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Tweak says, "kink is good"

mysteryfan (mysteryfan) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-10-03 10:16:00

Entry tags:

char: alfred pennyworth, char: batgirl/oracle/barbara gordon, char: batman/bruce wayne, char: jim gordon, creator: coy turnbull, creator: darwyn cooke, creator: jen van meter, creator: john lowe, title: gotham knights

Babs and Alfred: Tea and Sympathy. And Crime-Solving

Reading Gotham Knights #12 and came across this nice moment between Alfred and Babs. I really liked this story. There's kind of--quite a bit of her processing her shooting, and I think it's well done here.

(From Gotham Knights #12 by Jen Van Meter, Coy Turnbull and John Lowe. 2001.)

Cover by Darwyn Cooke

Context: Babs is having a hard time, trying to solve a case involving wheelchair victims. She's tried all of her usual coping mechanisms: exercise, work, etc. and nothing's helped. So she makes a fairly complicated trip...

I love that Alfred found her a BW handkerchief.

Check out the photos changing...

She figures out the guy's motive, so she sets him up to go after her. She sues her father and Bruce Wayne. For her shooting.

It works and the guy comes after her.

She solves the case and takes down the criminal.

(Post a new comment)

	filkertom 2009-10-03 03:33 pm UTC (link)
	Nice. Far too many writers use Alfred for snark, when he has great depth. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	magus_69 2009-10-03 10:32 pm UTC (link)
	I think it depends on who he's with. His talks with Dick post RIP have been mostly snark free, and Dick doesn't need the snark as much as Bruce to begin with. Barbara is in that bategory as well. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

jcbaggee, 2009-10-04 04:33 am UTC

psychop_rex, 2009-10-04 05:08 am UTC

magus_69, 2009-10-04 06:54 am UTC

jcbaggee, 2009-10-04 04:37 pm UTC

	nevermore999 2009-10-03 03:34 pm UTC (link)
	This is awesome. <3 Babs. (Reply to this)

	perletwo 2009-10-03 03:36 pm UTC (link)
	Alfred always makes everything better, while maintaining the illusion the Bats did it all by themselves. I so love him. <3 (Reply to this) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-10-03 05:25 pm UTC (link)

I think it's really deftly done here especially. It's still Babs who figures it out, so it's not a knock on her ability to solve the case. But she never could have gotten past her emotional investment to think clearly if not for Alfred's awesome incarnate nature, so he becomes essential to the resolution. It's a perfect balance.

Also, he sends her pie. Me, I'd have had her washing dishes or something that she'd never see a return on, and that is why I will never be as badass as Alfred.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	jarodrussell 2009-10-03 03:55 pm UTC (link)
	Damn. :) Remember when artists who drew Oracle bothered to do basic wheelchair research? That strap around her legs, hooking them to the foot rests, is a real product. Man, the 90's comics...and I say this as someone who read the bulk of those 90's comics in 2004...really had a much greater respect for Oracle disability than the 00's books. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mysteryfan 2009-10-03 04:45 pm UTC (link)
	I absolutely hear what you're saying. Just FYI, this is from 2001. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

jarodrussell, 2009-10-03 04:51 pm UTC

mysteryfan, 2009-10-03 05:00 pm UTC

jarodrussell, 2009-10-03 06:40 pm UTC

starwolf_oakley, 2009-10-03 08:41 pm UTC

Ahh, the Silver Age wankers -

autolychus2, 2009-10-04 12:05 am UTC

mysteryfan, 2009-10-04 12:35 am UTC

	gailsimone 2009-10-03 04:34 pm UTC (link)
	I am such a fan of Jen Van Meter's. I think she blows away most of the top ten writers...she really is a hidden killer. I'm constantly bugging her to write more stuff! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mysteryfan 2009-10-03 04:37 pm UTC (link)
	This is an excellent story. I looked Jen Van Meter other work up after reading it, to see what else she's done. Keep bugging her! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	hearthemvoices 2009-10-03 05:00 pm UTC (link)
	What other stuff has she written? :D (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

scottyquick, 2009-10-03 05:50 pm UTC

kingrockwell, 2009-10-03 08:59 pm UTC

bluefall, 2009-10-03 09:54 pm UTC

kingrockwell, 2009-10-03 10:44 pm UTC

batcookies, 2009-10-04 01:57 am UTC

scottyquick, 2009-10-04 08:43 pm UTC

runespoor7, 2009-10-03 09:13 pm UTC

psychop_rex, 2009-10-04 05:13 am UTC

mysteryfan, 2009-10-03 05:59 pm UTC

	perevision 2009-10-22 05:08 am UTC (link)
	I'd utterly forgotten she wrote this story!!! Hopeless Savages: Ground Zero is on my top 5 list of all-time favourite comics ever. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ravenous_raven 2009-10-03 04:49 pm UTC (link)
	aw, that's such a cute story. I read it over again and realized that the apples they were peeling eventually went into the pie Alfred sent over! :) but what's the basis of Babs "suing" Bruce? I mean, we all know he's the Bats, but what does that have to do w/the Joker showing up to shoot her and kidnap Jim? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mysteryfan 2009-10-03 05:04 pm UTC (link)
	As part of the hoax, she's suing him for a faulty Wayne-Tech security system. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ravenous_raven, 2009-10-03 05:08 pm UTC

mysteryfan, 2009-10-03 05:20 pm UTC

bluefall, 2009-10-03 06:00 pm UTC

jarodrussell, 2009-10-03 06:35 pm UTC

	bluejaybirdie 2009-10-03 05:05 pm UTC (link)
	This is awesome. Alfred and Babs need to have way more teamups. The art for this is excellent too, I'd love to see Babs (and her chair) drawn like this more often (plus I miss the short hair and comfy clothes look). Is this traded in anything? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mysteryfan 2009-10-03 05:09 pm UTC (link)
	No. Sadly it is not in trade. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-10-03 05:48 pm UTC (link)
	This is from the eviiiiil Dixon/Grayson/Brubaker/Puckett era, don't want any fans to remember that stuff! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

yaseen101, 2009-10-03 06:13 pm UTC

scottyquick, 2009-10-03 06:37 pm UTC

yaseen101, 2009-10-03 06:48 pm UTC

	jarodrussell 2009-10-03 06:31 pm UTC (link)
	plus I miss the short hair and comfy clothes look M-to-the-Otto. Motto. Hacker Babs, with sweatshirts and short, messy hair surrounded by her homemade supercomputers, that's the very definition of sexy for me. Forget fishnets. Forget boob window. Show me Babs at her workstation. Rowr! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

kingrockwell, 2009-10-03 09:02 pm UTC

runespoor7, 2009-10-03 09:16 pm UTC

mysteryfan, 2009-10-04 01:19 pm UTC

	the_lassiter 2009-10-03 05:48 pm UTC (link)
	Well crafted. Both the writer and artist know the characters. Seems to be a rare trait these days. I would like to see more characters written in such a gingerly way. (Reply to this) (Thread)

psychop_rex, 2009-10-04 05:16 am UTC

the_lassiter, 2009-10-04 05:22 am UTC

psychop_rex, 2009-10-04 06:57 am UTC

psychop_rex, 2009-10-04 06:58 am UTC

	jlbarnett 2009-10-03 05:52 pm UTC (link)
	so what was the attacker's problem? (Reply to this) (Thread)

jarodrussell, 2009-10-03 06:34 pm UTC

milleniumrex, 2009-10-03 06:39 pm UTC

	jkcarrier 2009-10-03 06:41 pm UTC (link)
	Neat. It kind of reminds me of their relationship on the 1960s tv show -- where Batgirl and Alfred were confidantes, without Batman being aware of it. (Reply to this)

sistermagpie
2009-10-03 07:31 pm UTC (link)

I love her showing up with her foot straps and soaking wet so much I'd have loved anything she and Alfred did once she got there (no, my mind isn't in the gutter there--I mean, like, watch TV!) but pie baking and crime solving just makes it all the better. I love how Alfred makes everyone think better. He doesn't give them the answers, it's not a joke about how he's really smarter, he's just brilliant and making thinking possible and is a genius sounding board.

(Reply to this)

	ladydouji 2009-10-03 08:42 pm UTC (link)
	The story is good, one stupid little detail keeps pulling me out of it. Why do they have the bowl for the apple peels on the floor? especially when it's so small, just seems like an invitation for a big mess(that Alfred has to clean up) (Reply to this) (Thread)

stolisomancer, 2009-10-03 09:15 pm UTC

ladydouji, 2009-10-03 09:24 pm UTC

stolisomancer, 2009-10-04 08:50 am UTC

shadowpsykie, 2009-10-04 02:21 am UTC

retro_nouveau
2009-10-04 12:11 am UTC (link)

Aw, Alfred looks after all the batkids, even after they've flown the belfry. I ~~hope~~ know Alfred had some peppermint for Babs' tea.

Hee hee - That bowl is full of apple peelin's. And the bowl on the chair is still full of apples. Looks like Alfred was making pies for everyone in the batfamily, plus one for each member of Justice League Unlimited. XD

One thing's for sure, I bet that was the best pie this side of Twin Peaks. Uh oh, age is showing, nothing to see here, let's move along...

And now retro has new Babs icon by Darwyn Cooke with ... *snif* ... with CLOCKTOWER *sob*

(Reply to this) (Thread)

bluefall, 2009-10-04 02:44 am UTC

magus_69, 2009-10-04 07:02 am UTC

	cmdr_zoom 2009-10-04 12:15 am UTC (link)
	He's not in the tags, but as soon as I saw that cover, I knew, I KNEW it was Darwyn Cooke's work. This comm (well, its predecessor) introduced me to the man's work, and I've yet to not love any of it. (Reply to this) (Thread)

mysteryfan, 2009-10-04 01:05 pm UTC

	shadowpsykie 2009-10-04 02:20 am UTC (link)
	I have said this already, but I move we have an Alfred Pennyworth week. actually, even better, a Worlds Finest Alfred Pennyworth/Ma Kent week? (Reply to this)