Warning: spoilers ahead for Detective Comics #1038!
In Detective Comics #1038's 'March of the Penguin,' the Penguin has begun his bloody and brutal return as a major Batman villain. It's been a while since Oswald Cobblepot has been seen as a legitimate threat, though it looks like he intends to change that in some pretty shocking ways, proving himself as a genuine foe in the Dark Knight's rogues gallery.
'March of the Penguin' comes from writer Meghan Fitzmartin and artist Karl Mostert, featured in Detective Comics #1038. At its beginning, Oswald is struggling to keep his organization together, as the Bat-Family attack one of his warehouses. Penguin is outraged that the junior Batgirls were sent to stop his operations instead of Batman, calling him washed-up and small time in the process. They make their point even further by leaving halfway through the fight when a bigger threat draws their attention away from someone as seemingly insignificant as Penguin.
Naturally, the altercation enrages Oswald, especially when a reporter comes calling soon after to his empty Iceberg Lounge, asking him all kinds of insulting questions about how he lost his power and why he is no longer one of Batman's biggest villains. As a result, the Penguin snaps, brutalizing the reporter before going to kill the goon who's been talking to the press. Penguin has long been a vicious, conniving villain, but in this issue he reminds fans that he has absolutely no problem getting bloody and brutal to maintain his power.
While Penguin was supposedly trying to reform, the ridicule was too much. If people want a bigger, badder, and more brutal Penguin, it looks like they're going to get it. By the issue's end, Oswald has already come up with a plan to get back on top, involving himself with the wealthy Mr. Worth, who has declared war not only on Batman but also on Bruce Wayne, who has been wrongly implicated in the death of his daughter.
The return of the Penguin as a major threat will be exciting for Bat-fans. While many of the critiques sent his way in this story are true, the biggest one was the implication that he's part of an older era when criminal gangs and mob bosses were in charge of Gotham, rather than supercriminals. However, this could actually prove to be Penguin's greatest strength. Being one of the few major villains to actually have a handle on organized crime, Penguin could pose an unprecedented problem to the newly cash-poor Batman. In this new, post Joker War era, Batman is capable of taking on individual villains, but less equipped than ever to face down Penguin's mob tactics - an especially dangerous fact given Oswald Cobblepot's renewed taste for blood.