Y'know, I'm surprised none of DC's writers ever thought to try to reinvent him as a hacker who creates a program that makes it that every time someone in Gotham makes an electronic transaction, he gets a penny from it. Based on a census done after the New 52, I figure this way, he'd make a minimum $10,000 dollars a day. Plus, it would be an interesting thing that could rely on Barbara's Oracle skills.
"Gosh Batman, where did your giant penny come from anyways ?". " The court room battle between millionaire Bruce Wayne, and millionaire Scrooge Mc Duck........., I hid it from both of them , so Robin it's now our secret."
Robin: "Hey, Batman, where'd you get that giant penny?" Batman: "Giant penny?? Egads! We've been shrunk down by Mr Freeze's diabolical shrink ray!" Robin: "Oh no!" Batman: "Lol...no, it's just a real a big penny. Watch out! A dinosaur!" Robin: "Whaa..?"
"Tim. Why is the giant penny wedged inside the mechanical dinosaur?" "I tried telling Connor the T-Rex wasn't a coin-operated ride, but he just wouldn't listen."
The modern retellings made Batman look like a sociopath as he kept a giant coin that crashed Penny Plunderer to death while he presumably made Alfred or Robin wipe the blood off the coin lol.
Now that we are in the Age of the Omniverse and all stories are valid, I choose to believe that the giant coin is a gift to Batman from the King of Mars.
Sounds like a Saw Trap: [Jigsaw voice]: "Do yOu wAnT To pLaY A GaMe? YoU CaN OnLy sAvE OnE PeRsOn. OnE CaN LiVe bUt tHe oThEr mUsT DiE. HeAdS Or tAiLs? MaKe yOuR ChOiCe." ...I can actually imagine Riddler trying this.
It’d be interesting if Bruce had kept the giant penny in memory of Joe Coyne if he did get crushed to death by it and Bruce felt guilty for his indirect/direct actions for joe. Or that gcpd was like “hey we don’t have room in the evidence lockers for the big coin” and Batman just gets it because he’s got a room big enough for that.
Yeah, I was thinking that either the exhibit/collection owner doesn't want an object that killed somebody, or the police won't let them keep it for the same reason. And Batman would absolutely keep a monument to one of his 'failures' nearby just to torment himself.
I have follow-up questions about the penny. How did Batman actually get the giant penny into the Batcave? I hope that Alfred didn't have to carry it! Or maybe Batman kept it as a butlers' day gift (yes, that is a real holiday, Google it) for Alfred, after all, Alfred's last name is Pennyworth. 🤔
I just wanna say Bats is best friends with the strongest superhero in DC. If Superman DIDNT fly it into the batcave while spinning it on the tip of his finger like a basketball and whistling like he’s part of the Harlem Globetrotters I’d be severely disappointed in DC
im just imagining batman tying it to the roof of the batmobile like a mattress to a car and him having to drive all across the city with it till he gets home
So in that one version Batman pretty much went "wow, that dude got crushed by a giant coin. Robin, wipe off the blood, I'm taking that thing as a souvenir!"
And there’s his demise in his first appearance: He couldn’t call for backup, as pay phones don’t accept pennies, so he gets busted and sentenced to death for murder. Joe “Penny Plunderer” Coyne has one of the highest, if not the highest, death-to-appearance ratios in comics.
Given it seems that every character now remembers their lives from before reboots what with 'everything is canon' you could tell a pretty interesting story about Joe remembering the goofy fun of the golden age, dying, his time in hell & dying again and how that afects him. God I wish DC had done something with their 'everyone remembers their previous lives' thing from the end of Death Metal instead of using it as a throw away line.
Doesn't anyone else love that he claims he will use coppers to get back at coppers and then it is the inclusion if a zinc-steel penny that helps Batman escape him?
What makes it even better is the fact that Batman escapes...with the help of some _coppers._ Coyne vows to "get back at coppers and pennies", and that he'll "fight coppers with pennies". But when he tries to do exactly that, the pennies help Batman escape, and the coppers do the rest of the rescuing. Coyne's grudge against police and pennies was his undoing, in multiple ways.
I love how educational the original Golden Age stories are--that story could teach someone that you can make batteries out of pennies, and it taught me that zinc pennies were once produced during the war!
Too often a villains back story involves being rejected by their male/female object of desire. This is a serious attempt at showing a person being driven slightly neurotic.
You know, with all these updates to the story, I'm surprised that there isn't anyone who goes "Why are we giving this to Barman?" or them tracking down the coin to find Batman using a metal decay tracker or something... But hey, we still got the giant robot dinosaur to talk about lol
I always wondered about the coin. I just assumed it was put in the bat cave with no real story behind it. I loved Sasha in her Batman voice telling Robin to clean the blood off the coin and put it the bat cave. You do wonder about the "in universe" line of thinking that says keep a coin that crushed a man in multiple versions.
Lol did I get got, I mean I can see it either way. We discontinued pennies cause they're too expensive and on a ground level I can say they aren't missed. Plus you still see them cause a bunch of people hoarded them...like subway tokens.
I always found reading a comic aloud to be silly, but that penny monologue was just perfect. It's only February but you decided to make the best comic content of the year so far.
Personally I like the Zero Year version. It makes sense that Bruce would keep it in that context, because defeating the Riddler was important to Bruce in that continuity and he would definitely keep a memento (also what else would he keep? The broken Riddler blimps? The car he drank gasoline out of? The lion he punched? Okay maybe the lion would be cool). So now when I see it in the batcave, it reminds me of a story I'm fond of The Golden age needs more love though. Modern comics treat it like an embarrassment sometimes and it makes me sad
I’m just going to go with the personal HC that Batman keeps it in memory of his (nonlethal) with coin truly a hilarious foe and a reminder that sometimes crime doesn’t pay and if it does it’s small.
Is enough weight for this story ... a PENNYWEIGHT?! I'll see myself out. Also, origin of dinosaur next! It's always baffled me, and Batman getting it from a Dinosaur Island theme park sounds hilarious. Since it's an animatronic, I'm also surprised it isn't a booby trap a la Wayne Family Adventures Episode 1.
Fun Fact: There actually was a case sometime around 2011 or 12 where a hacker stole 1 penny from every bank account from several banks resulting in him getting 78 million dollars before it was noticed during routine bank audits. So if Joe coins character was redone as a master hacker, he'd have more legitimacy. Though Ghost in the Shell already did that angle with Hideo Kuze in the second anime series, so I don't know if that would be plagiarism.
The original story is the superior one, and that's not something I say often when Golden Age comics are involved. There are definitely better uses for that giant penny, though. It's worth a bloody fortune just as scrap metal.
After watching this my head canon is that the giant coin was used in many different places over the years passing from different owners, and it just happened to be involved in a few Batman adventures. And after Batman coming across it so many times he took a fancy to it and managed to wangle it so he could keep it for himself. So not so much a retcon, just an extension of the coins lore.
It is still kind of odd that the police let him keep it, or that Batman would bother to keep such a ridiculous item. Don't get me wrong, I love the giant penny, it's one of the major highlights of the Batcave along with the giant playing card and the robot t-rex. I just have to wonder how the cops agreed or what Batman was thinking. Maybe the evidence impound for large items was full and so Batman in a rare moment of whimsy offered to dispose of it for the police, or maybe Wayne bought it after the case was closed.. ooor maybe someone ELSE bought it for Wayne. I can see Superman or Alfred putting a bid on it at auction and no one else wanting it, and they manage to secret it into the cave, and Batman just goes along with it? Anyway, I hope you tackle the giant card and dinosaur robot!
One of the things I took away from this me was how as much as that enjoyed learning about this character and how it changed my opinion to where the penny came from being a 90's youth thinking it was Two-face was how I get the change in who did it as time and inflation happened. As pointed out in the video the penny is something almost obsolete in current economics but would have been a more important thing to keep when it came out. Thanks for this interesting dive into something I wondered a while now.
Honestly I love hearing about the wacky Gold-and-Silver age villains like this, and having Penny Plunderer treated like that in the modern day is just harsh. And "Almost Got'im is easily one of the best B:TAS episodes they made imho.
Maybe the penny on the lips was referencing the Greek myth where you put a coin in the mouth of the dead to pay the ferryman to take you across the Styx?
That’s what made it confusing. It’s supposed to be a coin over each eye to appease Charon. Though what the Ferryman of the Dead needed coins for, is another mystery.
I'm surprised Penny isn't the name of his first love as well! Also how did Bruce get the penny back to the cave did he ziptie to the roof of the batmobile or did he and robin roll it across town!
I have learned so much from your videos. I certainly have a new appreciation for Golden and Silver Age comics. I'm seeing that despite their sometimes campy nature, there can be layers to the stories.
Thanks so much for this, I already knew about Penny Plunderer and his connection to the giant coin, but I didn't know the specifics. I've got to say, that original Golden Age story sounds much better than I'd expected.
The phrase "Stool Pigeon" was used a lot in the Flintstones but they just meant someone they could easily beat in a game (mainly bowling) so it could have evolved.
Did this guy have an Aunt Penny? If so, was she his Penny Ante? Also, the modern age version (as indicated by the artwork), traded in his manic thought face, for copious amounts of eye liner! At least he didn’t start an Arcade Fire! I do like the Whim City! But not in a crop top. No one wants to see me in that. Myself included. Not for one red cent.
@@TitularHeroine More likes are unnecessary, as that was an insanely cool compliment! But pace yourself. Sometimes I go on full blown rants, and I’ve already signed the waiver to not be responsible for brain implosions (mine, or anyone else’s). Wait - - you were talking to me, right? If not, this will be reeeeealy awkward… Seriously though, thanks! 👌😅
@@jpboursaw4469 Well then here's a like on *that* comment to up the count, and now I'm just! so! pleased! with myself that I think I will like *my own* comment up there too. There's a lotta Like in this room....😂
I like the Penny Plunderer. I feel like there should be a comeback story about Joe Coyne involving those penny reworking machines at the zoo that turn your penny's into a neat copper trinket...for TWO dollars! Think of the puns! Penny for your thoughts gents??? Eh?
I remember this story! I read it in the early '70s. It may have been a reprint. I especially remember thinking it was great when Batman made a battery from pennies. I tried to remember how he did it in case I was ever in a similar situation.
I love how Sasha makes read really old comics and actually enjoy them, it's a refreshing perspective, in that case even better than most the posterior versions.
I figure a modern interpretation for Coin could be a white collar thing, with Penny Stocks being behind why the dude turned to crime. Him losing everything would be a good reason to attack some stock market dudes for retribution.
I want him back as a slick heist master with a copper color suit and domino mask learned to have better escape plans after being thwarted by incorrect charge.
I think that's the thing. It's actually more crazy because it never goes into full blown costumed territory like most of the nutjobs Batman deals with, but is more like an actual criminal with an M.O who is pretty dangerous and inventive. In a way that Joker with Cartoon logic simply can't pull off. Makes retroactively treating him as a complete joke a bit weird, I mean, we take dysfunctional individuals very seriously, but not an actual gangster. Very amusing. XD
Thanks for giving Joe Coyne his due! I've loved this story ever since I read the reprint in the early '70s. I did not know about those later appearances...typical of DC's love/hate relationship with their own history. "Dinosaur Island" coming up next, by any chance? That's another good'un.
Plausible explanation for the discrepancy noted at 9:19 -- Two-Face of Earth 1 (late 1950s continuity through Crisis on Infinite Earths) may have used a penny, as Jason says, whereas the Two-Face of Earth 2 (1938 through late 1950s continuity) used a disfigured silver dollar. Therefore, no discrepancy. The DC editors and continuity cops are always right.
I was just telling someone about Batman's giant penny right before you released this....lol I love the golden age penny story best. Can you also tell about Batman's Dinosaur in the bat cave
Riddler is a Batman villain but he decided to go to star city to be more recognized than in Gotham, after dealing with green arrow he goes back to Gotham.
@@RickReasonnz from my recall it’s just that he wasn’t really challenging to riddler. Casually comics probably has a video on it too, but I think it was around 2007-2009 when riddler and green arrow fought. I’ll let you know if I find the video for you.
More random penny facts: Pennies in the UK are still alive and kicking (well, not ACTUALLY alive, that would be weird...). They do talk of abolishing them, but nothing doing yet. Now I'm hoping we'll see the forgotten history of the Puzzler!
I don't know why they overcomplicated things. They could've just had the Penny Plunderer story happen first. Since the story doesn't state anything about Batman taking possession of the coin, it would've gone back to the museum. A later story could have Two-Face steal it, and the museum just gets tired of all these criminals trying to steal the coin so they give it to Batman (or he buys it, or whatever). Regarding Coyne's "pennies and coppers" rant, there was an episode of TAS where Riddler leaves a clue in the form of change in a pay phone. The change consists of pennies and quarters, and indicates "police headquarters". And instead of the edgelord death for Coyne, they could've just had the coin fall on his legs. Then he could come back in a wheelchair that has giant pennies for wheels.
I'm a Sequential Art student (Basically it means I'm studying comic art) and I just wanted to say I appreciate the fact that you go through all the jobs that go into making a comic step by step.
Pennies are still legal tender here in Britain. Mind you the days of being able to afford a sweet with them are long long gone. Growing up in the 70's, in the days before video games, my family would often go to the seaside town of Swanage on days trips. One of the amusement arcades there had a machine where if you put in a penny and pressed a button, it would launch a model rocket and if it hit the moon - model rocket on a stick, this is - you would win a piece of bubblegum. That gum was absolutely horrible to the taste. But I always enjoyed playing that machine anyhow. Kids these days don't know what they're missing. Long gone from circulation though are half pence pieces. I forget when they vanished. They were so small and fiddly nobody liked them. So no chance of their ever having been a half penny plunderer. Is the expression spend a penny, - a euphemism for using a public convenience - strictly British or is it universal? Suppose the Penny Plunderer got caught short when in the middle of a crime and had to go and deal with, he would then find Batman waiting for him when he comes out the toilet. 'Ironic. The Penny Plunderer. A criminal who steals pennies. Had to spend one. And that brought him to justice.'
Question. When they were doing rough drafts of this story, did they realize how far into comedy they were veering? Given the times this was originally published in, cannot figure that one out.
I don't think it's that deep, the Golden Age writers had an all ages audience, there's a level of humor in most stories. Most adults notice, most kids don't.
"It doesn't need to be that gritty, bro." -- probably also said by the Riddler's lo-key frat-boy redesign with sideburns, during his crossover with the giant penny.
The funny thing about " Almost got him" is they later did a Killer Croc episode, where croc almost killed batman with a bolder, but he missed batmans head by a few feet, because Croc was drugged with a powerful sedative that made him pass out and drop the boulder before getting it over his head.
Since I was born in the 80s for the longest time I only ever knew of the Two Face connection to the coin. It wasn't til I was talking comics with my father one day that he brought up the Penny Plunderer, confusing me greatly. Lol
You can see the giant Penny Joker gave on display in Action Comics #241. Yep, the "Bad Penny" Joker gave Batman is in the Fortress of Solitude. I think the writer forgot they gave it to Superman at some point. That is why there is a giant 'Joker Penny' there. Writers will sometimes forget where it was decided to place things and not just because of there being multitude of writers.
I live in Long Beach california. Well driving to work I saw a giant penny next to a new park. I thought to myself. Does Batman know Long Beach stoled his penny?
The animated series were the perfect mix of silly and serious stories, the Joker going around and killing while doing messed up things and monologuing "it's not about the money" it's cool but kinda edgy while the joker fearing the IRS, throwing explosive pies, using other thematic weapons/gadgets and actually being greedy and wanting to rule the crime underworld is actually fun, same with other villains, Catwoman robbing cat related jewelry/art, the penguin stealing bird stuff, two face using an unnecessary coin flip trap to kill batman, these days most villains kill and do crimes without using their corny themes even a little, comics take themselves too seriously but I guess you can only use a gimmick villain so many times before you run out of ideas.
The penny is so insanely silly it takes me out of the stories sometimes but whenever a bat cave doesn’t have it I’m disappointed. You gotta have the giant penny somewhere in there it’s the rules
During the golden age remember how people were getting knocked out with those "sap" clubs? Imagine getting hit with a bag of pennies. How could the Electric Company's Spider Man episodes passed this idea for a story by?
Now I want a story that's nothing but Bruce and Alfred trying to get the pennie inside the batcave, like it's a really big sofa
“Pivot, Master Bruce! Pivot!!!”
Alfred? You mean Pennyworth?
@@justinjacobs1501*PENNYWORTH?!*
Y'know, I'm surprised none of DC's writers ever thought to try to reinvent him as a hacker who creates a program that makes it that every time someone in Gotham makes an electronic transaction, he gets a penny from it. Based on a census done after the New 52, I figure this way, he'd make a minimum $10,000 dollars a day. Plus, it would be an interesting thing that could rely on Barbara's Oracle skills.
We don't talk about Superman III
@@djpegao lol... we will just think of it as the worm program in Hackers or the program in Office Space instead B~)
Hey now, Visa and Mastercard don't want any competition muscling in on their graft!
@@rouenation Loved how the guys in Office Space literally described it as the scheme from Superman III.
"Gosh Batman, where did your giant penny come from anyways ?".
" The court room battle between millionaire Bruce Wayne, and millionaire Scrooge Mc Duck........., I hid it from both of them , so Robin it's now our secret."
"it doesn't need to be that gritty, bro." is a message most comics could take to heart these days, especially DC, ESPECIALLY Batman
They can't help it at this point
Oh, one hundred per-cent.
Agreed.
It also doesn't have to have Batman in it.
DC: 😮 😲 .... say sike right now.
@@WannabeWryter You can make a team book that doesn't have batman or harley quinn in it. I promise.
Robin: "Hey, Batman, where'd you get that giant penny?"
Batman: "Giant penny?? Egads! We've been shrunk down by Mr Freeze's diabolical shrink ray!"
Robin: "Oh no!"
Batman: "Lol...no, it's just a real a big penny. Watch out! A dinosaur!"
Robin: "Whaa..?"
"Tim. Why is the giant penny wedged inside the mechanical dinosaur?"
"I tried telling Connor the T-Rex wasn't a coin-operated ride, but he just wouldn't listen."
The modern retellings made Batman look like a sociopath as he kept a giant coin that crashed Penny Plunderer to death while he presumably made Alfred or Robin wipe the blood off the coin lol.
What makes you think that Psycho Bruce didn't keep the bloodstain?
Now that we are in the Age of the Omniverse and all stories are valid, I choose to believe that the giant coin is a gift to Batman from the King of Mars.
that tied-to-a-giant-coin death trap would be more diabolic if you had one person strapped to each side
Depends how high it flips.
See Batman vs. Two Face.
Sounds like a Saw Trap:
[Jigsaw voice]: "Do yOu wAnT To pLaY A GaMe? YoU CaN OnLy sAvE OnE PeRsOn. OnE CaN LiVe bUt tHe oThEr mUsT DiE. HeAdS Or tAiLs? MaKe yOuR ChOiCe."
...I can actually imagine Riddler trying this.
Perfect deathtrap for the Penny Plunderer
Sometimes a giant penny in the background, is just a giant penny in the background.
I think Joe Coyne should definitely keep turning up like a bad penny.
There needs to be a haunted penny story. The penny is now possessed by Coyne's soul, and makes "spooky" ghost noises anytime Bruce is around.
Technically, Two-Face did flip a coin in the latest update to the story. It just happened to be the giant murder penny.
That makes all the sense! After all, how could Harvey know on witch side it would land?
It’d be interesting if Bruce had kept the giant penny in memory of Joe Coyne if he did get crushed to death by it and Bruce felt guilty for his indirect/direct actions for joe. Or that gcpd was like “hey we don’t have room in the evidence lockers for the big coin” and Batman just gets it because he’s got a room big enough for that.
Yeah, I was thinking that either the exhibit/collection owner doesn't want an object that killed somebody, or the police won't let them keep it for the same reason.
And Batman would absolutely keep a monument to one of his 'failures' nearby just to torment himself.
I love this idea. It makes sense.
I have follow-up questions about the penny. How did Batman actually get the giant penny into the Batcave? I hope that Alfred didn't have to carry it! Or maybe Batman kept it as a butlers' day gift (yes, that is a real holiday, Google it) for Alfred, after all, Alfred's last name is Pennyworth. 🤔
I believe Alfred has a line in detective Comics #1000 where he goes "I almost threw out my back helping you carry that giant penny down here..."
I just wanna say Bats is best friends with the strongest superhero in DC. If Superman DIDNT fly it into the batcave while spinning it on the tip of his finger like a basketball and whistling like he’s part of the Harlem Globetrotters I’d be severely disappointed in DC
I like to imagine Batman and Robin rolling the giant penny through the streets of Gotham, and up the hills to Wayne Manor.
im just imagining batman tying it to the roof of the batmobile like a mattress to a car and him having to drive all across the city with it till he gets home
@@christopherauzenne5023 this.
So in that one version Batman pretty much went "wow, that dude got crushed by a giant coin. Robin, wipe off the blood, I'm taking that thing as a souvenir!"
The penny is mightier than the sword..and twice as deadly! Just ask Joe coin, it killed him twice!
I'm stealing this for my fanfic!
And there’s his demise in his first appearance: He couldn’t call for backup, as pay phones don’t accept pennies, so he gets busted and sentenced to death for murder. Joe “Penny Plunderer” Coyne has one of the highest, if not the highest, death-to-appearance ratios in comics.
Given it seems that every character now remembers their lives from before reboots what with 'everything is canon' you could tell a pretty interesting story about Joe remembering the goofy fun of the golden age, dying, his time in hell & dying again and how that afects him.
God I wish DC had done something with their 'everyone remembers their previous lives' thing from the end of Death Metal instead of using it as a throw away line.
I would really love something like that.
The story of Joe Coyne is a real penny dreadful!
Doesn't anyone else love that he claims he will use coppers to get back at coppers and then it is the inclusion if a zinc-steel penny that helps Batman escape him?
That's some tasty irony!
What makes it even better is the fact that Batman escapes...with the help of some _coppers._ Coyne vows to "get back at coppers and pennies", and that he'll "fight coppers with pennies". But when he tries to do exactly that, the pennies help Batman escape, and the coppers do the rest of the rescuing. Coyne's grudge against police and pennies was his undoing, in multiple ways.
With the composition of modern pennies, he could easily transition into 'the zinc fink'
I love how educational the original Golden Age stories are--that story could teach someone that you can make batteries out of pennies, and it taught me that zinc pennies were once produced during the war!
06:29 Dark Claw, the Amalgam fusion of Batman and Wolverine, had a Canadian penny is his Dark Claw Cave.
That great
Too often a villains back story involves being rejected by their male/female object of desire. This is a serious attempt at showing a person being driven slightly neurotic.
You know, with all these updates to the story, I'm surprised that there isn't anyone who goes "Why are we giving this to Barman?" or them tracking down the coin to find Batman using a metal decay tracker or something... But hey, we still got the giant robot dinosaur to talk about lol
My favorite part of this video is the Captain Picard video clip. Live long and prosper, Sasha, my fellow Trekkie! 💻🖖🏾💖
I always wondered about the coin. I just assumed it was put in the bat cave with no real story behind it.
I loved Sasha in her Batman voice telling Robin to clean the blood off the coin and put it the bat cave.
You do wonder about the "in universe" line of thinking that says keep a coin that crushed a man in multiple versions.
@@blackrazer22 Now wondering more than that. What else has Batman told Robin to clean the blood off of to put in the cave?
@@jpboursaw4469 Well there is the Dino and card. A robo dino guarantees a body count. :)
@@blackrazer22 “Robin! Alfred! Bring the giant ladder and scrub brush to the cave, pronto! Don’t ask why just do it!”
Good help is hard to find. 🤨
I can't confirm that the U.S. Mint is discontinuing the penny. Best I could find was an April Fool's Day article.
Lol did I get got, I mean I can see it either way. We discontinued pennies cause they're too expensive and on a ground level I can say they aren't missed. Plus you still see them cause a bunch of people hoarded them...like subway tokens.
Good gravy! The original script for the Penny Plunderer would work so well for an episode of _Batman: The Brave and the Bold._
I always found reading a comic aloud to be silly, but that penny monologue was just perfect. It's only February but you decided to make the best comic content of the year so far.
Personally I like the Zero Year version. It makes sense that Bruce would keep it in that context, because defeating the Riddler was important to Bruce in that continuity and he would definitely keep a memento (also what else would he keep? The broken Riddler blimps? The car he drank gasoline out of? The lion he punched? Okay maybe the lion would be cool). So now when I see it in the batcave, it reminds me of a story I'm fond of
The Golden age needs more love though. Modern comics treat it like an embarrassment sometimes and it makes me sad
...Don't you mean it makes 😏 "cents"?
@@metalspinda9594 🎉🎆🎊✨🎈🎇🧨
Tendría que alimentar al león mejor que se llevó la moneda
0:18 _"This coin has killed, and will kill again."_ That's why it keeps turning up in the Batcave... it's a _bad_ penny!
I’m just going to go with the personal HC that Batman keeps it in memory of his (nonlethal) with coin truly a hilarious foe and a reminder that sometimes crime doesn’t pay and if it does it’s small.
Is enough weight for this story ... a PENNYWEIGHT?!
I'll see myself out.
Also, origin of dinosaur next! It's always baffled me, and Batman getting it from a Dinosaur Island theme park sounds hilarious. Since it's an animatronic, I'm also surprised it isn't a booby trap a la Wayne Family Adventures Episode 1.
Fun Fact: There actually was a case sometime around 2011 or 12 where a hacker stole 1 penny from every bank account from several banks resulting in him getting 78 million dollars before it was noticed during routine bank audits. So if Joe coins character was redone as a master hacker, he'd have more legitimacy. Though Ghost in the Shell already did that angle with Hideo Kuze in the second anime series, so I don't know if that would be plagiarism.
You had me at "the penny has been retconned" -- that and your Joe Coyne voice!
The original story is the superior one, and that's not something I say often when Golden Age comics are involved.
There are definitely better uses for that giant penny, though. It's worth a bloody fortune just as scrap metal.
After watching this my head canon is that the giant coin was used in many different places over the years passing from different owners, and it just happened to be involved in a few Batman adventures. And after Batman coming across it so many times he took a fancy to it and managed to wangle it so he could keep it for himself. So not so much a retcon, just an extension of the coins lore.
Nice. I like it.
Well it’s DC, everything is canon 😆
That Penny Plunderer comic actually sound really good(?!)
It is still kind of odd that the police let him keep it, or that Batman would bother to keep such a ridiculous item. Don't get me wrong, I love the giant penny, it's one of the major highlights of the Batcave along with the giant playing card and the robot t-rex. I just have to wonder how the cops agreed or what Batman was thinking. Maybe the evidence impound for large items was full and so Batman in a rare moment of whimsy offered to dispose of it for the police, or maybe Wayne bought it after the case was closed.. ooor maybe someone ELSE bought it for Wayne. I can see Superman or Alfred putting a bid on it at auction and no one else wanting it, and they manage to secret it into the cave, and Batman just goes along with it? Anyway, I hope you tackle the giant card and dinosaur robot!
Batman keeps the giant penny to prevent it from killing someone else.
Bruce could have easily bought it
Police didn’t want to deal with the paperwork 📑
Look up the time Batman went against Doctor Doom (no, not that one) and you'll see police back then gave away those pieces of evidence like candy.
One of the things I took away from this me was how as much as that enjoyed learning about this character and how it changed my opinion to where the penny came from being a 90's youth thinking it was Two-face was how I get the change in who did it as time and inflation happened. As pointed out in the video the penny is something almost obsolete in current economics but would have been a more important thing to keep when it came out. Thanks for this interesting dive into something I wondered a while now.
Honestly I love hearing about the wacky Gold-and-Silver age villains like this, and having Penny Plunderer treated like that in the modern day is just harsh.
And "Almost Got'im is easily one of the best B:TAS episodes they made imho.
Coin needs to have kids that are seeking revenge. His daught, Penny, the Penny Pincher! His sons, Nick L. & Di M., the Nichle and Dime gang!
I love obscure characters like these. *I love obscure stuff in general, whether it's music, films, or comic books. Always a fun time.*
Axel Braun looking at that last quote and going "Barbara, write that down!"
Maybe the penny on the lips was referencing the Greek myth where you put a coin in the mouth of the dead to pay the ferryman to take you across the Styx?
That’s what made it confusing. It’s supposed to be a coin over each eye to appease Charon. Though what the Ferryman of the Dead needed coins for, is another mystery.
Skinny was going to snitch, Thus, he put a penny on the lips to symbolise he was killed for possibly using his mouth.
@@RickReasonnz Yea, that makes sense. Considering Coyne was being elaborate, though not well read.
I'm surprised Penny isn't the name of his first love as well!
Also how did Bruce get the penny back to the cave did he ziptie to the roof of the batmobile or did he and robin roll it across town!
Penny left him for the fancy guy, Nick Elendime.
@@euansmith3699 She must have gone through a paradigm shift!
I'm still waiting for the giant penny to make its live action debut in a Batman movie, and the t-rex.
Realmente quiero que en la película de brave and the bold veamos la moneda y el dinosaurio
Ojalá veamos a Damián reaccionando a la moneda
This story behind the penny is everything I could have hoped for an more. What a wild ride. Haha. So many pennies for so many thoughts.
I have learned so much from your videos. I certainly have a new appreciation for Golden and Silver Age comics. I'm seeing that despite their sometimes campy nature, there can be layers to the stories.
Thanks so much for this, I already knew about Penny Plunderer and his connection to the giant coin, but I didn't know the specifics. I've got to say, that original Golden Age story sounds much better than I'd expected.
Joe Coin could really make some coin stealing pennies today. The 1943 copper penny alone is worth a mill.
The phrase "Stool Pigeon" was used a lot in the Flintstones but they just meant someone they could easily beat in a game (mainly bowling) so it could have evolved.
Wow, using copper pennies to fight the coppers, that actually makes a lot of… CENTse lol
Did this guy have an Aunt Penny? If so, was she his Penny Ante? Also, the modern age version (as indicated by the artwork), traded in his manic thought face, for copious amounts of eye liner! At least he didn’t start an Arcade Fire!
I do like the Whim City! But not in a crop top. No one wants to see me in that. Myself included. Not for one red cent.
I hate this so **** ***** much. I really, really wish I could leave you more than one Like. 😃👍
@@TitularHeroine More likes are unnecessary, as that was an insanely cool compliment! But pace yourself. Sometimes I go on full blown rants, and I’ve already signed the waiver to not be responsible for brain implosions (mine, or anyone else’s). Wait - - you were talking to me, right? If not, this will be reeeeealy awkward…
Seriously though, thanks! 👌😅
@@jpboursaw4469 Well then here's a like on *that* comment to up the count, and now I'm just! so! pleased! with myself that I think I will like *my own* comment up there too. There's a lotta Like in this room....😂
I like the Penny Plunderer. I feel like there should be a comeback story about Joe Coyne involving those penny reworking machines at the zoo that turn your penny's into a neat copper trinket...for TWO dollars! Think of the puns!
Penny for your thoughts gents??? Eh?
9:53 Two Face: What did you say about my car boy?
The batman depicted with that voice is possibly the best version of batman. dark af too. "wash the blood off, robin..."
I remember this story! I read it in the early '70s. It may have been a reprint. I especially remember thinking it was great when Batman made a battery from pennies. I tried to remember how he did it in case I was ever in a similar situation.
I love how Sasha makes read really old comics and actually enjoy them, it's a refreshing perspective, in that case even better than most the posterior versions.
I figure a modern interpretation for Coin could be a white collar thing, with Penny Stocks being behind why the dude turned to crime. Him losing everything would be a good reason to attack some stock market dudes for retribution.
I'm only a third of the way through the video so far but your writing is just as phenomenal as in that first story. I'm loving it.
Thought screaming... finally a relatable villain
He could steal quarters, then he'd be a two-bit thief.
I want him back as a slick heist master with a copper color suit and domino mask learned to have better escape plans after being thwarted by incorrect charge.
In the original golden age story, Coyne comes across more unhinged then some of Batman’s usual rogues
I think that's the thing. It's actually more crazy because it never goes into full blown costumed territory like most of the nutjobs Batman deals with, but is more like an actual criminal with an M.O who is pretty dangerous and inventive. In a way that Joker with Cartoon logic simply can't pull off.
Makes retroactively treating him as a complete joke a bit weird, I mean, we take dysfunctional individuals very seriously, but not an actual gangster. Very amusing. XD
I’ve read this issue of World’s Finest, and I love it! I’m always happy to see your videos Sasha!
“The penny has been retconned” is funny asf lol.
I love that golden age villains are basically a bunch of drama queen with too much free time
Thanks for giving Joe Coyne his due! I've loved this story ever since I read the reprint in the early '70s. I did not know about those later appearances...typical of DC's love/hate relationship with their own history. "Dinosaur Island" coming up next, by any chance? That's another good'un.
Plausible explanation for the discrepancy noted at 9:19 -- Two-Face of Earth 1 (late 1950s continuity through Crisis on Infinite Earths) may have used a penny, as Jason says, whereas the Two-Face of Earth 2 (1938 through late 1950s continuity) used a disfigured silver dollar. Therefore, no discrepancy. The DC editors and continuity cops are always right.
I was just telling someone about Batman's giant penny right before you released this....lol
I love the golden age penny story best.
Can you also tell about Batman's Dinosaur in the bat cave
Here's a question, was Riddler really a Green Arrow villan? I hear about it all the time but can't find the story where it happened? Also was it good?
Riddler is a Batman villain but he decided to go to star city to be more recognized than in Gotham, after dealing with green arrow he goes back to Gotham.
I think that was Deadshot who was originally an Arrow villain.
@@legoben98productions ....What did Ollie do to him that he preferred going back to GOTHAM and Batman?
@@RickReasonnz Well... Batman will just beat you. Arrow will turn you into a pin cushion.
@@RickReasonnz from my recall it’s just that he wasn’t really challenging to riddler. Casually comics probably has a video on it too, but I think it was around 2007-2009 when riddler and green arrow fought. I’ll let you know if I find the video for you.
Step aside Mr. Freeze, there's a new saddest darkest backstory villain
"he get weird gifts"
yeah the dinosaur was also a gift after his stopping it
My favorite part of this video is the Captain Picard video clip. Live long and prosper, Sasha, my fellow Trekkie! 💻🖖🏾💖
More random penny facts: Pennies in the UK are still alive and kicking (well, not ACTUALLY alive, that would be weird...). They do talk of abolishing them, but nothing doing yet.
Now I'm hoping we'll see the forgotten history of the Puzzler!
The Giant Penny vs. The Big Wheel: the crossover we deserve.
I don't know why they overcomplicated things. They could've just had the Penny Plunderer story happen first. Since the story doesn't state anything about Batman taking possession of the coin, it would've gone back to the museum. A later story could have Two-Face steal it, and the museum just gets tired of all these criminals trying to steal the coin so they give it to Batman (or he buys it, or whatever).
Regarding Coyne's "pennies and coppers" rant, there was an episode of TAS where Riddler leaves a clue in the form of change in a pay phone. The change consists of pennies and quarters, and indicates "police headquarters".
And instead of the edgelord death for Coyne, they could've just had the coin fall on his legs. Then he could come back in a wheelchair that has giant pennies for wheels.
I'm a Sequential Art student (Basically it means I'm studying comic art) and I just wanted to say I appreciate the fact that you go through all the jobs that go into making a comic step by step.
Pennies are still legal tender here in Britain. Mind you the days of being able to afford a sweet with them are long long gone. Growing up in the 70's, in the days before video games, my family would often go to the seaside town of Swanage on days trips. One of the amusement arcades there had a machine where if you put in a penny and pressed a button, it would launch a model rocket and if it hit the moon - model rocket on a stick, this is - you would win a piece of bubblegum. That gum was absolutely horrible to the taste. But I always enjoyed playing that machine anyhow. Kids these days don't know what they're missing.
Long gone from circulation though are half pence pieces. I forget when they vanished. They were so small and fiddly nobody liked them. So no chance of their ever having been a half penny plunderer.
Is the expression spend a penny, - a euphemism for using a public convenience - strictly British or is it universal? Suppose the Penny Plunderer got caught short when in the middle of a crime and had to go and deal with, he would then find Batman waiting for him when he comes out the toilet. 'Ironic. The Penny Plunderer. A criminal who steals pennies. Had to spend one. And that brought him to justice.'
Nice, what were the chances of hitting the moon? Here in New Zealand, our lowest value coin is a 10c. Phased out 1, 2, and 5's decades ago.
As far as recall, about ninety percent. We still have two pence five pence and ten pence coins as well
Question. When they were doing rough drafts of this story, did they realize how far into comedy they were veering? Given the times this was originally published in, cannot figure that one out.
I don't think it's that deep, the Golden Age writers had an all ages audience, there's a level of humor in most stories. Most adults notice, most kids don't.
Wonderful vid!
But now I want to know more about Johnny Everyman...
I would really enjoy seeing a video about Queenie, the Joker's first Henchgirl!
Giving joe coyne Christopher walkens voice was just perfect! Chefs kiss
I wanted a tangent about payphones
Lol another time maybe
"It doesn't need to be that gritty, bro." -- probably also said by the Riddler's lo-key frat-boy redesign with sideburns, during his crossover with the giant penny.
7:46 i was about to say...there's a pretty well paced colorful kind of narrative here for an older story haha
Special trivia, in the Batman from 2003, the giant penny is from an episode starring the ventriloquist called fistful of felts
That's an underrated episode
BATMAN "almost got'm" episode of how he got the coin is much better 👍
It certainly made a lot more--
[slips shades on over existing shades]--cents.
*YYYEEAAAHHHH!*
The funny thing about " Almost got him" is they later did a Killer Croc episode, where croc almost killed batman with a bolder, but he missed batmans head by a few feet, because Croc was drugged with a powerful sedative that made him pass out and drop the boulder before getting it over his head.
Since I was born in the 80s for the longest time I only ever knew of the Two Face connection to the coin. It wasn't til I was talking comics with my father one day that he brought up the Penny Plunderer, confusing me greatly. Lol
The fact that you and your dad talk about comics is great in and of itself! And the multi-generational outlook must have made it fun too!
If it was me I would have made Coin cheap, always trying to pull off crimes on the cheap, being a real penny-pincher!
And then there’s J. Jonah Jameson. Often referred to as a skinflint, or a cheapskate. And there’s your next Marvel/DC crossover.
You can see the giant Penny Joker gave on display in Action Comics #241. Yep, the "Bad Penny" Joker gave Batman is in the Fortress of Solitude. I think the writer forgot they gave it to Superman at some point. That is why there is a giant 'Joker Penny' there. Writers will sometimes forget where it was decided to place things and not just because of there being multitude of writers.
Your delivery of Joe's manifesto is priceless.
I live in Long Beach california. Well driving to work I saw a giant penny next to a new park. I thought to myself. Does Batman know Long Beach stoled his penny?
I died when you edited in the scene from First Contact! Thank you, I needed that laugh!
I think this rainbow wig might be my favorite. If you ever choose to do your hair like one of your wigs, this one has my vote. 😁
They should bring this guy back as a Bitcoin Crime Boss.
That first story is really good for the Golden Age
The animated series were the perfect mix of silly and serious stories, the Joker going around and killing while doing messed up things and monologuing "it's not about the money" it's cool but kinda edgy while the joker fearing the IRS, throwing explosive pies, using other thematic weapons/gadgets and actually being greedy and wanting to rule the crime underworld is actually fun, same with other villains, Catwoman robbing cat related jewelry/art, the penguin stealing bird stuff, two face using an unnecessary coin flip trap to kill batman, these days most villains kill and do crimes without using their corny themes even a little, comics take themselves too seriously but I guess you can only use a gimmick villain so many times before you run out of ideas.
The penny is so insanely silly it takes me out of the stories sometimes but whenever a bat cave doesn’t have it I’m disappointed. You gotta have the giant penny somewhere in there it’s the rules
It really ties the room together.
During the golden age remember how people were getting knocked out with those "sap" clubs?
Imagine getting hit with a bag of pennies. How could the Electric Company's Spider Man episodes passed this idea for a story by?
Now what we really need is a new story that ties all the Giant penny stories and continuity together.