contrast. For me, this character finally came to life as a three dimensional person.The book also ends with a one-off story that does flashback's to Oswald's teen years and contrasts it to a current story of his having a romance with a woman who doesn't know who he is. A very well-done story, though the art style is so different from the rest of the book, it's a bit unbalancing.
review 2: The Penguin, aka Oswald Cobblepot, is a crime-lord from one of Gotham's oldest and wealthiest families. Diminutive in appearance with a crooked nose, a rotund figure, dressing in blacks and whites, and a love of all things avian, it's easy to see how Penguin came by his cruel nickname. He's always been kind of a joke figure in the Batman world, a small fat man with no real powers, just money, the ever present monocle, umbrella and cigarette holder - really, what's to be scared of? Well Greg Hurwitz doesn't think Penguin's a joke and writes what is essentially his version of "Killing Joke" for this classic Batman villain.Hurwitz tugs at the heartstrings by making Penguin a figure of mockery from the earliest possible age; spurned by his father but loved by his mother, Penguin grows up with several older brothers who mock and beat him mercilessly, before going to a school where his peers do the same. Isolated by his appearance, he cultivates his precocious intellect to concoct schemes to make his life more bearable - by killing off those who jeer him. Thus are monsters created.Jumping back and forth from the present to the past, we see the Penguin today as a master of revenge, targeting those he perceives have wronged him, sensitive for even the slightest of slights. But he doesn't just go after the person, he goes after their friends, their family, their pets, their acquaintances; Hurwitz writes Penguin as Don Corleone x 100. We also see Penguin's massive network of contacts and resources, making him formidable to a single person looking to stop him - like Batman.Hurwitz gives Penguin a love interest for this book, a blind woman who warms to his personality, and through her we see Penguin's capacity for good - making this story all the more tragic by its conclusion. We also catch glimpses into Penguin's psyche, like how an inferiority complex and bitterness can warp a person on the inside and turn someone who could conceivably make the world a better place but, because of a lack of understanding and love in their formative years, has decided to make the world suffer instead.This is a 5 issue mini-series, but DC also include a one-shot Penguin comic from 2008 written by Jason Aaron called "He Who Laughs Last...!" which, despite its brevity, manages to tell the same story Hurwitz has taken 5 issues to tell in just 1! This mini-series has its roots in Aaron's short comic, and though I enjoyed Hurwitz's book immensely, it made me once again appreciate Jason Aaron's brilliance as a writer and hope he one day returns to Gotham to write a feature length story arc."Penguin: Pain and Prejudice" is an inspired and engrossing story reminding readers why this cartoonish villain is one of the all-time greats in Batman's Rogues Gallery, as well as giving us access to the real person behind the reputation. An excellent read, Batman fans will devour this but for those who enjoy a great gothic story, this is well worth a look too. less

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