The Penguin and Catwoman solve COVID, bang in Danny Devito’s Batman comic

From everything I’ve heard, Danny DeVito (Batman Returns) is truly a peach of a human being. I don’t want to tarnish that.

So to be clear, when I tell you “Danny DeVito wrote a Penguin story in which he and Catwoman team up to have lots of sex and also solve the COVID0-19 pandemic” I am thinking nothing but “Damn, Danny DeVito, this is a kind of boldness in self-favoritism that I love to see.”

What else is happening in the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Monday Funnies, Polygon’s weekly list of the books that our comics editor enjoyed this past week. It’s part society pages of superhero lives, part reading recommendations, part “look at this cool art.” There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. But there will be great comics. (And if you missed the last edition, read this.)

Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant

Image: Danny DeVito, Dan Mora/DC Comics

Gotham City Anniversary Giant is, I suppose, in honor of the anniversary of some of its featured villains, like the Penguin (80th), Scarecrow (80th), Killer Moth (70th), and the Red Hood (70th), but it’s the anniversary of none of the rest of the characters in it. Still, G. Willow Wilson and Emma Ríos’ Poison Ivy story for it rules extremely hard.

And also, I don’t know if I mentioned, there’s a story written by Danny DeVito in which the Penguin and Catwoman bang, adopt three penguins and three kittens as children, and solve the COVID-19 pandemic.

Avengers #50

Image: Jason Aaron/Marvel Comics

Avengers #50 was Jason Aaron’s chance to team up with a million artists to tie up some plot lines (She-Hulk is svelte and articulate again in time for her new solo series) and seed new ones (Howard Stark became the armorer for a multiversal coalition of Mephistos in exchange for immortality???) for the next leg of his run. I especially liked one thing: The Orb, who maybe stole the Watcher’s eye? And is a total creep.

Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons

Image: Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jimenez/DC Comics

Behold: 30 distinctly designed Amazon warriors, staged like the most dangerous Annie Leibowiz photoshoot ever. I’ve been waiting for Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons, and even after reading it digitally I still went out and bought the paper edition. That’s just how gorgeous this book is.

Nightwing Annual #1

Image: Tom Taylor, Daniel HDR/DC Comics

There aren’t a lot of Dick Grayson-Jason Todd team-up stories out there, in part because — beyond a certain point — they were intended to be at odds. The legacy Dick never asked for, picked by a mentor he was on the outs with, who died before they could really get to know each other. Tom Taylor, Cian Tormey, and Daniel HDR’s Nightwing Annual fills in some of that history and looks great doing it.