Aaaaand.....the Twist!
Let me just start off by saying I love Penguin. I think he is a big underdog in the Batman villain community. Chris Nolan has gone on record as saying he will never make him a villain in one of his movies because it is so hard for him to be taken seriously. And, it is true Penguin is not some super mutant like Bain, and he is not completely psychotic like the Joker. The reality is Penguin is just a short stocky mobster with a funny nose. When you see him on the page I guarantee the first thing that pops into your head is not, "now there is a real criminal mastermind". Simone uses all these preconceived notions about Penguin to her advantage.
When I first opened this book, and read the first pages my heart sank. Up to this point everything was so intense, so well thought out, and even though it was all just in the penguin's head it seemed so low brow. Cheap laughs and cleavage shots seemed to just distract from story at hand, and Penguin had been reduced to a punch line. Well ladies and gentlemen I was played, like the Birds themselves, Gail Simone had lead me down the garden path and I fell for every trick. Simone had been playing me, not just at the beginning of this issue, but from page one frame one of this series. And, you know what? It was one awesome ride.
So perhaps a quick recap is in order. The Birds have found themselves hold up in Penguin's Iceburg Lounge. The cops are after them, both the good and the dirty kind. The dirty cops have been told that if they can kill the Birds their nefarious acts will not be exposed to the public, and they are out to kill. So they have come in guns blazing. The mysterious White Canary has injured the seemingly innocent Penguin, and not wanting to be pinned for his death Black Canary has been doing everything she can to keep him alive. This proves to be her Achilles heel when Hawk is mortally wounded, and she is forced to choose between Penguin and Hawk. Thinking she is outsmarting White Canary she chooses to instead go confront White Canary directly. Unfortunately, this allows the real villain of this story to make his move.
The writing in this issue has a different feel than the previous two issues. There is a lot more humor here, a lot more distractions, and it is easy to lose perspective of the situation (as I did). Ultimately, it is all served to a greater purpose in the revelation of the master villain. It all adds up to me being super excited to see how everything comes together in the next issue.
Benes does great work with this issue. There are a lot of great action frames when the police come in and open fire in the Iceberg Lounge. There is also a hilarious image of Penguin dressed as Superman during one of his "delusions".
Black Canary has been put in a precarious situation, and a has a lot of tough decisions to make, and I haven't even mentioned the position Oracle finds herself in. There is a lot to wrap up in this series, but so far Simone has failed to disappoint. This is definitely one of the best series I have read lately.
