Summary
WARNING: Contains Potential Spoilers for The Boy Wonder #3!
I was recently the victim of a Gotham Rogue attack, specifically byThe Penguin. However, this attack didn’t involve arctic-themed traps, literal penguins, or heavy firepower. Instead, it was Oswald Cobblepot’s visage that victimized me, killing my appetite on sight and making a perfectly good bell pepper and cheese quesadilla go to waste.
Penguin is exaggeratedly compact, sports a sickly skin tone, and dresses like he couldn’t decide between embodying the Monopoly man or my late Great-Aunt Gertrude.
Juni Ba’s Black Label series,The Boy Wonder, is my absolute favorite ongoing comic series, starring Damian Wayne with guest appearances from Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin. I was especially excited for the third installment, which focused onDamian and Tim Drake’s relationship, and it lived up to the hype and then some.
However,I was not expecting to be back-handed by the Penguin’s physical appearance or lose my appetite for three hours.This is probably the most disgusting depiction of Penguin I’ve seen in recent years, and I am so here for it.
Ba has scarred me for life with this mental image, and frankly, I applaud his talent.
The Boy Wonder#3’s Penguin Is Responsible For Murdering My Appetite (I Blame His Flavored Drool)
After growing used toColin Farrell as DC’s new face for Penguin, I was ‘shookith’ by Oswald’s appearance inThe Boy Wonder, who honestly looks more goblin than man. Notably, he is exaggeratedly compact, sports a sickly skin tone, and dresses like he couldn’t decide between embodying the Monopoly man or my late Great-Aunt Gertrude, who had a love for faux fur coats and colored shades. However,what truly does me in about Penguin’s look is his face, specifically his mouth. It’s the type of face not even a mother could love, featuring sharp, rotting teeth and what appears to be some vilely flavored kind of drool, judging by its greenish hue.
My mother was a drill sergeant about my teeth when I was younger, and the habits she instilled in me—brushing after every meal, flossing at night, and wearing my retainer—have stayed with me. Hence,Oswald’s mouth is my worst nightmare and will undoubtedly feature in some of my night terrors.There is nothing I hate more about his mouth than the drool, because I can only imagine his spittle flying out as he talks, accompanied by a guaranteed decaying smell. Ba has scarred me for life with this mental image, and frankly, I applaud his talent.
The Boy Wonder #1 Perfectly Reinvents the Robin Origin Story of Bruce Wayne’s Son (Review)
Juni Ba’s “The Boy Wonder #1” is an emotional deep dive into the psyche of Damian Wayne, gorgeously reimagining his Robin origin story.
One of the first things that popped into my head when I saw Ba’s Penguin wasDanny DeVito’s portrayal of the characterinBatman Returns. Like DeVito’s Cobblepot, this comic version exudes strong ‘goblin man’ energy,making me feel like one of his main hobbies is lurking under people’s beds, waiting for them to fall asleep before licking their faces(yes, I will be checking under my bed tonight). Despite how emotionally scarring this character design is to me, I appreciate the direction Ba took, cleverly depicting just how vile thePenguinis on the inside through his physical appearance.
