I am finally done with all of the "Death of the Family" books. Well, except Red Hood, and I'm not reading that title. (I totally reserve the right to read that one though, if I read the Teen Titans.)

This is the weakest DC New 52 book I've read in a long time, maybe the weakest one I have read.


Poison Ivy is very clearly killed at the end of the 2nd Birds of Prey book. There are a couple of references to BoP, but they're totally like, "Ivy was having some trouble with the girls a while back". In fact,the whole way Batman talks about her (which I will admit is all internal) is very much him just saying that if things don't work out with Catwoman, the next time he needs to get his Bat on, he can just hook up with her.

And the whole Emperor Penguin storyline is litereally tacked on at the end of the issue several times. They could have done something really interesting and show how mob wars work in Gotham, but instead they just took the easy way out.
( )

DC comics have restarted the storylines of their comics at the beginning. John Layman took over this book with these tales, and fandom lauds him as a breath of fresh air. He writes tough crime stories, call them hardboiled or noir even, that emphasize Batman the detective, battling not silly villains but hardened criminals and human monsters.

Layman uses several villains here, including Poison Ivy, Clayface, Joker wannabes, and Victor Zsasz. (Don't know who the latter guy is? Well, I'm going to do you a favor and not describe him. ) I read it, of course, because the title promised me Penguin stories. I got what I wanted. Oswald Cobblepot is now the anti-Joker, a sane cruel gangster who belongs in Blackgate Penitentiary ,as opposed to Arkham Asylum. He makes the mistake of leaving his organization to his chief assistant, one Ignatius Oglivy, who seizes his opportunity to take over. He renames himself Emperor Penguin and sets himself up as a newer, better model of Pengy. I was taken with him myself and I love the old Penguin. The book ends with Cobblepot in jail and Emperor Penguin planning something nasty for Batman. ( )