32 - Penguin

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#32 - Penguin
First Appearance: Detective Comics #58 (Dec 1941)

"Penguin party in my pants." ~Penguin (This is an actual quote)

It's interesting - Penguin was easily the worst of the major Batman villains for about 50 years, and then suddenly people started figuring out what to do with him. So throughout the Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages, I think nearly every single outing of the Penguin was some sort of comically bad goofy bird-pun-riddled mockrey of good comics. And then somewhere in the 90s it happened: Penguin began to be a sort of information broker and criminal black market master running things out of the Iceberg Lounge. It's amazing what a change of venue can do for a character.

When Penguin is working as a master of the Lounge, a true linewalker in criminal pursuits, attempting to keep his business straddling the dark gray between the black and white in order to turn a double dose of cash. That's the way the Penguin is meant to be; smart, a little bit mean, a little bit rough, but ultimately a gruff, intelligent, saavy businessman, and not a goofy idiot with a fetish for fowl. Save yourself some time and ignore everything pre-Crisis with the Penguin, because if you're like me, you're looking for the Penguin from Emperor Penguin. You're looking for the guy from Arkham City. So let's just celebrate that a character lost in a mire of terrible puns has been given new life and turned into an interesting fleshed-out character that is always available to help you... so long as you're willing to pay the right price.

Greatest Penguin Story Ever Told: Penguin: Pain and Prejudice - Forget everything you ever thought about Oswald Cobblepot. In P&P, you're going to be introduced to a character you've never seen before - Oswald Cobblepot. In one of the most amazing reinventions to come out of the New 52, Penguin is everything you never knew you wanted. Just a phenomenal story.

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