Penguin Vol. 2: All Bad Things

After reading Penguin Volume 1 last week, the decision for this week's read was pretty much decided for me, knowing I had to see I'm which direction this particular bird flew.

So, I read Penguin Vol. 2: All Bad Things, which saw Tom King and Rafael De LaTorre wrap up their twelve issue series about the second coming of Oswald Cobblepot. Picking up from the last trade, the Titular villain and his cohorts put their plans into action, as the Penguin attempts to wrest control of Gotham City from his children. However, with last minute betrayals, twists, alliances and even that pesky Bat along with a corrupt Federal agent lying in wait, the Penguin could find his prize is a little too high than he can flap to.

Now, whereas, the first seven issues were all about the plan and gaining the necessary resources, this second volume was all action. Starting with an explosion, this read felt all action but one with a truly excellent story interweaved into it.

Once again, I loved the Machiavellian vibe that King laces into his plot, with events that initially seeming random, coming across on a second thought as though maybe they were part of a bigger plan after all. The depiction of the Penguin is amazing, given the man a true intelligence and really raising his reputation as he goes toe to toe with Batman on a cerebral battlefield, rather than one that's more physical.

De LaTorre also helps in reinforcing this characters greatness with a design of the Penguin that while leaning into his classic look, still keeps him grounded and maintains an err of seriousness. Of course, everything that De LaTorre draws, from character to locale has such a smooth style (a la Stefano Casselli on Secret Warriors in my mind) that it's like watching Layer Cake or Ocean's 11 (or maybe a combination of the two) in terms of its storytelling class.

The Penguin is devoid of problems, although they are the bare minimum being the depiction of one member of the Force of July who is too chaotic for my tastes and the rest of the team whose personalities are bare bones. However, beyond that very little is wrong with how this story hit me. Even Batman's appearance feels stronger compared to the first volume, although he does seem a lot more villainous (although, given that he is the bad guy of this story, that does make sense).

In fact, once of the final epilogue King pens gives this story even more of a twist so that, looking back to the beginning of the story, I can't help but wonder if anything Oswald Cobblepot does before his return to being the Penguin is real? If it isn't, then it is one hell of mask he wears.

From the looks of it, issue 12 was the end of this story and there'll be no more trades, for which I'm thankful; stories like this do seem to run out of steam if stretched on too long (Clone Saga, anyone?). But Tom King and Rafael De LaTorre's Penguin series has been a thrilling, engrossing read, that (I think) has reinforced the respectability and danger the character has maybe been lacking for much of his life.

Anyway, with one Criminal series put to bed, I can finally return to another.