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DC Comics Changes The Penguin’s Name To Oswald Cobb (At Least, Temporarily)

The Penguin Special #1 crop

One of the more controversial moves HBO’s The Penguin has made so far? Naming the main character, played by Colin Farrel, Oswald Cobb instead of Oswald Cobblepot. And in today’s issue of DC Comics‘s The Penguin Special #1, they change his comic book name to Oswald Cobb, as well. At least for this story.

The issue, which hits stores today, contains several archival stories focusing on The Penguin. There’s the original 1941 story that introduced the character in Detective Comics #58. There’s a story by Alan Grant and Sam Kieth from Secret Origins Special #1. And there’s also Joker’s Asylum: Penguin #1, a twisted tale from Jason Aaron and Jason Pearson.

But the main event is a brand new story in the front, written by Jeremy Adams with art by Howard Porter titled “Mr. Cobb.” What Adams does very neatly in this short is present a story that is in continuity with the current DC All In initiative, provides an epilogue to the recent Penguin series by Tom King and Rafael de Latorre, and also is a story that will also work for anyone curious about the character from watching him on HBO. It’s a high-wire act that the talented Adams walks ably here and is 100% definitely bent on appealing to potential new fans. After all, The Penguin‘s first episode has reportedly gotten 14 million viewers so far, while comics generally don’t break the 100,000 mark, if even close to that.

So it makes sense to throw in a story where Oswald is called Mr. Cobb, to match the TV show. What happens in the story — and spoilers here — is that Oswald visits the mother of his children Aiden and Addison, who he killed in The Penguin series. An overzealous nurse has lessened the drugs she was being given, and she’s become cognizant enough to beg Oswald to kill her. Instead, Oswald kills the nurse and re-ups her dosage, but only after explaining that he’s killed their children.

If you’re wondering about the Mr. Cobb thing, it’s clearly so nobody can track his ex being held hostage and drugged. So chances are this is an alias he’s using, rather than a permanent name change. So hey, maybe The Penguin series will end with him calling himself Cobblepot and re-owning his comics canonical name. Or perhaps this is Adams just finding a way to appeal to new fans, without alienating the diehards. Either way, Oswald Cobblepot is now Oswald Cobb in the comics… At least for a few pages.

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