Batman (1990) # 449

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Penguin has recruited a mute hunchback he found on the road named Harold. It turns out Harold is good with machines and he created a device that can control birds. Penguin uses the machine to cause chaos throughout Gotham. At the same time, he also kidnapped a soap opera actress he has been obsessed with for a while. Meanwhile an ancient evil has been unleashed upon the city! 

 

"The Penguin Affair III- Winged Vengeance" opens in the Bat Cave as Alfred complains about having to sweep up all the dead birds. Tim says he can blame the Penguin for that one. Bruce is studying one of the birds and finds out what is controlling them. He tells Tim that it's some kind of miniaturized wave modulator implanted in the birds' skulls. He explains it works through sonics affecting their brains, but the microwaves he used earlier disrupts the signal.

 

Tim asks how the Penguin is able to see what the birds are doing. Bruce explains this is due to a fiber-optic camera in the owl's collar. Tim says they can now trace the signal back to the Penguin. Bruce says they can't track signals that aren't being broadcast. Tim assumes the Penguin plans to use the device again. Bruce suits up and tells Alfred he has a job for him. Tim asks what he will do. Batman tells Tim that Penguin's crimes seem more about drawing attention than his own profit. He tells him to check the airlines for any increased criminal activity headed towards Gotham.

Batman rushes off while Tim looks down and asks Alfred what he intends to do. Alfred says he'll soon find out, only if and when Batman wants him to.

Batman ponders that Tim wants answers he doesn't yet have. Sometimes one has to wait for mistakes to be made, new clues to come up or something to fall on your lap. Batman asks how he can teach Tim to have patience when he himself feels anxious and ready to strike. Batman sits along the coast and goes deep in thought. He questions whether he should even have a partner since it involves too much danger and too many questions. Batman remembers that Tim mentioned the Penguin will use the device again and thinks Waynetech's broadcast satellite can provide triangulation. He drives off in the Batmobile as he reminds himself to thank Tim later.

Elsewhere, one of Penguin's men flies his boss, Lark and Harold off in a helicopter. Penguin tells Harold that he should be proud as they will be showing off his device to several interested parties. They brought along the device and the birds and the guests will arrive by dusk. By the following night they will return to the hideout with millions of tax-free dollars.

The chopper lands in front of the auction building as Penguin talks about all the things Harold can buy with his cut of the millions. He tells him to go activate the machines as they will make those that looked down upon them pay. Lark tells Penguin that Harold sees him as a friend. Penguin says they are friends, at least until the auction and demonstration are over. Then, they intend to get rid of him. Harold overhears this.

 

Alfred is on the phone, asking around to several people including police men and people 'in the know' if they heard anything. Some have heard nothing, but others have heard rumors of a boat from Columbia coming in that night and another heard that some Nicaraguan 'businessmen' were coming into town. Alfred relays what he's heard to Batman.

Penguin tends to Sherry, who has been tied to a chair since she doesn't see things his way. He says they are two birds of a feather and he loved how she killed her first three husbands. Sherry says she's not Heron, she's just an actress and not an actual murderer. The Penguin says he knows she's an actress and she must draw from her true fires that burns within. He plans to make her more like Heron and kiss her. Harold watches from behind a door and gets angry.

Meanwhile, Alfred and Tim are the airport lugging a crate around, though they don't know who they're looking for. Alfred says he heard there will be a meeting there. Tim says there are dozens of airports, and Alfred says there is only one with an expected arrival from Ireland. Alfred and Tim locate an Irish man meeting up with someone from Arctic Limousines. Alfred gives a thumbs up and Tim alerts Batman via walkie-talkie. Batman also found his target and he leaps in after the chauffeur.

Bruce disguises himself as the chauffeur and overhears the businessmen discussing the Penguin's device and how it must be theirs. Bruce drives them to the Penguin's helicopter and plants a homing device on it before it takes off. Bruce meets up with Alfred and Tim and tells them a suspected Japanese terrorist arrived and he placed a tracer before he left. It has a 5 mile radius but combined with Waynetech satellite triangulation, they can track the Penguin the next time he activates the device. He tells Tim this was his idea and adds that it was a good one. Tim asks what happens next. Bruce says they'll head towards the Waynetech hangar at the Gotham Air terminal. They'll set up the triangulation equipment there and wait.

Elsewhere, someone enters Sherry's room. She begs to be left alone and repeats that she is not Heron. Harold enters the room and makes sure she's alright. Sherry at first thinks the Penguin sent him to hurt her, but he kneels in a prayer position. Sherry realizes that the Penguin didn't send him, and Harold sets his head on her lap.

 

At the auction, Lark tells Penguin that she can't find Harold anywhere. Penguin says he could ruin everything. He tells her to look again while he starts the sales pitch. Penguin greets his guests and tells the room full of criminals, terrorists and dictators that he has the means to help them bury his enemies. He states they have heard all about the robberies and mass destruction he's caused over the last few days and this technology could be theirs. He offers to start the bidding, but one of the men demands a demonstration first.

The Penguin heads off to run the machine while Lark entertains the guests. Lark whispers that she can't find Harold anywhere. Penguin says his understanding of the machine is rudimentary at best and adds that Harold will pay for this later. Penguin starts to turn on the bird controlling device.

With the machine on, Bruce can now detect the Penguin's signal. They can use the satellite to triangulate the signal and once Bruce gets within five miles, his tracker can do the rest. Bruce flies off in a helicopter and has a specially enforced Batman outfit and a microwave transmitter. He's ready for the Penguin this time. 

Lark performs a speech as she points out life-sized wooden soldiers in front of a shed. The birds swoop in and tear the wooden soldiers to bits. They smash their way into the shed and return carrying all the weapons hidden inside. One of the men asks if they came all this way to watch trained birds. The Penguin says he should set an example, as Harold and Sherry spy on him through the barely open door.

One of the birds carried a live grenade near the men and drops it, making them scatter. Penguin says he is done playing games and wants the bidding to start. Just then Batman arrives and Penguin says maybe one final test will do. The birds swarm all over the helicopter and Batman manages to jump out before it crashes and explodes.

The Penguin says he will see the death of Batman while also showing the potential buyers what his machines can do. He will use this battle as a way to increase the price a hundredfold.

Batman runs towards the auction building as the birds continue to attack him. His new suit is holding but he can still feel the beaks through the padding. Batman pulls out the transmitter and the sonic waves send the birds flying away from him. Penguin's voice is heard through a loud-speaker. He tells Batman he has a larger transmitter and he can change it to several other frequencies. The birds continue to attack Batman.

 

Harold enters the room and Penguin starts to berate him, the hunchback tackles him down. Penguin angrily punches him and Sherry runs into the room as well. Penguin says he's surrounded by traitors. Sherry tends to Harold and Penguin says he could have loved her. Sherry once again reminds him that she is not Heron and is just an actress. Penguin says the curtain will soon come down on her final performance. He will deal with her later, but for now his main concern is killing Batman and dealing with the auction.

Batman fights past the birds and heads towards the pole with the loud-speaker attached. He tears open the panel. He re-wires the loud-speaker and uses it to the increase the transmission of his transmitter. It lets out a loud sound that makes all the birds scatter and hurts the Penguin's ears. The time has come to escape and the Penguin grabs Sherry to take her hostage, pointing his umbrella with her as a blade sticks out towards her neck. Batman breaks into the room and tosses a Batarang. It knocks the Penguin's blade-tipped umbrella out of his hand. 

 

Later on, the Penguin is tied up as Commissioner Gordon and the police arrive. He calls Sherry and 'that demented dwarf' traitors. Can we still say dwarf in 2026? Oh well, Penguin is a bad guy anyway. Batman asks about him. Sherry explains that Harold was the one that built Penguin's machine. Batman asks where he is. Sherry doesn't know. After he tried to help Batman and the Penguin stopped him, he took off. Since he doesn't talk, he couldn't tell her where he was going. Sherry says he was fooled by the Penguin and didn't want to hurt anyone. She says he ran off to be alone, so maybe they should leave him alone. Harold watches the scene unfold as he hides inside a nearby house.

My Thoughts-

One thing about these older comics, it's usually game over by the time Batman gets to you. Once he gets past all the trapped and hired men and figures out your secret plan, if he's in the same room as you, just give up. He will take you down with a single move, even if it's on the very last page of the story.

Overall it was a fun three-parter, even though the second part completely overlooked Harold and Lark. Harold in an interesting sad and solitary character, and other than his mechanical genius and gentle nature, we don't know too much about him. The comic skips past how the idea even came along for Harold to somehow communicate 'oh hey, you're into birds, I can create a machine that controls birds'. Like how the hell would that have come out? What the hell was Penguin's plan for him had he not being a genius? Another hired gun?

Sherry is finally free, but I would have liked to see her do more. It was have been entertaining to see her slip into character and string Penguin along lone enough for her to find some way to escape. I would have liked to have seen more of what happened to her if we could spare an extra page or two. Like, after this whole ordeal, would she have retired the character? Or maybe have her date and a kill a 'Penguin-ish' character in the next episode of Heartstrings? 

Tim Drake's genius shines in the issue, though to be honest something like 'we can find some way to track the signal the next time Penguin uses his machine' doesn't sound like some super-clever idea that Batman himself wouldn't have come up with. Ignoring that, the idea is to show how helpful Tim is to the team as he slowly prepares himself to become the new Robin. I do wonder if the thought crossed his mind that Jason replaced the previous Robin because he left to lead the Titans... while he's becoming the next Robin because the previous one died a brutal death at the hands of the Joker.. You sure you want the job, Tim?

One thing I found funny about the Penguin's auction is that it looks like he promised the sale of this big weapon or whatever without telling the people what it actually was. Though on the other hand, with all the news of killer birds causing traffic accidents and power plant explosions, they should have had some sort of clue. I like how the Penguin gave the vaguest description ever and wanted to go straight to the bidding until someone demanded some sort of demonstration of this mystery weapon everyone flew into town for. 

The one thing that came out of left field was whatever that undead thing was that appeared near the end of the Detective issue. Even though I haven't read these particular issues since I was a Chicago kid in the 90's, I couldn't for the life of me remember some supernatural entity somehow getting involved in the third part. I'm guessing it will appear in a later issue of Detective comics, since I also don't remember it appearing anywhere in the following Joker story that will be another Batman-Detective-Batman three part sandwich. 

The letters now go into the first part of the NKVDemon story. All of the letters praised the story and the impression made when Batman was put to the test, not just being out of his element in Russia but also barely surviving the fight with the KGBeast apprentice. Someone did comment that names like the KGBeast and NKVDemon sound like names out of a camp TV show. Someone also mentioned that due to current events at the time (the collapse of the Soviet Union) it was nice to see America and Russia working together in the story. 

There were positive comments on Tim and his road to eventually becoming Robin. One even pointed out that it's refreshing to see someone whole-hearted enough to want to become Robin to live up to the name instead of it being based on revenge. People were also glad and/or surprised to see Vicki Vale make a return since she did recently appear in the Micheal Keaton movie.

Sadly, I think Slasher barely made an impression on the readers. Unlike the Crimesmith and Kadaver, who were also one or two-shot villains, there weren't any readers clamoring for Slasher's return or to find out more about him. I mean I thought his weapons were cool... and I would have liked to have seen if they were attachments or actually replaced his hands. He's a character that could have come back with different variations of sharp weapons in each new appearance. Oh well.

Overall a fun read and a good nostalgia trip. Now that I remember... we never did find out who the Penguin's mysterious chess opponent was. Sure we got a hint that maybe it was Bruce all along... but the story never had time to circle back to it to confirm it.