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Title: DETECTIVE COMICS No. 58 * 1st Penguin Appearance
Publisher:DC [Indicia: Detective Comics, Inc.]
Date Published: December, 1941
Description: CGC certified: Fair/Good (1.5). Purple label: Restored (C-4). Brittle pages. Grader notes: "Brittleness splitting top of all wrap; color touch on right top front cover; creasing to cover; pieces added right top front cover C-5; pieces out to cover; spine splits to cover; tears to cover." Provenance: The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION.
 
CGC Census: 114 graded copies (93 Universal, 2 Signature Series, 19 Restored).
 
GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. A restored 1.0 (C-1) sold for $2464 in 8/20. 
 
For comparison purposes, here are recent Universal sales: A 1.0 sold for $9622 in 1/22; a 1.8 sold for $4350 in 4/21.
 
Credits: Cover: Fred Ray (Jerry Robinson inks). Scripts: Bill Finger, Chad Grothkopf, Jack Lehti. Art: Bob Kane (Jerry Robinson and George Roussos inks), Ed Moore, Cliff Young, Chad Grothkopf, Ed Winiarski, Jack Lehti (Charles Paris inks), Don Lynch, Howard Sherman. Overstreet: "1st Penguin app.; last Speed Saunders."Bat-cyclopedia: "Batman and Robin battle the PENGUIN.... 'The odd little man with the peculiar rolling gait' and 'fertile—but twisted—brain' who ranks second only to the JOKER as the arch-nemesis of BATMAN and ROBIN. His name derives from his appearance, which resembles that of an oversized penguin. The Penguin is noted for his outrageous vanity, his high-flown language, and his fondness for Shakespeare and Keats, but he has been made most infamous by his passion for birds and bird-related crimes and for his ingenious use of the umbrella, which he has transformed from a harmless everyday device into a versatile implement of terror and destruction and which, more than anything else, has become his personal trademark.
 
"The Penguin is a chubby little man — 'surprisingly nimble, in spite of all his fat' — with a pointy nose, a 'waddling gait,' a 'cherubic face,' and a monocle. He wears a black coat, a white shirt, gray trousers, a high silk hat, and a pair of gloves colored either white, green, yellow, or purple. He rarely appears in public without at least one of his trusty trick umbrellas, and he sometimes carries an entire arsenal of umbrellas slung over his shoulder inside a special umbrella quiver.
 
"In the early days of his career, the Penguin was a cold-blooded murderer who dealt death with weapons ranging from bullets to psittacosis germs, but by early 1943 he has murdered his last victim and entered upon a career of relatively benign criminality.... Whatever the crime, however, the Penguin has always committed it with the instinct and dedication of a master craftsman, for he is a man who feels strongly that 'a perfect crime is a work of art!'" — Michael L. Fleisher, The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes Vol. 1: Batman. Macmillan: 1976, pp. 116, 295-296.
 
Gotham's Bad Egg: "Teased and bullied by other children who nicknamed him 'Penguin' for his squat body and beak-like nose, lonely little Oswald Cobblepot turns to his mother's pet birds, calling them 'my only friends' because they wouldn't judge or reject him. He wants human friends. He wants a girlfriend. Strange-looking and socially awkward, he never fits in, a misfit mocked at school and in his family's wealthy circle. His overbearing and overprotective mother, convinced he might catch pneumonia and die like his father, makes him carry an umbrella everywhere he goes. When she, too, dies... leaving behind debts that send their holdings into foreclosure, he loses everything he has ever clung to for security.... Even the birds get repossessed. Having always ached to fit in among the social elite, he decides to buy his way into high society. Outcast Oswald turns to crime — with flair." — Travis Langley, Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight. Wiley: 2021, p. 142.The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION comprises over 40,000 comic books, including a copy of every single DC comic published for retail sale from 1934 to 2014. The collection was amassed by British music producer Ian Levine over the course of several decades, and it's been hailed as the single greatest collecting accomplishment in comic book history. This collection served as the basis for former DC Comics president Paul Levitz's monumental book 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, published by Taschen in 2017. PBA is proud to present this epic collection in a series of themed sales over the next two years. To join the DC Universe Collection notifications list, contact pba@pbagalleries.com.
Enjoying PBA's Batman sale? A very small number of softcover and limited edition hardcover auction catalogues are available for purchase. The catalogues are fully illustrated, thoroughly researched, and make excellent reference works for Batman fans. To order a copy, or to inquire about consignment opportunities, contact Ivan Briggs, PBA's Director of Comics: ivan@pbagalleries.com.