Ahh, back when the Penguin mattered...

[PNGwynne]

Oh, the Seventies: The Penguin met Scooby-Doo and was featured in daily reruns in the person of Buzz Meredith and the voice of Ted Knight.

His revised MM card rightly notes his status "as Batman's #2 villain" and features the Mego bank & bendy. He even got to menace CAH Wonder Woman & her Invisible Jet! He was an evil Azrak paratrooper & adorned tumblers, t-shirts, & school supplies--those were the days!

Now it's all steroid freaks on respirators, but Mego reminds us of an era when an elegant little mountebank of crime could give the Caped Crusader a run for his money.


...Here's hoping I live long enough to see Tobey Jones play him on film.

[thunderbolt]

awww, c'mon. He got lots of love in the Timm animated shows and The Batman. CTVT is making a repro. He was in the first wave of DCUC and he was used in a Burton Bat-Movie.

[PNGwynne]

That's true! Paul Williams was great as Penguin, & both those DCUC figures were cool.

[jds1911a1]

if only paul could have voiced hin in the 4th season of the animated series when they stoped using the Tim burton inspired character model - David ogden stiers just wasn't as good a voice for the penguin as Paul was

[Earth 2 Chris]

Williams was the Penugin in all the BTAS episodes, even through TNBA. Stiers did the voice in "The Mystery of the Batwoman" direct-to-DVD movie.

Penguin is pretty prominent in the Arkham video games, so a new generation is being exposed to him...although he's more of a tough crime boss now.

Chris

[samurainoir]

I dig the Burgess Meredith, but I'm also admittedly in the minority that loves the Mutant Freak Devito Penguin from Batman Returns, while acknowledging that it's as campy, if not more so than the 66 series.

Looking forward to both the 4 inch figure and inevitable Hot Toys version.

Hoping Meredith gets the Hot Toys treatment as well.


I really liked the pre-52 Penguin, as the proprieter of the Iceberg Lounge. Sometimes I think characters really benefit when they become ongoing supporting characters for a while rather than the villain of the week. Between the "legitimate" business man Penguin, and the "reformed" detective Riddler, it really added some colour to the local gotham scene, freshened up both characters and kept them visible.

[PNGwynne]

The thought of a Hot Toys Meredith makes my head spin--it'd definitely be my first HT purchase.

I'm fine with Cobblepott as mob boss/entrepreneur. I like the Iceberg Lounge, and the seeds of Penguin as quasi-legitimate have been in many depictions before the '90s.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, that was Chuck Dixon's innovation. It really worked for the character, and I'm glad they incorporated it into TNBA.

I didn't really care for Devito's Penugin. Too much of a straight Burton character, with just the name and umbrellas added in.

Chris

[Mego MkIV]

I always thought The Penguin was a great character and was fun as well.