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Alfred Pennyworth Comics to Read to learn more about Batman’s loyal butler

It takes a special man to stand next to Batman and be able to snark at him or tell him, in a very British way, that he is wrong. That man is Alfred Pennyworth, the Ultimate Supporting Character.

Introduced in Batman #16 in 1943, under the name Alfred Beagle, Pennyworth is known as Bruce Wayne’s faithful butler and trusted confidant. The world of Bruce Wayne/Batman feels a little bit incomplete when Alfred’s not here to help, guide, and reason with Bruce.

Because Alfred is more than a butler. This former British agent is the surrogate father of Bruce Wayne and other members of the Bat Family. The man doesn’t just look after the Manor and the Batcave, he also takes care of everyone, showing them love, cooking for them, making snarky remarks, and using his military medical skills when needed.

While Alfred generally stands in the shadow of Batman, we choose today to put him in the spotlight with a selection of comic book stories highlighting the greatness of the character.

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Jeff The Land Shark, Marvel’s cult-favorite landshark (with a reading order!)

It’s been only five years since Jeff the Land Shark first showed up in the Marvel Universe, stealing the hearts of West Coast Avengers readers. Created by Kelly Thompson and Daniele di Nicuolo, Jeff the Land Shark, also called Jeffrey, became the adorable pet sidekick of superheroine Gwenpool, named after Gwen’s own kitten.

Jeff quickly became a hit online and won over Marvel fans with his undeniable cuteness, landing him numerous cameo appearances and variant covers (this would make a great ‘Where’s Jeff?’ book!). All of this will naturally lead to our boy Jeff headlining his own series, and prompting Comic Book Treasury to make a dedicated Jeff The Landshark Reading Order, further solidifying his place as a cherished icon in the Marvel universe.

But first…

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Bizarro: Superman’s Deranged Clone is a tragicomic anti-hero NOT!

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The 1950s were another time, especially in the pages of comics like Superboy where strange things happened regularly for our young superhero. As the decade concluded, things would not become more conventionally heroic by today’s standards. Yesterday’s standards, that’s another story. Anyways, Superboy met The Super-Creature of Steel named Bizarro in Superboy #68 (October 1958).

Often portrayed as a distorted and imperfect duplicate of Superman, Bizarro had different origin stories through the years, but he has chalky white skin and distorted features–and is often depicted with a backward “S” symbol on his chest. His actions and speech are often opposite or inverted compared to Superman’s. As a result, he became the source of humorous situations or, on the contrary, tragic ones.

Credits for the creation of the character are often given to writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp, but Bizarro came from the mind of another writer, Alvin Schwartz. He was going to introduce this distorted mirror version of the Man of Steel first in the Superman daily newspaper strip. However, editor Mort Weisinger had reviewed Schwartz’s work and passed the idea to Binder to use in Superboy. The newspaper strip ended up published later and that’s why Alvin Schwartz is not the credited creator of Bizarro.

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Detective Chimp, DC Comics’ Chimpanzee investigator in the occult

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All of DC Comics’s heroes don’t wear a cape, some are not even qualifiable as heroes, but they still fight crimes in their way, especially when there are occult elements involved. That is the case of Bobo T. Chimpanzee, the world’s greatest simian detective–his real name is unpronounceable, but can be translated as “Magnificent Finder of Tasty Grubs.”

Better known as Detective Chimp, Bobo first appeared in 1952 on the pages of Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4. Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Bobo started as an abnormally intelligent chimpanzee. When his trainer, Fred Thorpe, was killed, Bobo helped Sheriff Edward Chase to catch the murderer. Maybe he could not speak, but he always knew how to make himself understand–and how to outsmart criminals. After that, he became the lawman’s unofficial partner.

This became the career of a lifetime. You may not be too familiar with this Detective Chimp as it was the 1950s version of the characters. Decades later, Bobo’s story was retcon.

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The Story of Will Eisner’s The Spirit

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Nowadays, Will Eisner (1917-2005) is still one of the most famous comic book creators in the history of the medium–the highly respected Eisner Awards were named after him for a good reason. He did a lot from his beginnings in 1933 doing illustrations and comic strips in his high school newspaper to his famous graphic novels. But his most famous creation is clearly “The Spirit.”

Eisner broke into the comic book industry next to his school friend, Bob Kane, creator of Batman, but their career didn’t follow the same path. Quite the entrepreneur, Eisner formed a partnership with Samuel “Jerry” Iger. They opened their own studio that soon started to work like a factory, putting out comics. This was a financial success, but when Everett Arnold of Quality Comics offered him the possibility to produce a 16-page newspaper supplement for the Des Moines Register-Tribune Syndicate, the offer was too good to say “no.” Eisner loved comics and this was for him a new avenue to prove that this sequential art was not just for kids.

Eisner left Iger, took with him a few employees, and started to work on what is, on paper, the creation of another mystery man. The Weekly Comic Book supplement was composed of three stories per issue–two of them were the backups “Lady Luck” and “Mr. Mystic.” The main feature was of course “The Spirit.”

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Flash of Two Worlds, the comic book that introduced Earth-Two and the Multiverse

Just as the world outside was changing, the comic book industry was experiencing a shift in the sixties. The release of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961 would lay the foundation for Marvel Comics as we know it today and change the superhero genre. A few months prior, DC Comics also put on sale an issue considered one of the most important comics in their history: The Flash #123.

Written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, the story Flash of Two Worlds introduced readers to the concept of a parallel Earth and paved the way for the multiverse which would inspire many writers for the following decades.

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Bat-Mite: Batman’s Biggest Fan or Hallucination from the 5th Dimension?

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There was a time when Batman’s adventures were a bit wilder, shall we say. The Golden Age of comics (then the Silver Age) gave us some colorful stories full of surprising characters and twists. The autoproclaimed Batman’s biggest fan was the embodiment of that.

Introduced in Detective Comics #267 (May 1959), in a story titled “Batman Meets Bat-Mite” by writer Bill Finger and artist Sheldon Moldoff, Bat-Mite is to the Dark Knight what Mister Mxyzptlk is to Superman, to some extent.

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From Xebel to Atlantis: The Origins of Mera, Aquaman’s Queen

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The World of Atlantis wouldn’t be complete today without his Queen, Mera. As the wife of Aquaman, Mera has lived many adventures undersea and on land, showing what a formidable force she represents in the DC Universe.

Mera possesses the ability to control and manipulate water, showcasing strength and durability. She stands as a formidable superheroine in her own right, although she hasn’t consistently received such recognition since her debut over 60 years ago.

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Bane, The Supervillain Who Broke Batman’s Back

Batman: Vengeance of Bane

Unlike some of the most iconic members of Batman’s rogues gallery like Joker and Penguin, Bane is a fairly modern creation, if you consider that thirty years may still be considered recent in the world of the Dark Knight. This international masked criminal debuted in Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (January 1993). He was created by writer Chuck Dixon and artist Graham Nolan, but the original idea for the character came from Batman editor Dennis O’Neil.

Bane: Batman’s Back Breaker

O’Neil had the idea of introducing a new Batman and the concept of the long Knightfall storyline. He wanted a new version of the character who could challenge the readers’ expectations. He wanted a Batman who could kill (so, not Nightwing). This is why Azrael was created. He was going to be the replacement. With a new Batman, a new villain was also introduced–especially after the idea of using KGBeast was forgotten, the fall of the Soviet Union apparently made him irrelevant.

Originally named Doc Toxic, Bane was always a Venom addict–a drug introduced by O’Neill in Legends of the Dark Knight #16-20. He was thought of as being Batman’s equal on multiple levels. Chuck Dixon added a touch of the Man in the Iron Mask, and introduced a tragic origin story, making him a “prisoner from birth,” to offer a kind of parallel with Bruce Wayne’s childhood trauma. It was Graham Nolan though who had the idea for the mask, giving him a Mexican Luchador look.

Bane came onto the scene with a plan to push Batman to his limits and, when the moment came, he confronted him and famously broke his enemy’s back.

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DC Comics’ Manhunter: The History of a Crime Fighter with a lot of Alter Egos

Kate Spencer - Manhunter DC Comics

People working at DC Comics sure love Manhunter. They gave us J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, but also the evil Manhunters—predecessors to the Green Lantern who took a bad turn. And then, there is Manhunter, the crime fighter. Well, there is more than one.

The Golden Age Manhunters

The original “Paul Kirk, Manhunter” created by Jack Kirby in Adventure Comics #58 (1941) didn’t use the name Manhunter, he was just a civilian investigator with no secret identity or costume. This Golden Age detective quickly passed the title to a new Manhunter, a former big-game hunter named Rick Nelson who became a proper superhero in Adventure Comics #73—a version created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. The character who tracked down criminals in Empire City in his red costume (with a blue mask) also had to fight the concurrence as Quality Comics just launched his own hero called Manhunter (aka Dan Richards) in the pages of Police Comics #8 (1942).

Already, Manhunter was a popular name for a hero, but that was not the case for Rick Nelson who was renamed Paul Kirk after a few issues—he kept the big game hunter backstory. Also, when Quality Comics was bought by National Comics Publications (previous name of DC Comics), the two heroes kept the fight on, without even knowing they now existed in the same universe. During World War II, they joined teams to fight with, but not the same. Paul Kirk was a member of the All-Star Squadron while Dan Richards joined the Freedom Fighters.

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