The Batmobile - Born This Way - R.A.Wonsowski

Setting: interior, the Batcave.

Panel 1 - BATMAN slips into the driver's seat of the Batmobile, settling into the seat, ready for action.

NO COPY


Panel 2 - Interior Batmobile, BATMAN turns the ignition on the Batmobile.

NO COPY


Panel 3 - Same as Panel 2, except the radio blasts full volume, BATMAN cringes in pain at the blaring noise as he tries to cover his ears

BATMOBILE RADIO:  RAH-RAH-AH-AH-AH-AH!!  ROMA-ROMA-MAMAA!!  GA-GA-OOHLALA!!

Panel 4 - Same as Panel 3, but now BATMAN just looks extremely annoyed.

BATMOBILE RADIO:  CAN'T READ MY - CAN'T READ MY - NO HE CAN'T READ MY POKER FACE!!!

Panel 5 - BATMAN is now standing outside the idling Batmobile in the cave.  He's growling, fists clenched, in annoyed anger at ALFRED, who is standing proudly at attention, holding a feather duster and sporting a black Lady Gaga lightning bolt over his right eye.

ALFRED:  It's true, Master Wayne.  I admit it, I am one of her..."Little Monsters"

BATMAN:  I don't care, just turn it back down when you're done!!

Alfred - The Example - R.A. Wonsowski

Panel 1 - DAMIAN WAYNE, in his Robin costume, is coming out from behind the grandfather clock in the Wayne Manor study, one hand pushing back the hood, the other peeling off his mask.  He looks put out as usual.

DAMIAN:  ALFRED!  There's no orange juice downstairs!  AGAIN!

DAMIAN:  Where ARE you?!?

Panel 2 - DAMIAN, walking, tossing off his cape, notices the broken window in the study.

DAMIAN:  ...Al...?

Panel 3 - DAMIAN walks into the foyer, where he notices a ski-masked thug out cold, lying at the base of a suit of armour.

NO COPY

Panel 4 - DAMIAN walks through the dining room, sees another thug knocked out on the floor, and a third sprawled on the dining table.

ALFRED:  (off-panel) ...should TEACH!

SFX:  THWAK!

ALFRED:  (off-panel)  you NOT!

SFX:  WHUD!

ALFRED:  (off-panel)  to MESS!

SFX:  KLONG!

Panel 5 - DAMIAN walks into the kitchen, and sees ALFRED standing over three more thugs laid out on the floor.  One of the thugs, a Wyeth painting has been smashed over his head and is through the frame.  ALFRED is brandishing a cast iron skillet, shouting at the closest thug, his tie is undone, no jacket but his vest is unbuttoned and his shirtsleeves are rolled up, yet he has not broken a sweat.  He looks as put out as Damian did in the first panel.  DAMIAN has a look of shocked awe on his face, like a parent who just caught their kid hanging from a ceiling fan.  There are freshly-made pancakes on three plates on the counter, topped with butter and syrup, still steaming hot and undisturbed.

ALFRED:  ...with an S.A.S. man!

Panel 6 - Same as panel 5, but ALFRED has noticed DAMIAN in the kitchen, both wearing a "you caught me" expression on their faces.

Panel 7 - ALFRED places the skillet back in its proper place with one hand, opens a giant refrigerator door with the other, chin held high, a small tight-lipped smile upon his lips, looking over his shoulder at DAMIAN.  DAMIAN has a respectful smile on his face, maybe a little nervous, and he's heading for the refrigerator himself, one hand out.

ALFRED:  Begging pardon, Master Damian.  I believe you mentioned something about orange juice?

DAMIAN:  Yes!ImeanYes,Sir!ImeanNo,Sir,I'llgetit!Thankyou,I'llGETit!

CAPTION: “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.” - Mark Twain

NOTE:  Alfred's pancake recipe, from scratch, in case you're interested:

2 1/2 cups flour (sifted)
5 teaspoons baking powder
4 tblspoons sugar (granulated)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups milk
6 tblspoons melted butter
2 drops vanilla extract

Take all the dry ingredients - combine in a big bowl.
Beat the eggs a little - combine the wet ingredients.
Mix the wet into the dry.
(It's ok if it's a little lumpy.)
Let the batter rest at least 30 minutes in the fridge before cooking on a hot, buttered griddle or skillet.)

Alfred - A Gentlemen's Gentlemen's Wager - Niel Jacoby

Panel 1: Alfred is dusting around the Batcave. The Bat-Computer screen shows an INCOMING MESSAGE

SFX: NANANANA-NANANANA

Panel 2: Alfred stands in front of the Bat-Computer, pressing a button.

SFX: NANANANA-NANAN-

Panel 3: Alfred is sitting in front of the Bat-Computer. His posture is proper as you'd expect.

Alfred: EDWIN! SO NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU.

Edwin(from Bat-Computer): YES, LIKEWISE. IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN ALFRED.

Panel 4: Alfred is shocked.

Alfred: OH MY! THERE'S BEEN SUCH A GAP, I HAD FEARED IT WASN'T GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN.

Edwin: OH, IT IS. MISTER STARK'S HAD ME POLISHING HIS DRESS IRON FOR THE OCCASION.

Panel 5: Alfred is excited, but it's subtle. He's not exactly leaping into the air.

Alfred: MASTER BRUCE WILL BE GLAD TO HEAR THIS.

Edwin: YOU'RE FORGETTING SOMETHING, ALFIE BOY. WHAT ABOUT OUR USUAL ARRANGEMENT?

Alfred: OH, I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN, EDDIE. ONE DOLLAR, SAME AS ALWAYS.

Panel 6: Alfred is walking away, looking through his money clip. He's smiling to himself.

Alfred: OH, THIS WON'T DO, NOT AT ALL. I'LL HAVE TO MAKE SURE TO BREAK A HUNDRED NEXT TIME I GO SHOPPING.

Edwin: I CAN HEAR YOU.

Alfred(whispering to himself): OH, I KNOW.

Alfred – Mad With Murder - Shaun Richens.

PAGE ONE

7 Panels.

2 rows of three with panel 7 as a page wide panel at the bottom.

1. Two ARKHAM asylum GUARDS are walking down a corridor past the cell door of an inmate. GUARD ONE is young and new to the job. GUARD TWO is much older, a veteran of Arkham.

         INMATE (Coming from inside the door.):

         HAHAHAHA.

2. We are in a medium two shot; the GUARDS are stood outside of the cell door. They stand either side of it.

         GUARD ONE:

         Is it true about what they say about this guy?

         GUARD TWO:

         Sadly the hear say is close to the truth kid.

         INMATE (Coming from inside the door.):

         <SOB>

3. Same composition as 2. GUARD ONE looks anxious as he decides if he should push the subject.

        

         GUARD ONE:

         So he tried killing him? That’s why he’s here?

         GUARD TWO:

         More to it than that.

4. Close up on GUARD TWO.

         GUARD TWO:

         It was after he killed Wayne, that’s what pushed him 

         over the edge. Couldn’t handle it, went totally mad, 

         so he went after him.

5. Same composition as 2. GUARD ONE looks shocked to hear the rumours are true. GUARD TWO wears a look of sadness on his face at retelling the story.

         GUARD ONE:

         Who’d have thought he cared so much?

        GUARD TWO:

He basically raised him. Bruce was a son to him. If the Joker murdered my son, I might have gone off the deep end and tried to kill him too.

6. We pull down to the placard on cell door. It displays the inmate’s name.

         The placard reads:

         A. Pennyworth.

        

7. We cut to inside the cell. The cell door in the background, the small drop down window open and the TWO GUARDS are peering in. In the foreground sat hunched over, his face in his palms weeping is ALFRED.

         ALFRED:

         <SOB>

Alfred Pennyworth – But How Did He Train Them? – MK Stangeland Jr.

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: SPOILER (Stephanie Brown) and RED ROBIN (TIM DRAKE) (Assume it’s sort of DCnU, sort of not, whatever the best way to make the script work would be) are in the BATCAVE at a computer table. BATMAN might be in the background at the elevated ‘main’ computer setup.

SPOILER: Tim, quick question.

RED ROBIN: Yeah?

Panel 2: SPOILER and RED ROBIN.

SPOILER: Alfred is responsible for cleaning all of Wayne Manor, right?

RED ROBIN: More or less, yeah.

SPOILER: And the Batcave is part of Wayne Manor, right?

RED ROBIN: Yes.

Panel 3: WIDE VIEW of the BATCAVE. SPOILER has her arms spread out wide to help emphasize just how big it is.

SPOILER: So how does he clean the Batcave? It’s huge!

RED ROBIN: He trained the bats to do it.

Panel 4: SPOILER looks at RED ROBIN with a look that says she doesn’t believe him in the slightest.

SPOILER: You lie.

RED ROBIN: No, I’m serious.

SPOILER: Lies.

Panel 5: ALFRED stands on the upper steps of the batcave that lead to the entrance to WAYNE MANOR. He is ringing a small bell.

TEXT BOX: Later…

ALFRED: Places, everyone!

SFX: (From ringing bell.) *ding*ling*ling*

Panel 6: Large panel of the BATCAVE. It is empty aside from ALFRED and the caves bats. The bats are flying around with cleaning rags and other supplies, cleaning the BATCAVE just as RED ROBIN said.

SFX: (There should be an assortment of bat and cleaning sounds in the panel as can be made to fit.)

END PAGE

Alfred- Once Upon A Time -Dan Hill

PAGE ONE

Five wide panels followed by a single tier of two smaller panels.

Page One, Panel One
POV SHOT from an adult’s perspective looking down towards a dark haired YOUNG BOY aged around 10 years old. The boy is barefoot and dressed in tatty clothes. We can’t see where he is yet, but there's soil beneath his feet, as if he’s standing in a jungle clearing. He has black stains from smoke and dirt on his face. He looks up at us with a blank expression.

1) Caption: Once upon a time there was a boy, a boy who had lost everything.

2) Voice(off): Do you know, little one?

Page One, Panel Two
From the boy’s POV looking up at a YOUNG ALFRED (aged somewhere in his early 20’s). He’s dressed in military gear appropriate for the jungle and time period (early 1950’s).

He looks down towards us with concern.

3) Caption: I watched anger and grief battle for his soul.

4) Alfred: Do you know where the man is who did this?

Page One, Panel Three
Profile shot on Alfred crouching down so he’s at the boy’s eye level.  In the background we can see we’re in what’s left of a tiny village somewhere in the Burmese jungle. Everything has been burnt. Fire has claimed everything. A few other Marines and members of the SAS mill about in the background looking for other survivors. They aren’t finding any.

5) Caption: I tried to reach him.

6) Alfred: He may hurt more people if we don’t find him.

Page One, Panel Four
Looking over Alfred’s shoulder towards the young boy. The young boy’s expression remains blank. There's nothing left.

7) Caption: But he was too far gone.

Page One, Panel Five
Alfred has his hand on the boys shoulder. He looks down at the floor defeated. He knows the boy is a lost cause.
8) Caption: I will always remember that boy, Master Bruce.

9) Caption: And so many more just like him.

Page One, Panel Six
CUT TO Alfred in the present day standing in the Batcave. He has a tray with breakfast on it-- slices of toast, tea, the morning papers, etc.

10) Caption:  Every day I see that battle for the soul start afresh...

Page One, Panel Seven
From Alfred’s POV looking down at Bruce sitting in a chair at the Bat-Computer. He's wearing the Batman costume, the cowl down around his neck. He studies the screen intensely.

11) Caption:  ...and pray I never have to see a victor.

Alfred - A Fine Kettle of Fish - Grant McLaughlin

1 - The Wayne Manor kitchens.  Alfred has been hard at work on dinner.  The various dirty pots, pans, and dishes that litter the counters are evidence of this, as are Alfred's clothes, which are slightly disheveled from the heat of the kitchen and his own exertion (with a few stains of food on his sleeves and the like).  Before Alfred is the fruits of his labour: a delicious looking meal that has been beautifully plated (we'll say it's duck leg confit on a bed of potatoes next to a side of spring vegetables).  Alfred places a garnish on top to complete the meal, a look of satisfaction on his face.

ALFRED: That should do it.

2 - The Batcave.  A smile on his face, Alfred is walking towards Bruce Wayne, holding a covered tray high.  Bruce is hard at work on his own project, looking through a microscope at some piece of evidence on a desk cluttered with other items related to the case.  He is dressed in the Batman costume, the cowl off.  He does not look up at Alfred's arrival.

CAPTION (ALFRED): I'm certain that Master Bruce will thoroughly enjoy his meal.

BRUCE: Thank you, Alfred.  You can leave it on the table.

3 - Alfred has moved towards the table.  Looking towards the table (and away from the reader), he stands, continuing to hold the tray above his shoulders.  Another plate of food sits on the tabletop.  It is yesterday's dinner, untouched and cold.  Perhaps create additional emphasis on the plate by putting a panel around it or through another means.  No dialogue.

ALFRED: As you wish, s--

4 - Inset panel.  It sits towards the right side of the third panel.  This panel is a close-up of Alfred's face.  He wears a look of shock and surprise.  No dialogue.

5 - Back in the Wayne Manor kitchens.  Same background as panel 1.  Alfred now sits at the counter, a knife and fork in hand.  Wearing a sour expression, he eats the meal he prepared for Bruce.  No dialogue.

Alfred - Same as it Ever Was - Ben Rosenthal

1. A shot of  Alfred from behind.  He watches out the window of Wayne Manor, the exhaust of the Batmobile barely visible in the distance as it speeds away.

2. A small panel of Alfred's hand pulling out a book on a bookshelf.

Sfx: Click.

3. Alfred is in the batcave, restocking Batman's weapons itenerary.  

4. Alfred is sitting in the batcave, sipping at some tea as he looks through Batman's database.  He wears a headset.

5. The Batmobile has returned, it's door beginning to open.

6. The door is fully open, Batman is beaten and barely conscious.

BATMAN

Alfred....

7. Alfred is helping Batman stand, with Batman leaning his entire weight on Alfred,  almost passing out. Alfred is leading him towards the lift door.

Alfred - Seasons - J.D. Coughlan

Four long horizontal panels.

Panel 1: Side-on view of Alfred standing at Thomas and Martha Wayne's graves. It is Spring, trees and flowers bloom in the background.

CAPTION: Five years ago...

ALFRED: I know you told me to look after him, but I fear he has not put aside his grief for you. He has only twisted it into some kind of... madness.

ALFRED: I... I fear I may not be able to keep my--

Panel 2: Same as above, but it is now Summer. Bright sunshine and clear skies.

CAPTION: Four years ago...

ALFRED: --promise to me that this was not some perverse game to him. And I believed him. He has taken in this... circus boy, this orphan, with an open heart the likes of which I thought he had lost long ago.

ALFRED: Congratulations. You have a grand--

Panel 3: As above, this time Autumn. Brown, falling leaves, grey skies and a slight breeze.

CAPTION: One year ago...

ALFRED: --childlike since his return; making plans and travelling all over the world. To get him back was a miracle, but to see him like this... it's an unrivalled joy. He's almost just like he was before--

Panel 4: Again, as above, now Winter. Snow on the ground.

CAPTION: Today.

ALFRED: --that night you were taken from us I lost two of my closest friends. And while I would give anything to undo that evil, moving forward is all that is in my power. I hope you would think that I do so in a manner worthy of the trust you placed within me, which I now see as the gift it is...

ALFRED: For that night all those years ago... I gained a son.

END OF PAGE

Why Alfred?

By Alex Ross

This Wednesday sees the 20th anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series. For many of my generation, this was their first introduction to Batman and, for some, an entry into comics as well. I thought the event deserved a little commemoration and, with the Dark Knight himself having already been done quite recently, I went with the second most important character in the mythos: Alfred Pennyworth. The Batman's batman.

Father figures are the backbone of the superhero genre, and it is interesting to note that the greatest of these (in my opinion) are all surrogate fathers: Jonathan Kent, Ben Parker, and Alfred. The actor-turned-army-medic-turned-butler may not be biologically related to Bruce Wayne, but since that tragic night that changed both their lives forever, Alfred has cared for Bruce like he was a son.

From Batman: The Animated Series

Even today, Alfred tends to his master's wounds and alibis, always on hand with a piercing, witty comment that reminds us of just how dangerously insane Batman's world is. But underneath that dry English gentleman's humour is a steadfast loyalty and almost unwilling understanding of the mission Bruce has taken upon himself. Like all good fathers, Alfred wants what's best for his child, even if it means sacrificing his own peace of mind.

And Alfred has had this tested many times over the years. For all the tragedies that have befallen Batman, Alfred has been there. Through broken backs, earthquakes, betrayals, tragic love stories, and lost allies, Bruce has always been able to depend on one person -- one constant -- to console him in his darkest moments.

The more cynical comic book fans like to think of Batman as a loner, with no need for Robins or Batgirls, but the truth is that, while he may not have been there since the beginning, Alfred is now an integral part of what makes Batman Batman.

Art by Lee Garbett. Click to read dialogue.