Scott Bryan Wilson Teases “Complete Insanity” in Upcoming Pennyworth Comics

Just three issues remain in DC’s Pennyworth comic book, a spinoff of the Pennyworth series, and while the story of Alfred Pennyworth’s younger years as a British spy has already taken some wild turns in the first four issues of the seven-issue series, writer Scott Bryan Wilson says fans can expect “complete insanity” in the final issue, as well as the appearance of a character from the general Batman universe in issue six.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Wilson teased what readers could look forward to in the final three issues of the Pennyworth series. Issue four left Alfred near death in the Siberian snow, but Wilson teased that there’s a lot more to come.

“Well, I will say issue five, pretty fun, looks really good. That’s out in a couple of weeks,” Wilson said. “Issue six sees a character from the Batman universe. It’s not Batman, but it’s a character from the Batman universe, which some readers will maybe be excited to see. And then number seven is complete insanity, so hopefully, readers will dig it.”

Wilson was clear to point out that the Batman universe character that appears in Pennyworth #6 won’t be Batman and he also explained why Batman doesn’t appear in the series at all. Pennyworth is Alfred’s story.

“There are actually three storylines,” Wilson said of the Pennyworth comic. “There’s his very young days as a kid. There’s him as a spy from the TV show era, and there’s him, the one we know today. When I was asked to pitch to write the series, Katie Kubert, who was the editor on it originally, she said, ‘Hey, you can have Batman in it if you want. It’ll probably help sales.’ And I said, ‘You know what, though, this ain’t Batman’s book. This is Alfred’s book. This is not Batman’s book.”

Wilson went on to explain that he did consider having Batman showing up briefly in the first issue, but ended up moving away from that idea out of his love for Alfred and the desire to tell his story.

“Originally I was like, ‘oh maybe Batman could show up in the first issue.’ No, this is Alfred’s book. And I kept thinking that. But I just kept thinking I love the butler Alfred so much and so much of who he is would be tied into this past that I don’t see it as to separate stories. I can’t just write one or the other, I’ve got to write both. And then I sort of had the idea that we’ll also show sort of his childhood and where he came from there and we can tie all that in, a lot of his stuff working on the stage, being an actor.”

You can check out the description of Pennyworth #5, which goes on sale on December 14th, below.

“The continuing untold early Cold War adventures of Alfred Pennyworth, British spy! Alfred is reunited with one old friend, confronts another, and takes a meeting with his MI6 handler…or it could all be just a hallucination as he runs out of time and freezes to death, alone in the vast emptiness of the frigid north.”

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