DeVITO WRITES BATMAN! Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant #1

[Gotham Knight]

"Written by Danny DeVito, Wes Craig, G. Willow Wilson, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Joshua Williamson, Stephanie Phillips, Dan Watters, and Mairghread Scott
Art by Dan Mora, Wes Craig, Emma Rios, Riccardo Federici, Max Raynor, Max Fiumara, Skylar Patridge, Ariela Kristantina, Khary Randolph, Jill Thompson, Christian Ward, Gabriel Walta, and others
Cover by Lee Bermejo
Variants by Frank Quitely, Wes Craig, Riccardo Federici, Dan Mora, and Marguerite Sauvage

Gotham City may be protected by the Dark Knight, but this major metropolitan destination is also plagued by some of the deadliest, most nefarious villains in the DC Universe! In this oversize anniversary giant, DC Comics proudly presents tales of Batman's deadliest foes written and drawn by some of the biggest, most exciting names in comics! 2021 marks an anniversary year for the Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Ra's al Ghul, Talia al Ghul, the Mad Hatter, Killer Moth, and the original Red Hood, and Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant #1 brings these baddies to life in some big ways! Also featuring the anniversary celebration of the Penguin, written by none other than the man who brought Oswald Cobblepot to life in Batman Returns, star of the silver screen Danny DeVito!"

[The Joker]

I might actually just pick this one up.

Just really because of the Devito/Penguin story.

I still vividly remember his appearance on "Inside the Actor's Studio" several years ago, and it was readily apparent that Danny truly has a strong affinity for the character of the Penguin, and the zest he brought into his portrayal is just as identifiable.

[eledoremassis02]

https://www.superherohype.com/comics/508626-danny-devito-explains-his-penguin-catwoman-comic-book-romance-story\

Danny DeVito Explains His Penguin/Catwoman Comic Book Romance Story
Last summer, word broke that Danny DeVito is making his comic book writer debut in Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant #1, a new one-shot special that celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Penguin's first appearance in Detective Comics #48 in 1941. DeVito teamed with artist Dan Mora on "Bird Cat Love," a short story that explores an unlikely romance between Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin and Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Danny DeVito explains.
In 1992, DeVito famously played Penguin in Batman Returns alongside Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. DeVito's shared Batman connection with the actress is why he felt the need to reach out to Pfeiffer before writing the story.

"I did call Michelle and tell her that I was doing it," said DeVito in a new interview with Forbes.  "I said 'Look, it's like my fantasy and it's my dream come true to have an incredible romance with such a beautiful woman. Oswald, I'm talking about, and Selina.' She was very excited to hear about it."

"I'm so excited about it," continued DeVito. "I've never done anything like that before but I've always been a big fan of DC. From the time I was a kid, I had giant collections of all kinds of comics. I love The Penguin, I love Oswald. And of course, doing the movie with Tim [Burton] was one of the highlights of my career. I love that character so much. It was thrust upon me at a time when I've always been in love with Catwoman. Not only Oswald being in love with Catwoman, but Danny being in love with Michelle Pfeiffer. I jumped on the opportunity and the first thing that came to mind was the romance."

Within the story, Penguin and Catwoman find a common purpose during a worldwide pandemic. Naturally, it was inspired by the ongoing COVID crisis.

"It was in the middle of COVID and I said Look at what love can do," said DeVito. "I just applied it to the story and I sat down and in a few weeks, I had knocked out the whole idea and wrote it and they responded to it and to have Dan Mora to do the artwork, it's so brilliant. His stuff is just so masterful. I feel blessed to be in that company and the way it turned out, I couldn't be happier."

[The Joker]

Ok. I am now sold on actually getting this.

Devito has always exuded a zest for whenever he speaks about his portrayal of the Penguin, and it's quite palpable. Given the statement's above, I would almost go as far as to say this story may very well be an extension of the Burtonverse Penguin, as told by Danny Devito himself. Which would give it more credence.

Course, we'll have to read it in order to make that judgement (especially if this story is going to actually incorporate COVID or rather just a generic plague), but the above interview certainly sounds like Danny is getting back into his Burtonverse Penguin mindset, and expanding upon a 'personal' fantasy his Oswald no doubt had in his head in the time frame shortly after the alliance was agreed upon with Catwoman. After all, Penguin was blatantly alluding to this with Catwoman herself shortly after killing the Ice Princess.

Also, definitely can't blame Danny for being infatuated with Michelle Pfeiffer on the set. I know a lot of us were by the summer of '92.

[The Dark Knight]

This sounds like an absolute dumpster fire.

[eledoremassis02]

I read it last night.. it was interesting. Defintly wasnt Burton Penguin tho. I'll have to read it again because I wasnt sure where it was going at first. But it's defintly going to be a time capsule of a story

[Silver Nemesis]

DeVito wasn't kidding when he said this story was his fantasy.

What an odd tale. The Penguin – a character who back in Detective Comics Annual Vol 1 #1 (September 1988) tried unleashing a pathogen that would kill women and kids, and who in Batman Returns tried slaughtering the city's firstborn children in their sleep – is now a cuddly antihero who wants to save the world's underprivileged from COVID-19. And Catwoman, who has always been repulsed by Oswald's sexual advances, is now his willing partner in both love and crime.

The whole thing comes across as a socialist fairytale about redistributing the wealth of the elite to save the planet. The Penguin is cast as an altruistic Robin Hood figure who commits crimes not because he lusts for power, money or revenge, but because... he's a nice guy who wants to make the world a better place? The Penguin? Oswald "burn baby burn" Cobblepot? None of this rings true to the character. The art work is great, and it's nice to see the flipper hands return, but the ideas expressed in the writing come across as naive, well-meaning but impractical. Penguin manages to save the world from COVID-19, capitalist greed and environmental short-sightedness in the span of a single short story. Superman IV's ambitions were limited to tackling nuclear disarmament, but here DeVito's going for a hat-trick. From a dramatic perspective, there's also a total lack of obstacles or complications impeding the characters' mission. Penguin and Catwoman just breeze through the story without having to overcome any meaningful challenges along the way. Everything goes right for them at every step, which makes it all rather dull to read.

What the story needed was a coda where we see what's really happening, much like the scenes in Penguin Triumphant (1992) where Oswald's fantasy self-image is contrasted against the sad reality of his life.

We could have seen Oswald getting rejected by Selina, yelling at some kids, and then embarking on a crime motivated by greed and insecurity. Instead DeVito presents the 'fantasy' as real. It's not a good story IMO, but I still enjoyed it just because of how weird it is. And if nothing else, it offers a unique insight into DeVito's perspective on the character. He clearly sees Oswald very differently from how the rest of us do.

[The Joker]

Admittedly, I was kinda bewildered after reading this. As I initially thought that Devito would have leaned into Burtonverse continuity, and/or, at the very least, remain accurate to the Penguin's character and motivations from Batman Returns, but nah. It's just a story that comes across as glaringly undeveloped, and decidedly needing of more adjustments.

If this story had been molded a bit more, and implied that this was some sort of stream of consciousness daydream Devito's Penguin had (in the Burtonverse) at some point following his meeting of Pfieffer's Catwoman (since the 'plague' goes unnamed), I would have been more OK with it I suppose. As a daydream fantasy doesn't really have to add up in making sense. Unfortunately, there really is no implications that this is taking place in, really, any universe. I don't bother keeping up with the current stuff, but I am aware of this "Omniverse" DC is going with now, however it doesn't come across like Devito's story even adheres to that either/or from what I've gathered. Which is perplexing. Just as baffling that given Devito's admitted desire to see Penguin and Catwoman as a couple, we're not even given any info whatsoever on just how this romance even transpired. It just is. Then there's this obsession the Penguin's has with vaccines. Ok. I mean, I was sorta expecting an twist explanation that would have been pretty shady (considering this is the f'n PENGUIN we're talking about here) with this (I.E. pharmaceutical companies raking in record profits via a backroom deal with the Penguin and his nonsensical "distribution" plot .. which isn't fleshed out either .. but a profiteering angle could have been implemented), but, yeah, nothing. It's like everything is unabashedly clumsy in this. Seriously, there's a line where this Penguin and Catwoman's new M.O. is to steal from the rich and give to the poor, but this is after it's stated that they stole vaccine formula or whatever. So when did this new objective come into play exactly? Just absolutely bizarre. Especially for a Penguin anniversary celebration, cause you clearly don't get anything consistent with the Penguin's traditional 80 year history with this. As it's not really a "story" per se, but a rather unfocused "vignette" that awkwardly shifts wildly.

Unfortunately, this doesn't really come across as something that's intended to be read and re-read, but just "messaging" that Devito wanted to get off his chest after watching a ton of legacy media. As it plays fast and loose with pretty much everything, so don't expect anything remotely focused with this.

At this point, I'm half-expecting DC to ask Jack Nicholson for permission on if they can attach his name/approval for a story where the Joker is trying to get tickets to a Lakers game. After Devito's Penguin story, it would be right up their alley. Probably more entertaining too.

[Silver Nemesis]

If this story had been molded a bit more, and implied that this was some sort of stream of consciousness daydream Devito's Penguin had (in the Burtonverse) at some point following his meeting of Pfieffer's Catwoman (since the 'plague' goes unnamed), I would have been more OK with it I suppose. As a daydream fantasy doesn't really have to add up in making sense.

This idea would have fixed it for me. But as it stands, the story feels like the setup for a joke that's lacking a punch line.

DeVito gave a great performance as the Penguin, but unfortunately he just isn't much of a writer.