Told almost entirely without words, Penguins is a series of interconnected short strips that does more to showcase the breadth of emotion we as humans experience than most prose novels. As author Nick Thorburn explains, Penguins go through a lot of hell that could be avoided if they had the ability to fly. This cruel irony lends itself to humor, as well as sadness. Death and the desperate search for love and companionship seem so tethered to life as a penguin, as well as for humans, and so the goal was to bridge those two and make them funny.