Irv Novick for the Johnstone and Cushing advertising agency in the 1960s, but was unhappy in advertising and was lured back to DC by Kanigher with a freelance contract, a guarantee of steady work and certain perks which was at the time unprecedented. After editorial and management changes in 1968, Novick began drawing superhero titles such as "Batman", "Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane", and "The Flash". Novick and writer Frank Robbins crafted the story which revealed the last name of Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth in "Batman" #216 (Nov. 1969). The Robbins and Novick team was instrumental in returning Batman to the character's
Alfred Butler in his own right, being appointed Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary in 1926, and promoted to Windsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary in 1931. He was also made the Genealogist of the Order of the Bath in 1930, and Honorary Genealogist of the Royal Victorian Order in 1938. He resigned from both of these offices shortly before his death. He was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists in 1944. Alfred Butler was also a member of the council of the Harleian and British Record Societies, and of the Croft Lyons committee of the Society of Antiquaries,