Batman: The Penguin's Ex-Wife Reveal Puts A Dark Twist on a Classic DC Character

The Penguin series by DC writer Tom King has taken readers on a fascinating journey inside the life and mind of Oswald Cobblepot, revealing new dimensions to one of Batman's most dangerous and enduring foes. The Penguin #4 continues to deepen the intrigue, as Oswald is forced to call upon the one person in the world he actually fears: his ex-wife.

(SPOILERS) During the course of the story "The Ex" we see Penguin travel to Las Vegas to the St. Claire Casino, where we meet his ex-wife, Lisa St. Claire. 

Who Is DC's Lisa St. Claire? 

If you don't know the name that's okay: Lisa St. Claire is a reference to a pretty obscure DC character –  one of the featured protagonists in the Young Love romance comic series, which began with Crestwood/Prize's series in 1947, and eventually became a DC Comics title running from 1963-1977. "The Life and Loves of Lisa St. Claire" was a segment DC focused on: it depicted Lisa St. Claire as a wealthy and beautiful socialite ("Spoiled rich girl Lisa" as one synopsis put it), constantly caught up in romantic intrigue and torrid (if not doomed) love affairs. 

It was the sort of pulpy salacious material that eventually killed the romance comics genre when the Comics Code Authority (and others) started imposing hard restrictions on material viewed as exposing minors to overly adult themes.  

Clearly, Tom King was a fan who remembers those old DC romance books because the version of Lisa St. Claire who we meet in The Penguin seems like a definite homage – albeit with far more modern edge. 

Who Is Penguin's Ex-Wife Lisa St. Claire?

In The Penguin, Lisa is introduced as someone who is able to play the chess game of crime and wealth/empire-building just as well as Oswald Cobblepot. The two exchange pleasantries; Lisa arranges the best accommodations for him in her casino and the former spouses agree on dinner – but of course, it's all a front. Penguin and Lisa don't even make it through drinks before their factions collide.  Penguin spent one issue coercing an entire former special ops team into taking down the St. Claire Casino. It turns out Lisa got wind of the attack and flipped one of Penguin's team to her side, making the trip to Vegas a trap from the very beginning. Oswald ends up taking three gunshots to the abdomen from his scorned ex-wife and is out of commission for weeks. 

...But who really had the upper hand? 

The epilogue of Penguin #4 paints a scene of the most twisted bad romance in comics: Penguin had been testing his ex-wife to see if she was still his equal (or more), which she clearly is. He uses their... unique connection (not to mention Lisa's classic penchant for bad romances) to make her his Consigliere, "someone to advise and consent," as he fights to reclaim his crown as Gotham City's top crime boss. Together again, it seems like Penguin and the former Mrs. Penguin are a crime power couple that can actually help Oswald reclaim his Empire – from the very same two children his ex-wife helped put into power over him. 

Talk about family issues...