Rhapsodies

Oh, we finally get to the one I’ve been looking forward to the most, The Penguin.

Growing up Oswald Cobblepot was my favorite Batman villain. I think it’s because Burgess Meredeth totally owned the role in the 1960s television show. It’s also probably because he was pretty much the de facto leader of the Rogues Gallery because he was the only one with any brains.

Regrettably, he’s the one who aged the worst. Where all the other villains were updated. The Penguin remained this cartoon of what people from the fifties thought a stereotypical, inbred gentleman looked like.

The first time I saw him being done seriously (or at least seriously so. Was in John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad run where he planned a covert operation into the Soviet Union. Since then he’s worked much better with the writers making him going semi-legit as a fence and information broker, working both sides.

So for this sketch, he gets a makeover. What classy outfit is more up to date but still has us thinking of a penguin? Well, we can lose the necktie, replace the dinner jacket with something a little classier and a Cuban instead of the top hat. The monocle has to go… I’m pretty sure no one’s been wearing them for over twenty years.

I’ll keep the cigarette holder… he has to have some affectations.