New retrospective, and an unusual one: Character Chronologies.
This is sort of an offshoot of the Villain Origins and Hero Origins ones, with a different focus: instead of concentrating on the first appearance, I will be covering a specific subset of the character’s history.
Some chronologies will include reviews of every single appearance prior to a specific point… the history of Molecule Man prior to Secret Wars is retroactively the first Character Chronology.
But others, like this one, will track the evolution of the character across multiple years.
The retrospective will have a looser frequency than the others, and it will focus A LOT on Marvel supervillains from the Silver Age.
This time though, in honor of the time we spent in the Golde Age this year, we will start with DC and one of the most important supporting characters in comics… who didn’t start that way.
Batman #16 (1943)
written by Don C. Cameron
pencils by Bob Kane*
cover by Jerry Robinson
I’m always wary of crediting Bob Kane to the artwork, because of his famous tendency to just take the credit from other artists. But most sources do credit him with the story we’ll look at today.
It is though that the concept behind the story was from the writers of Batman’s 1943 movie serial, and that DC assigend Don C. Cameron to write this to have the character debut in comics first.
This is the first appearance of Batman’s butler, but if you’re only familiar with the modern Alfred you won’t recognize him.
We begin with Alfred arriving in America, after meeting a suspicious man during the travel.
This is where Alfred’s original trait is established: he REALLY wants to be a detective.
Well at least his insticts are fine, because that man IS indeed connected to a crime.
I’m more disappointed in Batman and Robin for failing to capture the criminal.
The Dynamic Duo is not exactly impressed with Alfred.
Much to their surprise, Alfred shows up at Wayne Manor the next day.
Alfred is here to be Bruce Wayne’s butler, because his own father Jarvis (!!!) was the butler of Bruce’s father.
Which means that Batman and Robin will now have to work their way around the butler.
Even when they have to save Alfred from the same criminal AGAIN…
…and then let him escape AGAIN.
Not only Alfred defats a henchman by himself…
…but he also stumbles into learning Batman’s secret identity.
This is the Golden Age, so even Batman is not immune to the old “getting captured and tied up by the villain” trope.
They were captured in a theater, and once Alfred gets there by following the escaped henchman we get a musical number.
Until Batman gets Alfred’s attention.
And thanks to Alfred, the criminals are caught and the case is solved.
And with that taken care of, Alfred reveals that he knows Batman’s secret.
If I’m not mistaken, Alfred is the first character to ever discover Batman’s secret identity.
It’s not as impressive as that sounds once you learn how.
Historical significance: 2/10
Basically the concept of Batman having a butler who knows his identity is the only thing that carries through.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Way too many Golden Age tropes.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
This was old-fashioned to the extreme. The mystery isn’t complex enough to be interesting on its own, and Alfred is not well-developed enough for more than a single appearance: you would need to rewrite the entire thing from scratch.
As I mentioned, there is an Alfred in the 1943 movie serial, portrayed by William Austin.
You don’t need to have seen that to recognize AT A GLANCE that he’s the basis for the later appearance of Alfred.
He looks like Alfred more than Batman looks like Batman.
The original version of Alfred does have a few appearances in the original look, until a year later…
Detective Comics #83 (1944)
by Don C. Cameron & Jack Burnley
Notably, this story is still written by Alfred’s creator.
In this story, Alfred has decided that to keep up with Batman he has to get into shape… and as a result, he goes on vacation.
If you’re only familiar with the modern interpretation of Alfred acting as Batman’s father figure, he most definitely isn’t that in the original version. Robin in particular seems to barely tolerate him!
But at the end of the story, Alfred returns having ALREADY lost a ton of weight and resembling the movie serial version.
He’s still in a transition period though: he LOOKS like Alfred, but he’s still in the “mostly ineffectual buffoon” phase.
Batman #22 (1944)
written by Alvin Schwartz
pencils by Bob Kane*
cover by Dick Sprang
By this point Alfred had become integrated with Batman’s mythos, even getting a few solo stories here and there.
Obviously I can’t cover ALL of Alfred’s Golden Age stories… but I would never forgive myself if I didn’t mention this one.
It has Alfred disguise himself as Batman to impress a woman he’s fallen for…
…who turns out to be Catwoman in disguise.
Alfred deals with her off-panel…
…and by the time he’s done, Catwoman can’t even sit down.
Alfred’s role in the Golden Age Batman stories isn’t particularly complex… he’s either comic relief or in the background.
He’s not even Alfred Pennyworth yet, he’s Alfred BEAGLE; the Pennyworth name will be fully established in the 60s.
He won’t evolve into a more complex figure until the Silver Age, and next time in the second part of the chronologu I’ll be taking a look into his crazy journey through that era.
Excellent article, thanks!
Batman #14 opens with a “whodunnit” about the death of famed detective Dana Drye. Shortly after solving the case Batman and Robin learn that Dana had discovered their secret identities.
It’s said Batman is nowadays so awesome he has a guy working for him who’d be the hero in another series. Obviously it took Alfred a while to work his way up there.
Marvalleuse! At last some love for the most iconic member of the batman cast, the real father figure of the Wayne family!
Admittedly, it’s difficult to imagine that it took the movies to give us the best and final rendition of Alfred -and that it took the campiest TV show to revive his figure in the comic.
Long live Alfred B. Pennyworth!
(BTW, Selina my dear angel of nefarious intents…HOW could you mistake Alfred in a costume for Batman is beyond me -unless you’re enamored of a skin, like the Black Cat…hmm…)