The Butler Did It (Or Maybe Not)

Publisher Larry Young notes that a recent DC Comics title called Gotham Knights is teasing that the character of Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's trusted butler and official source for conversation while the superhero's back is turned doing bat-computer things, may have reached for that employee of the month status a little too strenuously and murdered someone in order to keep his employer's secret identity from going public. A less-iconic character in some Bill Willingham-penned Batman comic has supposedly taught the Caped Crusader a lesson by allowing the death of his latest young ward, which is harsh even by public school standards. (Willingham peremptorily responds to criticism from hardcore fans by saying, essentially, "Bite me.")

These being superhero comics none of this stuff is set in stone, and a cosmic reset button or slightly less extravagant explain-away plotline is more likely than not. But I think it's worth mentioning the kind of really specific fan-fiction/soap opera silliness in which some of these comics frequently traffic these days, a sign of exhausted characters and a restless audience.
 
posted 5:41 am PST | Permalink
 

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