Pennyworth #4

Pennyworth #4

DC Comics 2021

Written by Scott Bryan Wilson

Illustrated by Juan Gedeon

Coloured by Jorge Fornés

Lettered by AWs DC Hopkins

The continuing high-octane story of the early years of Gotham’s most famous butler! Trapped in a burning building in the Arctic, Alfred faces un-imagined savagery and appalling conditions, but finds something more dangerous and brutal than living, breathing weapons: the cold. It’s a race against nature and time as Alfred has to use his resourcefulness to stay alive until sunrise!

I am loving the way that we see Alfie’s life unfolding. So I'm really impressed with Scott’s writing ability here because not only is he mastering the Then and Now tactic but the Then section is also a Then and Now style of storytelling. Sounds a little confusing? Well it is much easier to follow than I am making it sound and it’s all thanks to Scott. I am really impressed with how much background information is able to be presented to readers. It does do wonders in bringing us more about Alfred’s life before his years as a Butler. It also makes for some absolutely exceptional reading that has it all. There’s spy work, action, adventure, romance and betrayal and it really grabs the readers’ interest and piques the curiosity and makes feel for Alfie in ways we never expected to.

I’m loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job with their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as we see it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story. There are so many questions that are raised and we need to know the answers. It is a great way to keep us interested.

I’m rather quite impressed with the way that this is being structured and how we see the layers within the story continuing to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I’m also enjoying the way that we see the layers within the story opening up new avenues to be explored. Of course this adds some wonderful depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

There’s some really nice classic comic book style art happening within these pages. The linework is clean, crisp and strong while the varying weights and techniques being utilised to bring out the detail within the work that we see is great. I think we need more backgrounds being utilised to really enhance and expand the moments. How we see the composition within the panels bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is handled exceptionally well. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkable eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding for how colour works.

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Who knew that we not only needed a James Bond style Pennyworth television program but a comic book based off that series as well? This is honestly way overdue and while we’ve seen bits and pieces of his life come to light it’s nice to the larger puzzle those pieces fit into. Also I think it's brilliantly done his being a butler and a former spy and all this ties together with his father and the family tradition. And if the series holds canon how he met Thomas Wayne and became the man we know today. With some truly memorable writing and some solid characterisation wrapped up in these great interiors Pennyworth may become the most interesting member of the Bat-Family.