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Lots of great comics to choose from this week. I thought all of the second issues in The New 52 were better than the first issues, and the two new mini-series they introduced were enjoyable additions to their lineup. Come check out what I read!
PENGUIN: PAIN AND PREJUDICE #1
Written by Gregg Hurwitz
Art by Szymon Kudranski
This issue is my pick for best book of the week. The first issue of this five-issue mini-series features a retelling of Penguin’s origin. There are no major deviations from what has come before, and he is still the leader of the underworld in Gotham City. What I found engaging and ridiculously fun was that the creative team manages to make the reader both sympathize and despise Penguin. Oh, he had a rough life, but instead of rising above it he takes out all his pain on everyone around him.
Writer Gregg Hurwitz delivers a fascinating narrative into Penguin’s psyche. Oswald Cobblepot uses his station as a mob boss to carve out everything he was denied in life. If you do so much as bump into him he will ruin you. It seems he is in control and treats everyone like they do not deserve to be in the same room with him. I can almost see how his well-built façade comes crashing down inside his head at the end when Batman shows up and ruins Penguin’s perfect fantasy of control.
Szymon Kudranksi’s art is photorealistic and moody as hell. The dark, twisted world in which Penguin immerses himself comes alive on the page. I have never read a comic by this artist, but I can promise you I will never make that mistake again.
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