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
Battling Butler Battling Butler Battling Butler is a 1926 comedy silent film directed by and starring Buster Keaton. Alfred's father wants him to make a man of himself so sends him off on a hunting and fishing trip. He doesn't catch or shoot anything, but he does fall in love with a mountain girl. When her father and brothers laugh at this they are told that he is Alfred "Battling" Butler, the championship fighter. From there on the masquerade must be maintained. Like Keaton's earlier Seven Chances, the film is an adaption of a stage play. The play was actually called "Battling