Oswald Cobblepot

Bullied throughout his childhood for his short stature, bird-like features, and obsession with umbrellas, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot turned to a life of crime, reinventing himself as the Penguin — a cunning Gotham underworld boss who wields trick umbrellas and ruthless business acumen in equal measure.

Few Golden Age villains have proven as stubbornly, gloriously enduring as Oswald Cobblepot — the Penguin — who waddled onto the scene in 1942's World's Finest Comics #6, courtesy of Jack Kirby, and has never really left. Over 84 years and 348 catalog appearances — six of them key issues that collectors prize — he has made himself at home across the pages of Batman, Detective Comics, and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, keeping rarefied company with the likes of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, and even Green Lantern. Where so many of his contemporaries faded into Golden Age obscurity, Cobblepot endured, a testament to the peculiar, indelible magnetism of a villain who feels utterly at home in Gotham's shadows. If you're tracing the deep roots of DC's greatest city, his bibliography is essential reading.