Do You Miss Alfred?

[Frontier]

I hate what Krakoa has done to Charles. I was kinda iffy on what it's done to a few X-Men (Cept Jean and Kitty. This era has been nothing but wonderful to them) but Charles has been the worst.

He's always been a jerk. Kitty said as much, like...how long ago was that? 30 years? But holy ****, running a nation has brought his pompous levels up to 100. Like...dude really has me regretting the fact that I missed him during that surprisingly long period where he was dead.

And no. Alfred's nowhere that bad. But he's made quite a few decisions in the past that have me giving him the side-eye. Enabling or excusing Bruce's bad decisions (like recruiting Robins in the first place) and overall dickheadedness. Straight up cosigning on the boldfaced lie, perpetuated in King's run, about Selina being the only thing that makes Bruce happy. Talking a still freshly resurrected, ten year old Damian into staying from his own father after he lost his memories because Bruce's happiness obviously takes precedence over the child he created and fought tooth and nail to keep in his life. Enabling the We Are Robin kids, which was definitely NOT a gamble he should have been taking. IIRC, there was more than one moment of victim blaming in regards to Jason's death; once again in attempt to absolve Bruce from any responsibility.

Basically, Alfred IS that super nice father figure...to Bruce. But sometimes I can't help but wonder if that courtesy only extends to everyone else so long as it's not a big inconvenience to Bruce.

Again, I like Alfred. But uh...he is very much an extension of Bruce in both the positive and negative ways.

Oh okay, yeah. Snyder's Alfred definitely had some issues. He was always kind of screwing Bruce over somehow because he didn't want him to be Batman. It got old after a while. And the WAR thing made no sense, which is probably why no one brings it up anymore.

(I don't hold anyone's Tom King characterization against them).

[lemonpeace]

nope, can't say I miss him all that much to be honest. Alfred, I feel, has more value dead or in something like an elseworld than he does in the contemporary DC landscape.

[The World]

Eh, there was no impact in his death in the first place. It's hard to feel anything about this character or that character dieing when DC/Marvel have done such a number on the concept of death in the first place. If Alfred stays dead then that will only be because he doesn't entice anyone sexually or present a widespread vicarious fantasy people want to live and feel deprived of by his absence. America cape comics are simply too immature to make you feel anything about this character or that characters "death". There's literally two character in regular publication on the batfam line that died and came back from the dead, why should I care about someone "dieing"?

[Frontier]

Eh, there was no impact in his death in the first place. It's hard to feel anything about this character or that character dieing when DC/Marvel have done such a number on the concept of death in the first place. If Alfred stays dead then that will only be because he doesn't entice anyone sexually or present a widespread vicarious fantasy people want to live and feel deprived of by his absence. America cape comics are simply too immature to make you feel anything about this character or that characters "death". There's literally two character in regular publication on the batfam line that died and came back from the dead, why should I care about someone "dieing"?

That or they'll have other characters need to fill the vacuum left by his absence, more or less.

[TheKryptonMan]

I miss him, although I think maybe give it a year or two before he comes back.
It's not like Bruce can rely on Lucius anymore.

I do miss Alfred, but I do like that Oracle is back to help Bruce . And Bruce needs to eventually find a way to get his fortune back from Lucius . Lucius has betrayed Bruce in keeping the money that's not his.

[TheKryptonMan]

It was the stupidest thing Tom King has ever written (that's saying something) but now we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. The only thing dumber than killing Alfred would be bringing him back. Alfred's place in the mythos has essentially been ruined forever now. I have no idea what to do about the character moving forward. All I know is his death was a soulless and cynical cash-grab.

The thing with King killing Alfred off, is something that we'll never know if it was meant to be permanent. As King was not allowed to finish his story as planned. And I'm sure that King will never reveal his original plans for his 100 or 105 issue run.
Also I've given up on his Batman & Catwoman after 5 issues as it's going nowhere.

[Alpha]

I do miss Alfred, but I do like that Oracle is back to help Bruce . And Bruce needs to eventually find a way to get his fortune back from Lucius . Lucius has betrayed Bruce in keeping the money that's not his.

I mean, Lucius does all the work for Wayne Industries. Bruce just gets the money because his name is Wayne.

[MajorHoy]

Oh okay, yeah. Snyder's Alfred definitely had some issues. He was always kind of screwing Bruce over somehow because he didn't want him to be Batman. It got old after a while. And the WAR thing made no sense, which is probably why no one brings it up anymore.

(I don't hold anyone's Tom King characterization against them).

I hold everyone's Tom King characterization (or mischaracterization) against Tom King (and maybe interfering / manipulative editors and such).

[exile001]

I'm sure I'm in a minority here, but King specifically wrote a story about Bruce overcoming his childhood trauma and (while editorial mandated Alfred actually be dead) I think we could do with a period without Alfred just for a change.

Regardless, it's comics and I look forward to his inevitable return. I wonder if we'll have a retelling of the Outsider storyline.

[bretmaverick2]

Alfred is a classic supporting character. But in this case, I voted to lest Alfred rest in piece.

His death brought a big status quo change to the NIGHTWING series and I’d rather that it not be messed with.

[Micael]

I don't want Alfred dead but I want him to have a life outside of being Bruce's butler. The man actually has a daughter he should've been trying to connect with and so much of his existence is revolved around his boss it makes him feel like a slave. Let Alfred have a life for god's sake.

[Restingvoice]

The thing with King killing Alfred off, is something that we'll never know if it was meant to be permanent. As King was not allowed to finish his story as planned. And I'm sure that King will never reveal his original plans for his 100 or 105 issue run.
Also I've given up on his Batman & Catwoman after 5 issues as it's going nowhere.

Oh. We know. King told in a Youtube interview, don't remember the channel, it was a comics review channel... that the original plan was to have the killing to be only Scarecrow gas hallucination. You can even see the gas still existing in that page, because it's a last minute switch.

When he showed the plan and the drawing to Didio, he really likes it and phoned him, telling he wanted the killing to be real. King doubted that it was a good decision, but since it turns out that issue sold like hot cakes, he concluded that Didio was right.

That's as much as the thought go into killing him.

[MajorHoy]

Oh. We know. King told in a Youtube interview, don't remember the channel, it was a comics review channel... that the original plan was to have the killing to be only Scarecrow gas hallucination. You can even see the gas still existing in that page, because it's a last minute switch.

When he showed the plan and the drawing to Didio, he really likes it and phoned him, telling he wanted the killing to be real. King doubted that it was a good decision, but since it turns out that issue sold like hot cakes, he concluded that Didio was right.

That's as much as the thought go into killing him.

Maybe it would have seemed too similar to the apparent death of Leslie Thompkins that had previously occurred in Detective Comics?

[Daedalus]

I don't want Alfred dead but I want him to have a life outside of being Bruce's butler. The man actually has a daughter he should've been trying to connect with and so much of his existence is revolved around his boss it makes him feel like a slave. Let Alfred have a life for god's sake.

I think Alfred's daughter is one of those parts of canon most writers wish was not canon, so they conveniently ignore it most of the time. The issue with the daughter is that it conflicts with Alfred's whole character, which is unconditional devotion.

Alfred's whole thing is that his life is his family, and his family is our main cast. His charm is that he loves Bruce like his own son, and that he cares for the rest of the Batfamily deeply too. I think the latest issues of Nightwing do a good job of portraying how essential he was, and how much his care made a difference. Being an unconditionally loving parent is heroism in its own right - and I think that's the angle they've gone for a lot lately, and we see that mirrored in some adaptions too. The Alfred in Gotham is a good example.

[Micael]

Honestly I think giving Alfred a daughter was an attempt at actually giving the man a life beyond the cave. The main problem is that you can't give him a daughter he doesn't raise without staining his character who quite frankly has become too much deified but that's a whole other discussion.

We all understand and appreciate Alfred's love and devotion to Bruce and the family but on the other end this seemingly perpetual servitude doesn't paint the characters in a good light. As Bruce is getting older so is Alfred and still having him be the butler with no sort of promotion or development is strange. By this point he should either have something else going on or allow him to serve a different role in the family. Would love to see Alfred outside the manor actually living his own life and helping or visiting the family from time to time.