Each day in June you'll get an entry showing you the first appearance of seemingly minor characters, phrases, objects or events that later became notable parts of comic book lore. Not major stuff like "the first appearance of Superman," but rather, "the first time someone said, 'Avengers Assemble!'" or "the first appearance of Batman's giant penny" or "the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth" or "the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter." Stuff like that. Here is an archive of what I've featured so far.

Enjoy!

I just noticed that even though I mention him in the opening, I actually haven't done a bit on Alfred yet. So here is an ALL-ALFRED edition of "When We First Met"!!

First Alfred the Butler

In 1943's Batman #16, Batman and Robin gain a butler!

Alfred does, indeed, learn their identities later in the issue (by mistake, of course).

Isn't it amazing that the implication is that Alfred's last name is Jarvis!!!

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First Thin Alfred

As I wrote in an edition of Comic Book Legends Revealed a couple of years ago, DC decided to change Alfred's look to fit the look of the character in the serials.

So in 1944's Detective Comics #83, Alfred is trying to work out (he almost injures Bruce and Dick with his workout) so Bruce sends him on a vacation.

When he returns...

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First Alfred Pennyworth

The most common last name given for Alfred in those early days was Alfred Beagle. Most of the time he was just plain ol' Alfred. That changed in 1969's Batman #216, when he gained the name he uses to this day!

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Feel free to send in ideas for future debuts I should feature here to bcronin@comicbookresources.com!