- Title: Detective Comics #20
- Comic Vine: link
- Writer: John Layman
- Artist: Jason Fabok
The Emperor Penguin storyline comes to an end as Batman battles Ogilvy, the self-proclaimed new crime king of Gotham who stole the Penguin‘s money and operation for his own. Underestimating his opponent, Batman arrives to discover Ogilvy has been busy by combining the stolen Man-Bat serum along with a version of Venom and a little contribution from Poison Ivy to craft himself into a legitimate super-villain threat.
Although I think Ogilvy is made too much of a threat too quickly, the fight between the would be king and Batman works well (even if it does require the Penguin to save our hero). It also gives us one of the better original New 52 villains. Batman makes up for the ass kicking he takes by putting down Ogilvy in short order, but he can’t take away Ogilvy’s short-lived victory.
The issue also includes a back-up story involving Ogilvy’s transport to Blackgate Prison and look at his origins. The story also brutally foreshadows the fact that the new Bat-villain is only getting started. Worth a look.
[DC, $3.99]