The Giant Penny and the Penny Plunderer: the enduring legacy of a loser villain

[about_faces]

Like many or perhaps even most comics fans, there was a time when I naturally assumed that the giant penny in the Batcave was--alongside the robot T-Rex and the big Joker playing card--a trophy from some previous clash with Two-Face. Well, either that or the time the Joker dressed up as Simple Simon and used a giant penny to try busting open a bank

Comments

Call this an overly narrow superlative if you must...

[mothy_van_cleer]

...But Joe Coyne may be the greatest Silver Age villain ever to base crimes centered around what was, even at the time, a largely obsolete form of currency.

Also: Greetings, Mr. Hefner! Long-time fan, first-time commenter!

Re: Call this an overly narrow superlative if you must...

[about_faces]

... Now I'm actually racking my brain trying to think if there actually were any other currency-based villains!

Also: HI! :D

It's always such a pleasant surprise to hear that I have lurkers who read even if they don't comment! Thanks for chiming in!

Re: Call this an overly narrow superlative if you must...

[abqreviews]

>Now I'm actually racking my brain trying to think if there actually were any other currency-based villains!

Well, Scrooge McDuck is kind of a villain...

But in all seriousness, the only money-themed villain I can think of in superhero comics is "The Ghost who Haunted Money" that fought the Spectre in the 60s. I *think* Plastic Man fought a money-themed villain (with a pun-based name) in the golden age stories.

Re: Call this an overly narrow superlative if you must...

[mothy_van_cleer]

Lex Luthor, if you want to split hairs, has sort of moved away from the fringes of ignominious mad science and became the archetypal wealth-based villain; he's got enough money to do whatever the hell he wants, and he's going to waste it all on a childish grudge against an noble, altruistic orphan from a dead world. Because that's how he rolls, son.

[eyeofthedivine]

I must admit I found this story really amusing ^_^ I had always wondered what the massive penny was from and now I know :D

I also laughed my arse off on that first panel I couldn't keep it straight at all. The video was also really funny and educational I like that guy (whoever he is.) He made some very valid points as to why the penny is not so good for you guys in the states.

This post also makes me wonder are pennies just as useless in the UK? I mean we do seem to use them more than you guys in the states seem to. But saying that I haven't used a pay phone since I was like thirteen :P Most of the ones where I am take bloody debit cards now :(

[about_faces]

And know is half the battle! /gijoe

The guy in the video is John Green--bestselling YA author and half of the VlogBrothers--who was introduced to me via Henchgirl, who utterly loves the Green boys. The other videos are worth watching. Henchgirl recently decided to start watching them all again from the beginning, which one can do.

Hmmm, I wonder if pennies really are just as useless elsewhere? Lord knows I rarely use them anymore.

[eyeofthedivine]

So True! ^_^

What does YA stand for?

I will be checking them out I liked the video you posted here.

I dunno I mean I use them a lot at the moment but that's because I need the loose change for the buses; especially since they are so funny about taking notes these days :(

[about_faces]

Young Adult! :)

Yeah, she says that it was a huge year-long vlogging project. They couldn't speak to one another for a year in any way other than via daily vlog posts. Hilarity ensued. That's where John Green became famous in the first place, which led to him becoming a famous author and whatnot. I really should try reading one of his books myself. He rather reminds me of myself in terms of personality and humor.

[psychopathicus]

Yeah, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for this guy. He's basically the ultimate loser - not only does he have an origin which is basically 'I shall overreact as epically as possible to extremely minor things', but he's one of the few Bat-villains who has been screwed out of having any modern-day relevancy at all simply because he is instantly and inescapably dated. Most older members of Batsy's rogues gallery can be dusted off and modernized with a minimum of fuss and bother, but not THIS guy. Ohhhhh no. Mr. Coyne's career makes absolutely NO sense in modern-day terms, because (as that video you added points out) WE DON'T USE PENNIES LIKE THAT ANYMORE. The only thing we use pennies for these days is to make up the difference in sales tax, or to save up until they accumulate into dollars. So basically, his whole theme has faded into complete cultural irrelevancy - he's one step below where, say, a Jimmy Durante-themed villain would be today. This guy has been thoroughly screwed by the progression of rates of exchange - how's

[about_faces]

I mean, really, writers want to hold someone like Killer Moth up as a loser Batman villain, but really pales in comparison to the Penny Plunderer. It's not even that the guy's necessarily a bad character, he's just... well... a loser! He's so completely down on his luck even from the start! And now, that loser-ness has taken an almost meta dimension, since he's lost any sense of relevance in the modern era! Well, unless you were to go the John Green route and reinvent him be a walking commentary on the uselessness of pennies in today's society, or something.

That being said, he's actually a surprisingly successful villain if you can take him on his own terms.Very true! I wish I'd been able to post the whole thing rather than just snark over an excerpt, because he wasn't a thoroughly incompetent foe, all told. He really did manage to make the pennies obsession work for him up until the points that it bit him on the ass. As you note, there is the potential for great classic villainy here. It's almost like the old version of the

[mothy_van_cleer]

Sure, but the difference is, Killer Moth and others suffered from the mad, overweening hubris of their writers: they didn't just want to create a villain, they wanted to create the GREATEST Batman VILLAIN ever. And, yeah, time and again, that meant some cheap re-hashing of the more formulaic bits of Batman's troubled past.

What would happen if Bruce Wayne had CRIMINAL parents who were gunned down by COPS? He'd become Wrath, or Owlman! What if he suffered CHILD ABUSE and became a Aristotle-quoting SURGEON? Hush! What if he suffered CHILD ABUSE and became a SURGEON, but was also BLACK? Grotesk! What if he suffered CHILD ABUSE (are you noticing a pattern?), and YELLED ALL THE TIME? Black Mask! And, of course, what if he was ONLY PRETENDING to be rich? He'd be everyone's favourite punching bag, Killer Moth.

The difference is, Joe Coyne had no delusions of grandeur. He knew he sucked, plain and simple, and therefore never took out any grand designs on old Bats. He was happy to languish in obscurity... and, in the end, he got his wish.

[psychopathicus]

Actually, I'd say Coyne's motive was more to get AWAY from obscurity, not revel in it - he was a nobody, and he wanted to be a respected crook. Still, you're right in that 'respected crook' was pretty much the limits of his ambition - he didn't get into crime to fight Batman, he got into crime to make some dough.

[ext_262094]

Didn't Two-Face kill The Penny Plunderer before?

[about_faces]

Yes, which is what I said in the second-to-last paragraph. :)

[ext_262094]

I'm continually amazed that he never made it onto the Batman '66 show with Adam West. He would've been a perfect fit for the campy style in that show.

[abqreviews]

You know, this is very reminiscent in some ways of some of Will Eisner's stories from The Spirit, in that it focuses on a little guy obsessed with one overriding element in his life who is eventually destroyed by it. The big difference is that it's done without any of the artistry, irony or humor.

And yes, the "copper pennies" line totally deserves to be read out loud. I'd pay to see skits at conventions where fans act out stories to the letter, with a narrator too.

[about_faces]

Hey, you're right, it actually IS reminiscent of Eisner, except not nearly as good! Good call!

So, would that make this the Spock's Brain of comic conventions? On second thought, no, there HAS to be a better worse comic to perform out loud. Shit, now you make me want to stage dramatic performances of bad/crack comics.

[psychopathicus]

Considering some of the truly ridiculous dialogue I've read in comics over the years, I could actually see that being pretty fun if it were done at a Comicon or some such. It could be something like Karaoke, only instead of getting up on stage and singing, you'd give your personal interpretation of a sequence from a comic. For sequences requiring more than one speaker, you'd have two people up onstage, and so forth. It would be a hoot! I mean, there are already plenty of comics out there which have been mocked to hell and back - I'm sure there are plenty of fans who would have the time of their lives sinking their teeth into, say, one of the crazy monologues from ASB&R.

[about_faces]

Oh my god, yes, the ASB&R karaoke would be the main draw, wouldn't it? As, I imagine, would Neal Adams' Batman: The Odyssey. Oh man, that'd be painfully hilarious.