Penguin #3: The Crew

Villains make fascinating protagonists, and Oswald Cobblepot is proving to be a great one in Penguin. The creative team delivered two solid and insightful issues to kick off the series. Penguin #3 swings for the fences more than either of the first two issues and succeeds in almost every way.

Penguin #2 focused on Oswald bringing back his old body man. Penguin #3 sees him continue to assemble forces to replace the goons he no longer has. Here, Oswald is reassembling a more senior team that used to work for the government–the Force of July. There were five members: Lady Liberty, Major Victory, Sparkler, Mayflower, and Silent Majority. Oswald approaches each one with a different strategy, intent on luring or coercing them into his service.

Penguin #3 furthers a trend of turning Oswald Cobblepot into more than just the series’ titular character. The first issue mainly revolved around Oswald, with almost all the ancillary characters’ thoughts focused on him. The second issue added Oswald’s bodyman as nearly an equal co-star. The ancillary characters’ thoughts built him up so that Oswald could tear him down at the end. Penguin #3 focuses mainly on each member of Force of July, with their thoughts centered on what they used to do and what their life has been like since the group disbanded. Oswald’s presence in the book is almost like a force of nature. He is the thing that compels the members of the Force of July to get back together. And his tactics are very different for each of them, unique to their particular situation. In a way, King is building up Oswald to be the bogeyman of his series.

The Force of July team members themselves are developed very effectively and very efficiently. King doesn’t get flowery with their thoughts. He almost bullet points out what we need to know. This works for everyone, but it is especially good with Sparkler.

It’s difficult to read this issue without looking toward the future. One of King’s strengths is lying in both clues and misdirection via subtext. Oswald is traditionally depicted as a very arrogant character. And indeed, King is doing that in this series. On top of that, some of the methods used to recruit the Force of July members are violently coercive. Is Oswald successfully breaking the characters’ will so he can control them, or will these methods backfire?

Penguin #3 is relatively simple so far as its layout and presentation are concerned. King tells the story using a lot of six or nine-panel grids and five or six-page-width horizontal panels. And De Latorre doesn’t embellish panel borders. Indeed, the border style is identical throughout the issue. The simple layouts keep the issue on a deliberate pace. The key moments get their weight from the story and art at any given moment as opposed to a flashy panel designed to help that emphasis along.

De Latorre is generous with both lines and shading in his art. This is especially true when drawing characters, where De Latorre is among one of the most detailed artists. For the most part, this works. The characters he draws are always dynamic and elevate all of King’s dialogue with a great deal of subtext. De Latorre overuses it somewhat when it comes to Oswald’s body man. Granted, he’s supposed to be an older character. But in this one case, there is almost too much detail to read into his expression.

Beyond the body man, though, De Latorre’s art works very well with the issue’s characters. Just as King writes Oswald using different means to coerce Force of July’s members to come back, De Latorre draws very distinct responses for all of them.

Maiolo favors darker shades throughout this issue. Given the story that plays out and how Oswald behaves, this creates a particular mood. It’s almost oppressive, and that supports what King is doing in fleshing out Oswald’s character.

Characters’ thoughts continue to be color-coded, both in the caption box and text color. Cowles mostly makes good choices here, as he has in the previous two issues. The choice for Sparkler’s thoughts is too close to Maiolo’s coloring choice for the scene, but otherwise, Cowles’ work is largely successful.