Batman #22 - Story 3

February 9, 1944

"Conversational Clue"

What I find cute about this Alfred story is that it's only four pages long, but we still get a splash panel and not a whole page as we're introduced to The Adventures of Alfred.

The story starts as Alfred spends an afternoon in the public library studying various methods of detection. He briefly strikes up a conversation with a man who says he is studying to be a professor in criminology. He then overhears two men talking about committing the perfect murder. He follows them back to their place only to discover they are writing a radio script.

He then discovers that he has the wrong notebook, having mistakenly taken it from the professor. He sees an address on the notebook and goes back to return it. Problem is, the professor is a safecracker and he was at the library studying up for the crime he is about to commit. He plans to place Alfred in front of the liquid TNT he plans to use to blow the safe as a means to muffle the sound and kill Alfred in the process. But Alfred surprises the two by grabbing a curtain and swinging on it. Of course, being a klutz, he also manages to bang into the table with the TNT. He catches it though before it can hit the ground. With the TNT in hand, the two criminals give up and Alfred turns them in.

It's a cute little story and believable as we sometimes saw our own Alfred of the 66 series get into fisticuffs and offering his services in helping Batman and Robin with their cases. I'm looking forward to seeing his adventures.

And we wrap up with the final story of this issue, the return of the Cavalier!