Detective Comics (1990) # 615

 By Mark Rodriguez

The Penguin has recruited a mute hunchback he found on the side of the road named Harold. It turns out that Harold was a genius with machines and created a device that helps communicate and control birds. Penguin uses this to commit robberies and cause trouble upon traffic and set a power plant on fire. On top of that, he kidnapped a soap opera actress that he's been stalking. Batman chases after the birds carrying off the actress in the Batmobile, but suddenly a swarm of birds attack a nearby jewelry store!

 

"The Penguin Affair II- Bird of Ill Omen!" opens with the swarm of birds robbing a jewelry store and attacking the owner. Batman runs in and uses his cape to get the birds off him. The man is surprised to meet the Batman himself, and thanks him. He asks him what's going on with the birds going crazy all over the city. Batman says he's not certain, but he knows who's behind it.

 

The actress Sherry West is sent to Penguin's hideout. He introduces himself as Oswald C Cobblepot, but also the Penguin, Gotham's top criminal. Penguin kisses miss West's hand and asks if he should call her Heron. The actress says Heron is the part she plays on TV, but Penguin cuts her off, not wanting her to ruin the illusion. 

Penguins tells her that he has watched her show every Friday for months and taped every episode. He says he loves how she dealt with her merchant banker lover when he threatened to foreclose on her. He bows to how she cut the brake lines on the prosecutor's car and trembled when she produced an old Indian treaty that proves she owned all of Ohio. OK Penguin, at that point you have admit a show is just a show. The Penguin asks how could he not fall for a woman like that. Sherry assures her that she isn't like the character she portrays at all.

Suddenly one of the Penguin's comes in, showing off some of the stolen jewelry, excited that the birds will make them rich. The Penguin is angry that he interrupted his meeting with Heron over 'materialistic things'. He sends his birds after him to teach him a lesson. Sherry watches in horror as the birds tear the man to shreds just because he dared to interrupt a conversation.

Penguin says some people don't know their manners and asks Sherry where they left off. Sherry slips into character and says she couldn't have handled the guy better herself. Penguin thanks her and gives her some of the jewelry as a fraction of what's to come. He invites her to witness his criminal genius in action. Sherry decides to play along, thinking the Penguin could easily turn on her if she doesn't.

Several view-screens show birds attacking different parts of Gotham. Sherry asks what's happening. The Penguin explains that he controls the birds and is a man after her own heart. He's someone that knows exactly what he wants and won't let anything in the world keep him from it. The Penguin wants a kiss but then sees that Batman has been picked up one of the bird's cameras.

 

Batman arrives and beat up two guys that were robbing people that have fallen victim to the birds. Batman laments that usually when there's a big threat, there are lowlifes that find a way to take advantage of it. He is glad that most people have heeded the police warnings and have chosen to stay inside for the time being.

Batman is puzzled on what the Penguin's motive is. He knows he has to be the one controlling birds, but someone like him would never settle for simple robberies. Batman wonders what his target is... and then realizes all the birds are now swarming towards him. Batman uses a trash can lid for cover and dashes for the Batmobile, knowing he has no chance staying out in the open.

Batman managed to take out one of the birds and says an autopsy might reveal how the Penguin is controlling them. He escapes in the Batmobile as Penguin watches. Sherry watches in horror as Penguin sends more birds after Batman, saying there is nowhere he can hide from them.

Meanwhile there is a plane arriving at the Gotham airport and the pilot requests permission to land. They have no answer and they notice the city seemed blacked out. We see that the birds have taken out the airport officials and broken all the equipment.

Batman notices that the radio has gone of the air. He is surprised that the city has been paralyzed thanks to birds. The swarm has caught up with Batman and the birds are slamming themselves against the Batmobile.

The birds block the pilot's view and start tearing into the plane. The plan snaps in half and the front end lands and explodes into the road behind Batman. The sudden explosion as well as all the birds attacking the vehicle causes Batman to drive off the road and break past the barricade protecting the ledges. The second half of the plane crashes into the ground as the Batmobile falls into the river and sinks.

The Penguin is happy to see the end of Batman. Sherry blurts out that he can't kill Batman. The Penguin asks if she is showing concern for the vigilante. Sherry quickly says Batman is supposed to be able to escape any trap so he doesn't know he'd dead. Penguin sees this as her suggesting that he covers all his angles and asks how could he not have fallen for her.

Batman swims out of the Batmobile. He could have used the ejector seat but the birds might have attacked him. He wonder how the Penguin is using them to track him but he figures the bird he's got can give him a clue. As he surfaces, the birds swoop in to attack him again.

The Penguin watches and says he has underestimated the Dark Knight over the years. He says he makes a great team with the actress, and says now Batman will die at the hands of Heron. He takes her wrist and makes her push the button.

 Meanwhile, Alfred and Tim are concerned because the fires caused by the birds can be seen from the manor. Tim asks if Bruce is alright and Alfred says he can guarantee it. Just then Tim dashes towards the window and they both see that Batman is headed their way as the birds continue to chase him and attack him. One of the larger birds slams into Batman hard enough to knock him off his feet.

Batman sees an owl perched on a fence that has a 'Danger: Falling Rocks" warning on it. He notices that the owl has been watching but not taking part in the actual attacks. He tosses a flare at it to see how it affects its vision. The flare is bright enough to obscure the Penguin's view screens.

Batman recalls that the Bat Cave has its own generator and he activates the door to open. As he does so, he notices that the birds have been disoriented. He dashes through the fence which is actually an illusion but the birds give chase. He enters the Bat Cave and runs up the stairs that lead towards the manor upstairs. Tim sees him and open the door for him. Batman tries to warn them but the birds swarm around Alfred and Tim.

Alfred and Tim head for the closet and slam the door shut. Batman is in a room with several suits of armor on display and figures something in there might be able to help him. Tim checks on Alfred when the birds try to smash through the closet door. Batman remembers how the birds reacted to when he used the remote to open the door. This runs on microwaves. He heads towards the transmitter as the birds continue to attack. Batman uses the transmitter to generate the same type of waves and finds the right frequency to make the birds back off.

 

Meanwhile, the Penguin shows Sherry the room where all the stolen money and jewels are being held. He says with Batman practically dead and Gotham paralyzed they can be proud of the night's work. He says the real money will come when the auction starts. Sherry asks about this and Penguin says his scheme is far from over. He says that even someone like Heron can appreciate his deviousness. Penguin plays some music and he dances with Sherry, as she plays along.

Elsewhere at the site where one of the halves of the plane crashed... something crawls from underground. This mysterious undead cloaked figure is now free!

 

Back at Wayne Manor, Batman checks on Alfred and Tim. Tim asks if he used ultra-sonics. Batman says it knocked whatever was controlling the birds out of their systems. Tim asks if Batman caught the Penguin. Batman says not yet, but he will. Alfred asks if before they take the Penguin to prison if he can be brought the manor to help clean up a bit.

My Thoughts-

This issue continued right after Batman # 448 and then concludes in # 449. There is a similar story coming up with the Joker, but I feel the Detective portion was more of an optional side-story. This is much more involved and you'll be missing a lot if you were to skip or miss out on this issue. The last issue ended with the birds attacking a jewelry store to distract Batman long enough for the rest of the birds to fly off with Sherry. I joked that it was silly for Batman to drop everything to rescue some jewels when a woman's life was on the line, but I failed to consider the birds might also kill anyone inside the store as well.

The one thing that stood out was the complete absence of Harold and Lark. Harold was the mute hunchback man that built the device that controls birds. I guess we can assume Lark was off massaging Harold (Penguin told her to do so last issue) so Penguin could be alone with Sherry. We could have either seen a short scene with those two, or maybe Penguin's internal monologue can say he won't mention Harold so Heron can assume he built the machine himself. I wouldn't put it past him to take credit for someone else's work in order to impress someone.

It was odd that there was a random henchmen in this issue. The last issue made it look like it was just Penguin and his assistant Lark, with no mention of any hired thugs. Batman even said things would be more difficult if Penguin sends hired men to commit his crimes for him instead of him doing them himself. I guess it took a few decades but modern day crime boss Penguin does just that.

So the main thing that bugged me about this issue is how Batman led the birds to the Bat Cave. Sure, at this time he has no idea that the birds are equipped with collar cams, but he did know that Penguin was sending them after him somehow. There had to be some way to get away from the birds without him pretty much leading them to the Bat Cave. I mean, what if the Penguin calls them back? Wouldn't he notice a large amount of birds were swarming around Wayne Manor?

And on the other end, the Penguin is an idiot too. Batman used the flare to cloud the bird's vision which also flashed the Penguin's view screen. But then... the Penguin just loses interest and decides to show Heron his stolen loot? I mean, how long does a flare flash last? A minute or so after the initial flash? The Penguin couldn't be bothered to wait a few minutes until he regained visual so he could confirm that Batman died?  

Another character of note is Sherry West, who is just a regular person when she is portraying the cold-blooded heartless killer Heron on the Heartstrings soap opera. Granted she is in an intense situation, having been kidnapped by a known super criminal who is not only obsessed with you but is confusing you with the character you play on TV. She knows in this situation there are no writers or script that can save her (ignoring the fact that this is all taking place in a comic book, of course). It would have been funny to see slip more into her Heron character, evil smile and all in order to save her own skin, but it makes sense she would be too horrified of what the Penguin is doing to the city to do so. She plays a murderous woman on TV and is now being held captive by a real life mass murderer.

I am confused by this undead thing that crawled out of the plane wreckage. That was completely out of left field and we'll see how that effects things next issue.

The letter column was full of praise for Detective # 611 which dealt with the team up a classic foe like The Penguin and the newer face Kadaver. Similar to the Crimesmith though, fans were anxious to see Kadaver before... and well, that's not gonna happen. Depending where you find the info, Penguin killed him in that issue, but some DC filed state he survived but died of a terminal illness. I guess it was to make sure he was dead-dead and there would be zero doubts he someone survived getting shot.

It seems Scarface was also the new kid on the block around this time. Another reader says that he feels newer faces like Scarface and Kadaver have the potential to become classic villains. I'm sure we can guess which one of those two endured the test of time.

People were asking about Batman teaming up with other heroes and I was surprised one of the writers made a joke about Plastic Man having a Tupperware party with Wonder Woman, Vicki Vale and Amanda Waller. I had no idea Waller was around since the early 90's and possibly even further back.

Overall a fun read, though I wish they thought up some way to have Batman get home without bringing hundreds of potential camera-wearing birds along with him.