Fluid Fowl

Recently, the new Bruce Timm Batman animated series dropped. There is so much to like about this new Batman series. It takes place in a noir setting somewhere in 1930s to 40s America, but without the systemic racism and misogyny. Its packed with Batman Universe easter eggs, like a Killer Croc cameo and a Carrie Kelly appearance. Most of the show seems to be a carefully crafted universe with an adult noir theme. However, one episode stands out as a little off...

The first episode introduces this new Gotham City universe. Reeking of corruption, full of intrigue ready to be uncovered by a detective, this Gotham seems to be grounded in a sense of modernity despite its obvious homages to a gritty past. And then... super weapons and overt terrorism? Given the rest of the show's detective noir mystery feel, the first episode is more Batman 60s Camp, than Prohibition-era gangster Batman. 

The episode, however, is the premier, and events in this episode set the stage for the rest of the season. Specifically, it establishes a status quo in the criminal world, and then upsets it by removing a crucial character. That character would be familiar with Batman fans except for one big change. 

In the past Bruce Timm, the creator of the new Batman: Caped Crusader show, and former creator of the Batman: the Animated Series, had noted the same thing I've pointed out on this blog, there aren't too many female Batman villains. Most of the well known antagonists are men, and the few women seem to be inconsequential sidekicks, with Catwoman being the only exception. During his work on the first animated series, in response to this, he created a few brand new female characters, including Roxie Rocket, Red Claw, Babydoll, and Harley Quinn, a character that has not only endured, but crossed over into the comics, and became a bit of a cultural icon.

This time, though, he decided to take an already well established character and gender swap.

Oswald Cobblepot is rewritten as Oswalda for Episode 1. The character is written well, a nightclub owner and wannabe lounge singer who has built a criminal empire under the noses of the Gotham authorities. She is ruthless, able to murder her own grown children without hesitation, and [spoiler] her elimination leaves a power vacuum in Gotham that sets up the over arching plot to the rest of the series. This description would be a strong character sheet for anyone. It shares similarities with Ruby Ryder from Brave and the Bold #95, Sofia Gigante Falcone from The Long Halloween, and the Fish Mooney character from the Gotham tv show. All of whom would have been options for Bruce Timm, presumably. 

 

Gender flipping characters happens in fiction all the time. Its a great way to play with gender and work through the ways the character would differ from another perspective. How would the gender flipped character work through scenarios in ways the original wouldn't, or couldn't? How would the character's relationships change? Would there be differences in profession? Fashion? Language? It can be a very compelling and interesting creative exercise. However, none of these things seem to be factors in this new Penguin character.

I like this character, but don't understand the need to gender flip the Penguin to make this character exist. The two characters don't seem to share much in common other than a code-name, and an outfit. They are both mobsters, but there is no shortage of mobsters in Gotham. Oswalda could have been named anything. She could have been one of the characters I named dropped above, or a wholly new character, something that Bruce Timm had said was missing from Batman decades ago. This could have been a chance to replicate what was done with Harley Quinn and add another huge personality to Batman's list of villains. Instead, it seems like this was done to be controversial, a lazy way to arrive at solving a problem of representation.