Batman (1990) # 448

 By Mark Rodriguez

This was a three-part story where parts One and Three were in Batman comics while part Two was in Detective comics. Featuring a classic a villain like the Penguin was perfect to me as I was still new to collecting Batman comics and not knowing much of the characters beyond the Adam West show and Micheal Keaton movie. At the time I was collecting both comics, and while I'm sure Batman was featured in others, I'm sure back in the 90's he wasn't in 10 or so books a month the way he is nowadays. Let's check out 'The Penguin Affair'.

 

"The Penguin Affair Part 1- Pawns" opens with a hunchback man walking along the road. A car drives by and they call him names. Not content with just insults, they decide to stop the car. Another car is nearby and the passenger tells the driver, Lark, so pull over. The passenger says he sees a kindred spirit will soon be in pain. The men start to beat up the hunchback man. Lark asks if they should stop them but her boss says sometimes feathers need to be ruffled before they get a proper grooming.

The men soon get bored and drive off. The boss tells Lark to retrieve him. Lark picks him up and says the man's breathing is shallow. The boss is revealed to be The Penguin and tells Lark they will fix him up and see if he can be put to use. Penguin tells the man that they are two birds of a feather and he is in a safe nest now.

 

Later that night, Batman arrived at the Gotham Stock Exchange due to a call of a disturbance. The Penguin tells the hunchback man named Harold, that he set the disturbance after the building was closed to innocent people wouldn't get hurt. He says that Batman is guilty as sin and beats up 'those with physical deformities' like the Joker, Two-Face, Killer Croc and the Penguin himself. He says such bigotry demands punishment, but it isn't wrong to extort it.

Batman climbs over the gate and gets attacked by several birds. He tries to get away from them as he runs towards the building. He kicks the door down as more birds start to swarm behind him. Penguin tells Harold that Batman would also punish him if he could. He says authority figures like him want respect but they only want to hurt. Penguin tells Harold that they've both been hurt enough by the world and have gotten tired of it. They won't be taking this anymore.

Batman uses the door as a shield against the birds. He grabs a nearby fire extinguisher and sprays some of the birds away. He runs with the door as a shield and the fire extinguisher as a way to clear his path. Penguin tells Harold that Batman is hurting their feathered friends and is a killer.

Elsewhere, in the Penguin's hideout, a fancy skyrise, he surveys the scene while several screens display chess boards as they are applied to Batman's situation. Penguin says the first test from Harold's toy went splendidly. This was just an attack and they have to see how well they can control their 'winged warriors'. He tells Harold that he has indulged in chess 'since he was a mere hatchling'. He says its play makes one not only plan for every move ahead but also to take into account for any and all contingencies. We see Lark chilling on a fancy chair as she files her nails. Just then Penguin notices that his opponent's next move has him cornered. It will be checkmate in two moves unless he can escape.

Penguin explains he's been playing chess with this mystery man for years. Penguin wins, the other guy wins, sometime they draw. They used to mail each other unmarked postcards to each others' post boxes, a war from a distance between two faceless opponents. Now their battle of wits takes place over computers with modems. Penguin looks up the chess rulebook and finds the Watkins Maneuver. He gloats to Harold of his assured victory in the chess game when the alarm goes off. Penguin is surprised it's 'that time already' and tell Harold they must put off their second test for another hour.

Penguin turns on the TV and tunes in to the soap opera 'Heartstrings'. He explains that the previous week shows that Heron's empire was almost in ruin and her only hope was to kill her husband and take the insurance money. The soap opera shows Heron choking out his husband with a pearl necklace. Penguin says she's his kind of woman, a beautiful swan with a vulture's appetite. He adds that she has rejected all the gifts he has sent her, but he won't give up. He will make her his. Chill Penguin, she's an actress.

 

Penguin says he kills off Kadaver and gets sent to Gotham Pen where he had to arrange for his own escape. Meanwhile Heron gets to kill and she inherits the dead man's fortune. Penguin says the world belongs to the beautiful which is why people like Harold and himself must stick together. He points out that despite Harold being hunchback and mute, he has a savant brilliance when it comes to machines. Penguin says he has the mind of Einstein trapped Quasimodo's body. Penguin was impressed that while Harold cannot speak, he has invented a machine that allows them to communicate with birds. The second test is about to begin as they send off a swarm of birds.

Meanwhile, Batman is in the Batmobile with Tim Drake as they drive through traffic. Tim asks if there aren't any clues. Batman says the only clue is that Penguin is obviously behind this though he doesn't know how he controlled the birds. Tim says nothing was stolen which leads him to think that this was a test. Batman wonders what he's up to. Robin asks if he's really dangerous since he just looks like a jerk with gimmicked umbrellas. Batman tells him not underestimate him because of his appearance. Tim says Batman catches him all the time. Batman adds that Penguin's ego makes him think he's as physically adept as he is intelligent. He admits if Penguin allowed more able-bodied men to do his crimes for him instead of trying to do them himself, their job would be a lot more difficult.

Penguin watches the view screens as the birds fiber-optic collar cameras show the Batmobile on the road. With Batman elsewhere, Penguin sends the birds to the Gotham Bank. They disable the alarms and plant plastique on the safe. The safe explodes ad Penguin tells Harold to send the birds home. Now the Penguin wants to have a go at the controls and have the birds go wild. He sends a swarm of birds into the vehicular tunnels causing mayhem with the traffic. The police don't know whether to call for the zoo or an ambulance. Batman and Tim know the Penguin is behind this.

Penguin can tell that Harold is bothered by this (it's clear he doesn't want to hurt anyone). He admits he's not as good as controlling the birds as Harold is and they got out of hand. Penguin tells Lark to send Harold to his room and give him a warm gentle massage. Lark and disgusted and refuses to touch him. Penguin says she will do as he says. He adds that Harold isn't different from any other man who aches for human touch. He says they need his amazing brain so Lark will pretend to enjoy massaging him. Once they have the millions he will provide them, Lark can eliminate him any way she wishes. Penguin returns to the machine and laughs loudly as he has his fun.

Batman runs off with a fire extinguisher and tells Tim to stay in the car. Batman is shocked to see the carnage of cars smashed into each other all over the place. Tim calls out saying that birds are attacking the West Side Power Plant.

 

Elsewhere, the woman portraying Heron is sleeping with her lover as she hears a window shatter. She tells Dan that she is getting robbed and asks him to check it out. Dan says it's her apartment so she can check it out while he calls the cops. Heron sees a bird fly through the broken window with a diamond lined ring and a note. The note says it's from an admirer and soon they will be together, and naturally, it's signed by The Penguin. Heron calls out to Dan.

The Batmobile arrives to see the power plant in flames. Commissioner Gordon is there as fire trucks try to put of the blaze. Gordon tells someone over the radio not to worry about the Penguin now and focus on the fire. Batman arrives and asks about the Penguin. Gordon asks Batman if he's ever heard of Sherry West, the soap opera actress. Batman says he doesn't watch much television. Gordon says he figured as much since he can't imagine Batman watch TV with a TV Guide on one hand and a pretzel in the other.

Later in the Batcave, Alfred informs Bruce that power throughout the city is out and his transistor radio informs him that there is panic everywhere. Alfred remarks that this is happening while Bruce is playing video games powered by the Bat Cave generator. Bruce is engrossed in a chess game and finally pulls his next move. Alfred says 'Nintendo will be pleased to hear that'. Bruce says chess sharpens his skills and Alfred should try it some time. Alfred says the London Times Sunday crossword is enough for him.

Tim says the Penguin is out there terrorizing the city with birds as well as threatening some actress. He asks why they're just sitting around in the Bat Cave. Bruce says this is downtime. There is little room for creative thinking when one is constantly reacting to events. He adds that sometimes the best way to solve problems is to remove themselves from them if only for a while.

Bruce goes over to his costume and starts suiting up. As he does so, they go over what they know. Penguin developed tech to control birds but they don't know how. He has been running tests but since the Penguin is still a thief he committed robberies during those tests. Bruce determines those thefts were not grand enough, but the attacks on the Washington tunnel and the power plant were big enough to generate headlines. Penguin wants people to know about his technology, so he must either want to sell his services to other criminals or sell the technology itself. Bruce is now fully dressed as Batman and says if they can find out who the Penguin intends to sell the tech to and when, they have him.

 

Tim asks Batman how Sherry West fits into this. Batman says that Tim is brilliant, but he is still only thirteen. He'll understand in a year or two. That said, Batman drives off in the Batmobile.

Elsewhere, Sherry is filming a scene as Commissioner Gordon and his men survey the scene. In the scene, Heron plans to marry a man named Clive. Once she finds out that he changed his will so she is his beneficiary, she pulls out a knife. Just then a swarm of birds attack the actors and Batman runs onto the scene. As Gordon, the police and Batman try to deal with the birds, they swarm around Sherry and take off with her. Batman drives after them in the Batmobile.

Penguin is watching the scene and declares that Heron will be his and Batman will die. He calls for a distraction and sends the swarm of birds to bust into a nearby jewelry store.

 

My thoughts-

So the cliffhanger is kinda... eh. I guess they ran out of pages and panels and just had to throw something in there. So the birds are robbing a jewelry store. I mean, yeah, it's a crime but given the circumstances that a woman is getting kidnapped, so what? That would be as if Batman purposely let the Joker get away because he ran across a jaywalker and we just can't have that in Gotham City. A better cliffhanger and distraction would have been the birds trying to run Batman off the road. Or have them blind a truck driver and accidentally have the large vehicle head towards the Batmobile.

So this was another fun story that took me back. I am surprised the Penguin, seeing a kindred spirit aside, would care enough to take Harold in. Harold is also super-lucky that he is good with machines, or the Penguin would have had him killed from the get-go. I forgot that he was planning to kill him after he 'outlived his usefulness' but it makes sense for his character. I liked the reference to Kadaver since that was the very last story we saw the Penguin in. He also explains how he got out of jail afterwards.

It's a bit odd for Tim to be riding around with Batman in the Batmobile out of costume. Granted he's not ready to be Robin just yet but what if he gets recognized? He literally steps out of the car to tell Batman about the power plant alert. Luckily any witness would have been too busy dealing with the birds and traffic jam to notice him.

So in this story the Penguin has three things going on. He has his master plan involving the machine that controls birds. He has been stalking the actress Sherry West for some time now and has finally made his move to capture her. He also has been playing chess via a computer and modem with some unknown person? And before that they have been sending each other unmarked post cards, with presumably the next chess move written on them? And it's also implied the mystery chess player is Bruce Wayne? I do wonder how that's going to factor into the story later. I know the internet has been around since forever, but I'm still surprised to know modems were around in 1990. 

I am surprised Batman deduced that Penguin intended to either sell his services or sell his tech to the highest bidder without the Penguin himself not actually monologuing about it somewhere in the issue. He did mention the machine will make them millions, but I thought he meant in terms of constant robberies. While it is true that Penguin wreaked more havoc to draw attention, I thought that was just to stroke his ego. I know comics shouldn't always hold you by the hand, so to speak, but I guess I'm used to villains always explaining their evil plans before the hero figures them out.  

So the letter column was fun as it finally got to the readers giving their thoughts on Batman # 444, which was the first Batman comic I ever bought back in the day.

One fan pointed out that due to the Micheal Keaton movie at the time, they could have just slacked on the story quality and coast off the movie profits, but luckily Batman and Detective continued to deliver. He liked the Crimesmith story and wants to see them return. He also liked Tim as the new Robin. Another reader liked the story as well and says Maya seems like the type to learn from her mistakes and improve her M.O. Another liked the story but felt it was too rushed and was a quick read. While the editors mention that the reception for Tim has been 50/50, this issue had mostly positive comments on him. They especially like that he is given time to train and properly become Robin rather than just be dumped into the field.

Man, it's such a shame the Crimesmith never returned. Maya got away and if they were to ever bring her back in the modern day, it would be one hell of a deep cut. 

Getting back to the beginning where I said Batman wasn't in a lot of comics back then... well the editor's column reminded readers of the next issue of Batman, Detective and Legends of the Dark Knight. Then he added that Batman will be appearing in Suicide Squad issues 40-43, as well as a three part Huntress story and in World's Finest. So never mind. Maybe not as much as current day, but even in the 90's Batman got around.

Two last things to end this review on. First off, I got this comic from Mark's Comics thanks to Hipcomic, and they three in this cool card based on the Batman movie back when Topps Cards would make cards with movie scenes. This one in particular shows the cover of the first ever issue of Batman once he branched out of Detective Comics and got his own series. 

The second thing is how I usually love to show some of the ads that stand out when looking back at these classic comics. This time around the one that got me was this ad for those Konami handheld games that were the competitors to the Tiger games.