The Penguin #5 – Tom King, Writer; Rafael De Latorre, Artist; Marcelo Maiolo, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: So far, every issue of this series has focused on Penguin recruiting his allies one by one, as he prepares for an invasion of Gotham to take back his old empire. But the Iceberg Lounge is still in the hands of the Cobblepot family—his twin kids, a sadistic woman who is the brains of the operation, and a brutish man who is more than happy to be his enforcer. And this issue is all about how they run things—and it may somehow be worse than their father’s way. The focus and POV for this issue is Black Spider, a Gotham assassin and vigilante with a particular hatred for drug dealers. He runs operations for the Cobblepots, but seems to have trouble with their “leave one alive to spread the word” policy. This causes him to have issues with obtaining the Venom he needs—for his longtime lover, who is sick and is able to alleviate the symptoms with Bane’s former drug. But when he crosses the Cobblepots again, they escalate—and take his significant other hostage to ensure his cooperation.
This is the kind of story we’ve seen before, but there are a few flourishes here that really work. The focus being an older gay couple is something we don’t see often in comics, and Black Spider is a fascinatingly flawed character who has a long, complex history with drugs that has radicalized him against dealers. The scenes where he tries to get his man back are brutally violent and really drive home just how evil these Cobblepots are—which explains why Black Spider was desperate enough to cut a deal with The Penguin to serve as his spy to infiltrate the organization. We’re building towards the return of the Penguin to Gotham, and King has done an incredible job of getting us invested in this story. Not in Penguin himself, per se—he’s still a horrible person with few redeeming qualities—but a great conflict has been set up, and we know why we’re supposed to fear Oswald Cobblepot, and maybe view him as the lesser evil.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
