The Penguin #2 – Tom King, Writer; Rafael De La Torre, Artist; Marcelo Maiolo, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: The first issue of Tom King’s new villain-centric series introduced us to a very different Oswald Cobblepot—one who was retired, humbled, and even maybe a bit happy. But that was before Nuri Espinoza kidnapped his lover and blackmailed him into returning to Gotham to reclaim his throne. Now he’s unleashed—and he’ll need help. Namely, the Help, one of the best original Tom King characters he’s created in recent years. This ruthless, professional aide de camp has been the ultimate henchman/butler to countless villains, and fought Batman to a standstill in Batman: Killing Time. Now, at the still-spry age of 92, he’s retired to a county estate where he gets to enjoy the one thing he’s never had before—help. He’s surrounded himself with skilled servants to attend to his every need, and they narrate most of this issue as the Penguin comes to call and seeks to pull The Help back into service.
A big part of this series is that few people take Penguin seriously anymore, and are unafraid to tell him that to his face. The Help is less overtly rude than some, but his wry, resigned nature is almost more insulting to Cobblepot. He tries to let him down gently, then has little problem disbursing him of any illusions that he has any power in his house violently. But as we’ve seen in past Penguin spotlights, his biggest skill is that his plans tend to be long in developing, and absolutely horrific when they unravel. This issue, set in an old gothic manor and narrated by countless people whose presence is almost interchangeable, plays out like a horror movie—but one where both leads are killers, and it’s a battle of wills to see who gets the drop on who first. Big risk devoting the entire second issue to only two players and not following up on many of the plots in the first issue, but as usual for King, it worked brilliantly.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
