Oswald Cobblepot is buying a gun. In a park. He doesn’t have much money, but he’s got to start somewhere. He’s trying to reclaim his place in the Gotham City underworld. It’s not going to be an easy climb out of the gutter in Batman: One Bad Day – The Penguin #1. Writer John Ridley tells a tale of the returning Penguin with the art team of Giuseppe Camuncoli (layouts) and Cam Smith (finishes). Ridley has a solid tale that matches a rise from the ashes with a very frustrated Batman who is struggling to keep a handle on the criminal activity in Gotham.

Oswald isn’t in a position to haggle. He’s only got $20. In Gotham City, that’ll get you one snubnosed revolver and a single bullet. Oswald has the kind of luck and ingenuity to turn that into...well...$10, a Glock, and three bullets. It’s not going to be easy getting back on his feet. Things will be complicated by the presence of Batman, but then...things are ALWAYS complicated by the presence of Batman. If Penguin is going to regain any power, he’s going to need to make a few friends in order to do so.

Ridley’s journey is a fun one. Penguin starting from nothing and working his way up could have been a much more intricate journey...and given the right momentum, it could have been its own series. Ridley finds enough charm in the situation to make it work quite well as an extended narrative. It’s too bad that he only has the length of a single extended-length issue to make it work. The story is actually a lot of fun and having Batman looming around in the background adds considerable atmosphere for a rags-to-slightly-better-rags story.

Camuncoli and Smith have been given quite a challenge. The Penguin has to look ugly and stubbled...down and out and heroic at the same time. He’s pathetic, but he’s also clever, and...it’s not easy to make that come across in a way that’s both appealing AND true to the character. He’s a likable guy for 70 pages or so. Some of the action and some of the composition add to the shadowy murkiness of the series that feels sharp and stylish enough to harness the right mood for a journey through darkness with one of Batman’s longest-lived villains. 

One Bad Day has been a fun close-up on some of Batman’s antagonists. Each one has had its own fingerprint. Ridley is wise to give the Penguin some momentum throughout an extended spotlight. It really SHOULD have been a mini-series at least, though. Ridley makes a strong case for Penguin as the protagonist of his own series, starting from the bottom and working his way up, but he’s already come quite a ways between two covers, and it would feel strange trying to lift him up from where he is now at the end of this issue.

Grade: B+