It’s not uncommon for television shows and movies to get tie in comics. As something’s popularity rises, it’s natural to want to continue or expand the story into other formats, sometimes to offer information that couldn’t easily be translated to screen and sometimes to continue the adventure when series or film franchise concludes. Shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural have both continued their runs well after their shows ended on the pages of comics while on the superhero side of things, there have been plenty of comics from both Marvel and DC that connect back to film.
But while tie-in comics aren’t uncommon, they aren’t always good. Many tie-ins end up being average at best or clear cash grabs motivated to capitalize on something’s popularity. Every so often, however, a tie-in comic is not only good but good as its own story even beyond the movie or television show it’s connected to and when it comes to one of the best tv tie-in comics to date, it’s an unexpected book and we all moved on from it way too fast: Pennyworth.
Pennyworth Wasn’t Just a Fun Tie-In, It Was a Great Comic
Before we can get into the comic, we have to talk a little bit about the series that it came from. Debuting in 2019 on Epix (now MGM+), Pennyworth follows a young Alfred Pennyworth, a former British solider of the Special Air Service. Following his service, he forms his own security company in London which sees him become the target of the fascist Raven Society, leading him to work against them with American agents of the CIA-affiliated No Name League, agents that just so happen to be Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane. The series, which is set in an alternate history London, functions as a prequel to Fox’s Gotham as well as V for Vendetta. The series ultimately ran for three seasons, hopping to HBO Max for the final season — and getting a new name of Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler.
Released in 2021, the Pennyworth comic functions as something of a sequel to the television series but still takes place before Gotham. Written by Scott Bryan Wilson, the comic is specifically set after the events of the show’s third season and follows Alfred on adventures during the Cold War era. However, it is actually a little more complicated than that, as the story actually spans a much longer period of time, going at various points from Alfred’s childhood to the present-day in a story where events in Soviet Russia regarding nuclear weapons being manufactured in the Arctic Circle and up having impact well beyond its time.
But while the tv series and the comic are connected, what makes Pennyworth so great is that they both stand completely on their own — meaning that the comic is very much its own story, which was something that Wilson did by design. He told ComicBook in 2021 when the book was released that he hadn’t really watched the television series. The result is a book that fits into both the world of the television series for fans of Pennyworth but is also interesting and accessible for readers who are simply fans of Batman and, more importantly Alfred as a character in his own right. The comic fleshes out the well-established history of Alfred being both a former intelligence officer and a retired Shakesperean actor and puts him in a position so that we can finally see that truly in action. it gives the character a new depth and makes his death hit a little harder as he was killed in 2019’s “City of Bane” arc in Tom King’s Batman.
Pennyworth Proves DC Needs More Stories About Alfred
While Pennyworth was meant to be an extension of the television series, it actually succeeded as more. It’s an actually interesting spy story told on the comic book page, and it reframes one of the most famous and iconic “sidekick” type characters in all of comics at that. Because it’s so well done and works without Batman, it’s proof that there simply needs to be more stories about Alfred. The tie-in comics really does have everything that we don’t usually see from the character: action, intrigue, high stakes, and a little romance as well. It makes the place his holds in Batman’s — and Bruce Wayne’s — life all that much clearer and, by extension reveals how much influence the butler actually has on the World’s Greatest Detective and how he became who he is. But, because it’s only one chapter and one point in time, we know that there are more adventures for Alfred and more stories to be told and they certainly deserve their time on the page.
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