Secret Origins Special #1

ORIGINAL SIN

Unscrupulous "investigative reporter" Steve Jones brings a film-crew to Gotham City, intending to make a documentary "humanizing" its most infamous criminals. On learning of this, Batman immediately tries to intervene, but finds his warnings scorned by the overconfident - and fame-hungry - Jones.  To his frustration, Jones soon discovers that Arkham Asylum (citing a recent incident with 60 Minutes) has adopted a no-filming policy. In addition, most of Arkham's "star" inmates, including the Joker, are at large and in hiding; of those still incarcerated, only the Scarecrow expresses any interest in media attention, and only as a means to academically lecture on fear.  Dismissing the Scarecrow's offer, Jones' crew eventually secures three viable interviewees.  All three interviews progress smoothly, though Jones remains naïve (and at times outright callous) toward the subjects. As a closing segment, he conducts a series of mini-interviews with several passerby, receiving a flurry of opinions ranging from hostile to apathetic to skeptical that Batman - or any of his costumed nemeses - even exists.  Thinking the documentary finished, Jones delivers his sign-off, only to start laughing hysterically halfway through. As his crew looks on in horror, a figure in a purple overcoat and hat calmly passes by.

THE KILLING PECK

The Penguin kidnaps a mobster being transferred into Gotham City from Chicago to attend his father's funeral. The mobster is a thug named "Sharkey," who has very sharp metal teeth, and apparently used to bully the Penguin in grade school. Batman is on the Penguin's trail. The Penguin brutalizes Sharkey by force-feeding him fish and caviar, covering him in fish paste and even welding his teeth together while he retells him their story.  When Oswald Cobblepot had been a young boy, Sharkey had been the first person to call him "Penguin" for his funny appearance. Sharkey would cover him in fish during lunches, and beat him up with his own umbrella. At a Halloween party, Sharkey forced the Penguin to strip down and switch costumes with a much smaller kid who had been wearing a tuxedo, turning him for the first time into a "real penguin." Young Oswald's one comfort was his books, and the birds in his family's birdshop, his only true friends. Although he had long resigned himself to being the "runt" of the litter, looking down one day at some hatchlings Cobblepot saw the tiniest and weakest bird of all let out a roaring noise that frightened all of his siblings. From then on, he knew he could overcome. Oswald took boxing lessons and martial arts lessons, and weight trained for months in secret. Finally, when he was ready, he confronted Sharkey, and punched his teeth out. When he returned home that night, feeling triumphant, he found that Sharkey and his gang had murdered every single one of his precious birds.  After significantly torturing him, the Penguin takes Sharkey to the zoo, where Batman finally catches up with him. The Penguin pushes a greased up Sharkey into the tiger pit, where Batman is barely able to save his life. The Penguin escapes the scene, and Batman carries Sharkey off to the hospital, confused but not too concerned about what Penguin's motivations were.

WHEN IS A DOOR.: THE SECRET ORIGIN OF THE RIDDLER...

Jones and his crew visit the Finger Junkyard, which is run by an elderly and now-paroled Riddler. The Riddler taunts and teases the crew with the junkyard's massive props and a variety of nonsensical riddles, and gloomily comments on how Gotham's criminals have become more and more violent as of late, but steadfastly refuses to reveal anything concrete about his own origins.  Eventually, Jones and his crew leave, deciding that the interview was a waste of time. One of Jones' crew, however, notes that the Riddler would make an excellent talk-show host.

TWO-FACE

An impressive multilayered exploration of the psychology of Two-Face as his estranged wife, Mrs. Grace Dent, is a guest on a talk show as she fleshes out his background (his parents died in a boating accident when he was young, so he became obsessed with the law, paralleling his origins with those of Batman) and tells her side of a recent story involving her husband. Mrs. Dent narrates the tale of a prisoner named Dalton Perry, who was one of Harvey Dent's final convictions as District Attorney and served his entire eight-year sentence in solitary confinement, nursing his grudge against Harvey. Upon release, Perry storms the old Dent house where Grace still lived and prepares to burn down the house with her in it, but Two-Face finally crashes in and saves the day after some soul-searching. Pretty heartbreaking ending, with the Dents' reunion short-lived thanks to the coin and yet both still yearning for each other, as Grace believes that one day Harvey will come back to her and leave Two-Face behind.