Sean Pertwee's abrasive cockney take on Batman's faithful butler in Gotham seems like one of the more radical takes on the character, but only if you don't remember the events of Detective Comics #328. Which, really, nobody can blame you for not remembering, since it happened way back in the forties and wasn't exactly a high point for any of the characters involved. In a shocking twist for a character who had been part of the book since the beginning, Alfred Pennyworth met his untimely end when he pushed the Dynamic Duo out of the way of a falling boulder and was squashed instead. This, by the way, was so he could be replaced with "Aunt Hattie", whose female presence was supposed to dispel rumours about the nature Batman and Robin's...relationship. In lieu of receiving the hero's burial he deserved Alfred's body was snatched up by villainous mad scientist Brandon Crawford, who somehow bestowed upon him telekentic powers, weird shiny boils all over his body, and the supervillain alter ego The Outsider. Evil Alfred fought his former friends, until his powers wore of and everything kind of just went back to normal. No part of this wasn't ridiculous.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
