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Post by foxley on Dec 13, 2016 18:01:28 GMT -5
The early Batman comics contained quite a few of these types of tales in the early years: stories that were essentially morality tales which would focus on the mistakes that lead someone into a life of crime, and how this led to their inevitable demise. These were inspired by the gangster films of the era (although these were starting to fall out of vogue by this time) and Batman and Robin were very much secondary characters, with the focus being on the criminal. They pretty much ended in Batman and Detective Comics by the end of the war, but continued on in the solo Batman tales in World's Finest. "Brothers in Crime" is a good example. Arguably the best is "Public Enemy No. 1" in Batman #4.
There is at least one other story where Batman fights robot dinosaurs. These ones were made for a movie and someone was seizing control of them to sabotage the film. I'll need to check when this story was.
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Post by foxley on Dec 13, 2016 23:36:30 GMT -5
The other Batman/robot dinosaur story is "The Island That Time Forgot" in Batman #10. However, the consensus is that the T Rex in the Batcave is the from "Dinosaur Island" in Batman #35.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 14, 2016 1:56:30 GMT -5
The other Batman/robot dinosaur story is "The Island That Time Forgot" in Batman #10. However, the consensus is that the T Rex in the Batcave is the from "Dinosaur Island" in Batman #35. Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure I've read that. When I lived in the Antelope Valley (Los Angeles County), the Lancaster library had quite a few of the DC Archives series, including Dark Knight Archives, Volume Three, with Batman #9 to #12 (I think). But I only read it once, and it's been a few years. I'm having trouble remembering any of those stories! But I remember there's a great Joker cover in there! They also had several All-Star Archives volumes and I have very clear memories of that weird story where the members of the Justice Society travel through German history to find out why Germans are such awful bunch of evil murderers. I think it's the one with Wildcat and Mr. Terrific. It's very strange. I also remember the first Per Degaton story and the one where they are killed but are fortunately brought back to life by Black Canary. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 20, 2016 17:24:44 GMT -5
I came up with a preliminary Top Ten Penguin Stories list.
In the order in which they were published.
1. "Bargains in Banditry!" - Batman #14 (December 1942-January 1943)
2. "The Blackbird of Banditry!" - Batman #43 (October-November 1947)
3. "The Parasols of Plunder!" - Batman #70 (April-May 1952)
4. "Partners in Plunder!" - Batman #169 (February 1965)
5. "Hail Emperor Penguin!" - Batman #257 (July-August 1974)
6. "The Malay Penguin!" - Detective Comics #473
7. "Only Angels Have Wings" - The Brave and the Bold #191 (October 1982)
8. "Pieces of Penguin!" - Batman #374 (August 1984)
"C-C-Cold!" - Detective Comics #541 (August 1984)
9. "The Penguin Affair, I: Pawns" - Batman #448 (June 1990)
"The Penguin Affair, II: Bird of Ill Omen" - Detective Comics #615 (June 1990)
"The Penguin Affair, III: Winged Vengeance" - Batman #449 (June 1990)
10. "Emperor Penguin" - Detective Comics (2011) #13 to #18 (December 2012 to May 2013)
I have limited Internet time at present so I can't elaborate at this point. Feel free to make suggestions because I might have forgotten something.
I'm sort of leaning towards "Bargains of Banditry" from Batman #14 as my favorite Penguin story. I just love how murderously awful he is! And how much joy he takes in his awfulness! Also, the way he calmly leaves the scene of the murder and just gets in a cab! That's his escape plan!
How can I not love cold-blooded murderer Golden-Age Penguin?
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Post by foxley on Dec 20, 2016 17:48:42 GMT -5
No love for "Knights of Knavery" from Batman #25?  (The first Penguin-Joker team-up.) |
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 21, 2016 0:26:43 GMT -5
No love for "Knights of Knavery" from Batman #25? (The first Penguin-Joker team-up.) It's a good one, but I didn't want to fill up the list with just Golden Age Penguin stories. And it would have been so easy to do just that. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2016 6:51:52 GMT -5
I came up with a preliminary Top Ten Penguin Stories list. In the order in which they were published. 1. "Bargains in Banditry!" - Batman #14 (December 1942-January 1943) 2. "The Blackbird of Banditry!" - Batman #43 (October-November 1947) 3. "The Parasols of Plunder!" - Batman #70 (April-May 1952) 5. "Hail Emperor Penguin!" - Batman #257 (July-August 1974) 7. "Only Angels Have Wings" - The Brave and the Bold #191 (October 1982) How can I not love cold-blooded murderer Golden-Age Penguin? I kind of prefer the Penguin in the Golden Age than the Silver Age because the stories were more original and thanks for this information Hoosier because it will help me in my 50 Deadliest Batman Villain and the Penguin is on that list. My favorite of the 5 that you've listed here is "The Parasols of Plunder" that was published in Batman #79. |
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Post by foxley on Dec 22, 2016 2:13:31 GMT -5
Another favourite of mine which shows the Penguin at probably the height of silver age silliness is "The Penguin's Fabulous Fowls" in Batman #76 (April 1953).
Once again, the Penguin is going to be released from prison, and once again he claims to be "going straight". He claims that, this time, he's going across the world to prove that the birds of myth like the phoenix and the basilisk actually existed. Batman and Robin think that Penguin's idea is insane, but since it will supposedly keep him out of trouble, they let him leave.
The Penguin eventually returns, claiming to have captured the mythical birds, and to also have a 'mystery bird' that he promises will be the downfall of Batman's career. Of course, the entire mythical aviary turns out to be robotic. The Penguin pretends that crooks have released his birds because he refused to return to a life of crime, and uses the havoc created by the robotic beasts to cover up a crime spree. And the whole 'mystery bird' business must be one of the most bizarre schemes to ruin Batman's career a villain has ever come up with. (I won't spoil what it actually involves.)
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 22, 2016 16:29:44 GMT -5
Another favourite of mine which shows the Penguin at probably the height of silver age silliness is "The Penguin's Fabulous Fowls" in Batman #76 (April 1953). Once again, the Penguin is going to be released from prison, and once again he claims to be "going straight". He claims that, this time, he's going across the world to prove that the birds of myth like the phoenix and the basilisk actually existed. Batman and Robin think that Penguin's idea is insane, but since it will supposedly keep him out of trouble, they let him leave. The Penguin eventually returns, claiming to have captured the mythical birds, and to also have a 'mystery bird' that he promises will be the downfall of Batman's career. Of course, the entire mythical aviary turns out to be robotic. The Penguin pretends that crooks have released his birds because he refused to return to a life of crime, and uses the havoc created by the robotic beasts to cover up a crime spree. And the whole 'mystery bird' business must be one of the most bizarre schemes to ruin Batman's career a villain has ever come up with. (I won't spoil what it actually involves.) I have never read this one, but it sounds great! |
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 2, 2017 15:13:27 GMT -5
I got a few more issues of Detective coming in the mail. I was looking for a few issues of Doom Patrol and I ended putting low bids on quite a few comics, some of them not the Doom Patrol. And I'm surprised at how many of them I won! Among others, I got Detective Comics #305, #361 and #363.    I upped the bids on #305 and #361 a little because I decided I really wanted them. So I got #305 for $12 (my high bid) and #361 for $5.50, but I only paid $3.25 for a beat-up #363. I don't think I've paid more than $4 for any of the other comics I bid on. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 7, 2017 11:30:23 GMT -5
I just read this online: The Penguin breaks out of prison and Batman thinks he'll go to Star City to rub out four "canaries," former gang members who ratted out the Penguin and moved to Star City. Yes, they all moved to Star City as a group, for some reason, perhaps they bonded while working so closely together in the Penguin's gang. of course, the Penguin's first hit takes place at the club where the Black Canary is listening to a singer and now she's also on the case! Fun story. I love the way you can (almost) always count on The Brave and the Bold for stories that are high on FUN and excitement, even if they are frequently lacking in common sense and continuity. Written by Michael Fleisher. Art by guest artists Dick Giordano and Terry Austin! |
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 7, 2017 23:27:24 GMT -5
I bid on a VG+ copy of Detective Comics #411. The auction doesn't end until Sunday so I have a few days to think about how high I want to go on it. It can be a rather pricey book because it's the first appearance of Talia. I'm hoping to get it for a reasonable price as I'm now working on Detective Comics #301 to #420. |
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Post by foxley on Mar 8, 2017 0:00:52 GMT -5
Another favourite of mine which shows the Penguin at probably the height of silver age silliness is "The Penguin's Fabulous Fowls" in Batman #76 (April 1953). Once again, the Penguin is going to be released from prison, and once again he claims to be "going straight". He claims that, this time, he's going across the world to prove that the birds of myth like the phoenix and the basilisk actually existed. Batman and Robin think that Penguin's idea is insane, but since it will supposedly keep him out of trouble, they let him leave. The Penguin eventually returns, claiming to have captured the mythical birds, and to also have a 'mystery bird' that he promises will be the downfall of Batman's career. Of course, the entire mythical aviary turns out to be robotic. The Penguin pretends that crooks have released his birds because he refused to return to a life of crime, and uses the havoc created by the robotic beasts to cover up a crime spree. And the whole 'mystery bird' business must be one of the most bizarre schemes to ruin Batman's career a villain has ever come up with. (I won't spoil what it actually involves.) I have never read this one, but it sounds great! I hope you win. This is a pretty good issue (of its time. The glory days of O'Neill/Adams were still a few years away). However, it portrays Talia as too much of a damsel in distress for my taste. I prefer the feisty action girl we got in Len Wein's run in the mid 70s or Marv Wolfman's in the early 80s. |
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Post by chadwilliam on Mar 9, 2017 0:22:36 GMT -5
I just read this online: The Penguin breaks out of prison and Batman thinks he'll go to Star City to rub out four "canaries," former gang members who ratted out the Penguin and moved to Star City. Yes, they all moved to Star City as a group, for some reason, perhaps they bonded while working so closely together in the Penguin's gang. of course, the Penguin's first hit takes place at the club where the Black Canary is listening to a singer and now she's also on the case! Fun story. I love the way you can (almost) always count on The Brave and the Bold for stories that are high on FUN and excitement, even if they are frequently lacking in common sense and continuity. Written by Michael Fleisher. Art by guest artists Dick Giordano and Terry Austin!
Though it's not actually titled as such, this tale might as well as have been called "The Penguin's Four Way Revenge" since it was obviously inspired by The Joker classic from Batman 251. I suppose the idea was to create an instant classic with this story and while parts of it work, it's too derivative for my tastes. Batman showing grave concern over the whereabouts of the recently escaped Penguin; said villain killing off his ex-cronies one-by-one (in one instance, Fleischer calls to mind The Joker blowing up one of his henchmen with an exploding cigar when he has The Penguin do the same with an explosive canary cage); a more murderous interpretation of a villain who previously had been interested in killing only Batman and Robin (though Fleischer does a nice call back to Cobblepot's very first appearance when he ruthlessly guns down his competition for gang leader). I did like the scene with a fist shaking Gordon flipping out on Batman for pulling his disappearing act on him "Blast it Batman, I hate it when you do that to me! Do you hear me?! I Hate it!" There's also something cool about The Penguin quoting Shakespeare one moment and dressing like a lady the next. The latter he does to sneak up on one of his targets, but the disguise shouldn't be able to fool anyone with his nose. I wonder what would have happened had his intended victim not been caught unawares and recognized him right away. "Hey Boss! I thought I saw you across the street over there! What's with the dress?"
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2017 19:10:34 GMT -5
Saw this pic and thought folks here might enjoy it too...  -M |
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(The first Penguin-Joker team-up.)
