Batman (comic book) into Batman's pantheon, most notably those of Catwoman and Batman's eventual nemesis, the Joker. Alfred Pennyworth, the Wayne family butler, was introduced in issue #16 (April–May 1943). Editor Whitney Ellsworth assigned a "Batman" story to artist Dick Sprang in 1941. Anticipating that Bob Kane would be drafted to serve in World War II, DC inventoried Sprang's work to safeguard against delays. Sprang's first published Batman work was the Batman and Robin figures on the cover of "Batman" #18 (Aug.-Sept. 1943), reproduced from the art for page 13 of the later-published "Detective Comics" #84 (Feb. 1944). Sprang's first original published Batman
Alfred Pennyworth thoughts being to consider how utterly proper it is that he should die as Wayne Manor ceases to exist. In the sequel, "", the Batcave computer has been programmed with an artificial intelligence named and apparently patterned after Alfred, to the point that it refers to Bruce as "Sir". Alfred appears as a main character in Geoff Johns' and Gary Frank's "". In this incarnation, Alfred was a member of the Royal Marines. Alfred met Thomas Wayne during a tour of duty in the Middle East and the two became good friends. During a battle, Alfred saved Thomas' life but