It’s no time to waste so I want to jump right in. I always loved the Batman storyline the most out of all of the DC Comics franchises. Not only because I was a troubled kid who preferred realistic violence over fake super power shit, but also because of the dark eerie energy of Gotham City. The elements of organized crime balanced with the disorganized chaos from villains like the Joker and the Riddler reminded me of a perfect depiction of New York City at its worst. With the crazies holding up trains and bloody Mob wars all over the boroughs. It all felt so close to reality with some exaggeration of course. Corruption at the epicenter of Gotham City hence the need for a vigilante like Bruce Wayne to save the city from itself. And I find that the most recent live action iteration of Batman captured this essence perfectly for a feature film. That realism of a New York City crime story with DC’s science fiction element of a vigilante superhero. My admiration for this movie sparked fandom in me for MAX’s new “The Penguin” series which is very timely in its release.
I’m gonna give some context on the first couple of episodes of the Penguin without spoiling too much. I guess you can call this a review. But first I need to acknowledge why this show is perfectly timed. The reason being that New York has genuinely turned into Gotham City. There have been plenty of time periods throughout history where the concrete jungle was entrenched in heavy crime, violence, and corruption. Such as the crack epidemic of the 80’s and early 90’s and the historic Giuliani era of which I was conceived and born. But the Stop and Frisk era and the mass cleanup of areas like Times Square combined with heavy gentrification of the city’s Black neighborhoods have done wonders in reducing the rate of crime and violence. Making the big apple more attractive than it has ever been. The New York I remember from my early childhood years looks nothing like the New York in which I became a young adult. But throughout all of our eras of New Jack City being the land of trickery, drug commerce, and Brownsville stickups it has never looked as chaotic and corrupt as what we are seeing today. While it may not be as openly violent and dangerous in lower income neighborhoods like it used to be, the city is becoming more like Gotham in the random acts of crime and violence taking place all over the city rather than the concentrated areas like we are used to. New York has always been the land of organized crime, but we are now witnessing disorganized chaos in mass. Such as random shootings and stabbings on the train, takeovers of the city by the millions of migrants that have been exiled to the epicenter, and the first ever indictment of a mayor while in office. This all seems very “Gotham City” like if you ask me. There’s a big difference between Gangs, drug organizations, and crime families warring over money, power, and territory and these random acts of violence being committed by mentally unstable folks and foreign gangs migrating to the city to escape the conditions of their home country. The migrant crisis is affecting the entire country (which I’m glad I am currently not a resident of as that shit is not looking good), but New York is one of the main epicenters of this crisis.
The fictional Gotham is in a very similar place as depicted in the Penguin. With the Falcone family’s dysfunction leaving a power vacuum in a city that is under complete destruction. Colin Ferrel is doing an impressive job at bringing Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot to life and even better at making him appear to be a wobbly Mafioso from Queens. I can tell he studied Tony Soprano and Vito Spatafore’s mannerisms as a chubby mob boss to bring this very HBO centric character to life. He was my highlight of the Batman movie and he’s even more impressive to me as the lead of this spinoff TV show. With the murder of Carmine Falcone, The Penguin is stepping up to take control of the city. The lack of leadership in organized crime has Gotham in a disarray with cowboy like crimes and “Drop” addicts moving about the city resembling the K2 zombies that have taken over all of New York City’s train stations. I’m not trying to be insensitive to anyone who is an immigrant or to anyone who has struggled with drug addiction. I am just drawing comparison between the way real life is beginning to depict what we see in modern media. Almost intentionally. The power vacuum is very similar to the lack of organization and leadership in New York’s crime syndicate. Not that I have any inside knowledge about crimes or anything, but a majority of the business oriented faction leaders are dead or in prison at this point. Most of our perceived “crime bosses” are music industry figureheads or still trying to keep up with the joneses gunslinging with a bunch of teenagers. Or posted up outside of “weed” stores trying to make a buck. We don’t have a “Supreme Team” anymore or a Gambino Family to keep order. It’s just silly murders by teenagers for no real purpose than to brag about it on social media. Not that murder for money or what have you is morally any better, I’m just noting the difference in how the city has evolved.
And with the indictment of Eric Adams alongside Diddy’s sex crime indictment this just proves my point even further about the lack of any real leadership. It isn’t just a street thing when I refer to disorganization, there’s disorganization in every facet of New York. I mean come on this shit all comes straight out of a comic strip. The mayor being indicted for embezzlement and fraud, while a hip-hop mogul is accused of running a sex trafficking operation all in the midst of a migrant crisis where Venezuelan gangs are taking over homeless shelters and transporting weapons on food delivery motorbikes. This shit is seriously unreal. It’s getting to a point where the at risk Black youth who were the prime suspect in the eyes of white America are starting to become less and less dangerous to the average New Yorker. And the fact that all of this Gotham City esque chaos is taking place in an election year (where one of the candidates survived two “assasination” attempts) is no coincidence to me. Not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything. I’m just saying there has to be a reason why this is all unfolding in this way right before our eyes. And this has been brewing ever since the pandemic. Gentrification is making every neighborhood difficult to navigate because the native folks to these areas are starting to become uncomfortable and disenfranchised. There are less and less native New Yorkers living in the city (something I’ve addressed already) and every other week a new business is closing and reopening. And a building is being knocked down and rebuilt. I don’t know what is meant to come out of this Gotham City cesspool New Yorkers are living in. But I don’t intend to be around to see it.
Anyways thanks for listening. And for my subscribers who have been here shoutout to yall and I appreciate you for getting me to 100 subscribers. I’m humbled to know you all want to hear what this former truant B student from Southeast Queens has to say about the world. I have rebranded (once again) and I have a lot more perspective to offer on the world now reporting from the United Kingdom as I pursue my Masters degree. Not bad for a kid who almost failed out of Howard University my junior year. For my New Yorkers stay safe and keep your head on a swivel. Proper preparation prevents poor performance.
Peace.
Welcome to New Jack City