This story is told and shown through Alfred's eyes; and we as the reader see his thoughts as well. Alfred receives a call from Batman; a summons for help and to retrieve a new tranq gun from the Batcave and to get it to Batman as soon as possible. Simple enough? No. Alfred has to get acquainted to driving a Batmobile, is unable to get any assistance from Katana, crashes the Batmobile to avoid a boy in the street and has to catch the boy who has managed to come into possession of Batman's utility belt. Rough start. Alfred manages to turn it around and finds out that Batman has been captured by Killer Croc who has taken the caped crusader down in Gotham's sewers. Alfred manages to find and rescue Batman, and tricks Croc into firing the tranq gun on himself.
I confess when I read the advance soliticed plot synopsis to this story, I wasn't enthused. I didn't think a story from Alfred's POV would be that engrossing. I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy this story more than I thought I would. Writing Manning does a good job deviating from the story-telling norm and tosses in some random elements which Alfred didn't expect to encounter with some run-ins with some Gotham denizens. Alfred displayed a bit of sharp detective work and athleticism that we're not usually accustomed to. Killer Croc was a familiar villain and the story didn't have any inclusions of characters that we haven't been introduced to before like the past couple of issues. I'll be sad to see the series go; I thought it was just hitting its' stride.
Beware the Batman #6:
Reviewed by Chris Karnes
