Oswald Coblepot, even the name strikes readers as ridiculous, but perhaps the Penguin's true name describes him better than his nom de plume, if you may pardon the pun.
"I cannot name who created The Iceberg Lounge or what issue it debuted in the comics..."
Chuck Dixon and Detective Comics #683, respectively. Adding more useless comics knowledge to your repertoire is never a bad thing! :D
That said... yeah, your interpretation of the Penguin hews extremely close to mine. I, too, can see little charm in the interpretation of the Penguin as a mob kingpin. I have little taste for regular suit-and-tie crime if it's not being contrasted against a costume hero or his costumed enemies. And this isn't just a matter of writers being lazy with Iceberg!Penguin - you could pump out the most intricate, well-thought-out mobster plot possible for a Penguin story, and I still doubt that I'd like it all that much.
But then, I still dislike "Birds of A Feather". I appreciated what it was trying to do with Ozzie, but the execution was painful. I also didn't think that Ozzie should've been THAT easily fooled by Veronica - he spent the last few years of his life being a master criminal, for God's sake. Surely he can see through something as shallow as her "affections"?
My personal take on the Penguin is this: he represents facets of the Joker that most Joker writers have long forgotten. He's the creature who makes a farce of all that Batman stands for - once Bruce Wayne put on a cape and tights to go out and fight crime, well, who's to say that a little fat man CAN'T go out and commit crime dressed in a tuxedo & monocle, toting an umbrella as his main weapon? You're willing to accept Batman as the ultimate badass, but you won't cut any slack for the guy who at least puts on pants when he goes outdoors?
Then, there's the whole "more dangerous than he looks" deal. I've never bought into the idea of the appearance of the Joker evoking a harmless clown, since 99.9% of all artists do their damnedest to make him look as evil as possible (which isn't that hard). I can count on one hand the number of artists that have made him look genuinely harmless, if even for a single panel. Ozzie, though... he's the definition of harmless-looking. Penguins, since their very first inception into pop-culture, have been codified as representing all that is adorable and ineffectual, and badass/homicidal ones are still firmly treated as a subversion of the norm. Right up the Penguin's alley! One second, you're laughing at the funny little man in outdated clothing - the next, he's rammed his umbrella-sword through your windpipe before you can even blink.
Though, I do like the idea that the Penguin has worked at being refined and cultured for so long, he's succeeded to an extent. The casual observer can be taken in by his manners, Shakespeare quotations and massive vocabulary. He won't easily lose his temper, and he always maintains an impeccable calm. It is only the most talented judges of character who can see through his ruse and pull it apart.
Chuck Dixon and Detective Comics #683, respectively. Adding more useless comics knowledge to your repertoire is never a bad thing! :D
That said... yeah, your interpretation of the Penguin hews extremely close to mine. I, too, can see little charm in the interpretation of the Penguin as a mob kingpin. I have little taste for regular suit-and-tie crime if it's not being contrasted against a costume hero or his costumed enemies. And this isn't just a matter of writers being lazy with Iceberg!Penguin - you could pump out the most intricate, well-thought-out mobster plot possible for a Penguin story, and I still doubt that I'd like it all that much.
But then, I still dislike "Birds of A Feather". I appreciated what it was trying to do with Ozzie, but the execution was painful. I also didn't think that Ozzie should've been THAT easily fooled by Veronica - he spent the last few years of his life being a master criminal, for God's sake. Surely he can see through something as shallow as her "affections"?
My personal take on the Penguin is this: he represents facets of the Joker that most Joker writers have long forgotten. He's the creature who makes a farce of all that Batman stands for - once Bruce Wayne put on a cape and tights to go out and fight crime, well, who's to say that a little fat man CAN'T go out and commit crime dressed in a tuxedo & monocle, toting an umbrella as his main weapon? You're willing to accept Batman as the ultimate badass, but you won't cut any slack for the guy who at least puts on pants when he goes outdoors?
Then, there's the whole "more dangerous than he looks" deal. I've never bought into the idea of the appearance of the Joker evoking a harmless clown, since 99.9% of all artists do their damnedest to make him look as evil as possible (which isn't that hard). I can count on one hand the number of artists that have made him look genuinely harmless, if even for a single panel. Ozzie, though... he's the definition of harmless-looking. Penguins, since their very first inception into pop-culture, have been codified as representing all that is adorable and ineffectual, and badass/homicidal ones are still firmly treated as a subversion of the norm. Right up the Penguin's alley! One second, you're laughing at the funny little man in outdated clothing - the next, he's rammed his umbrella-sword through your windpipe before you can even blink.
Though, I do like the idea that the Penguin has worked at being refined and cultured for so long, he's succeeded to an extent. The casual observer can be taken in by his manners, Shakespeare quotations and massive vocabulary. He won't easily lose his temper, and he always maintains an impeccable calm. It is only the most talented judges of character who can see through his ruse and pull it apart.
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