J.B. Fletcher Canoodles with Alfred in Dan McDaid’s Batman, She Wrote

Let it be said that–without a lick of irony–I consider myself a Murder, She Wrote super-fan. It’s not just that I enjoy the ongoing adventures of lonely widow turned globe-trotting crime novelist Jessica Fletcher. I also have opinions about them. For instance, I personally like to view the fifth season ender “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall Part 2” as the ideal series finale, since season twelve’s “Death by Demographics” doesn’t offer much in the way of a resolution. But that doesn’t meant those last seven seasons should just be discarded either, even the wonky choice by J. Michael Staczynski to shuttle Jess from Cabot Cove to Manhattan. Cabot Cove is her sanctuary, a humdrum place to return and do gardening after months on the road or at sea!

But I digress.

Jessica Fletcher has teamed with many iconic crime-stoppers. Harry McGraw and Thomas Magnum spring to mind. But what if, while out on a book tour, J.B. took a detour to high society Gotham? Artist Dan McDaid conceived this terrific crossover, and we knew we had to share it.

Some mashups are just out there, and as strange as it seems…this absolutely makes sense. And I can absolutely see Jess falling for Alfred and knocking horns with Harvey Bullock. As for Bruce, she’d be on to his game in the space of 24 hours.

Comments

  1. Avatar photo JeffR (@JeffRReid) says:

    I can’t tell if Bruce is just being intense in that second panel or if he really doesn’t like playing butler to Alfred. Either way, this is an adorable idea.

  2. Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

    I don’t grant your premise.

  3. Is there any chance we can convince Paul to write a Jessica Fletcher vs. Batman article?

    • Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

      I’m saving that material for my Murder, She Wrote ongoing pitch for IDW.

    • Possible tv mash ups:
      – macgyver and mister terrific
      – magnum and 90s era Hawaiian superboy
      – Rockford and hellboy
      – Adam 12/ Gotham central

    • @g0ofgnewt

      I’ve never seen Adam 12, but I’d rather see Gotham Central/The Wire mash up.

      EXT – GCPD HEADQUARTERS ROOF – NIGHT

      GORDON
      We got wind of a new vigilante in town.

      BATMAN
      Omar?

      GORDON
      Figured you’d know.

      BATMAN
      Who do you think invited him, Jim?

      GORDON
      Just make sure he keeps to sticking up drug dealers.

      BATMAN
      Indeed.

      GORDON
      By the way, have you met my new guy, McNul–

      (Batman is gone.)

      GORDON (shrugs)
      All in the game.

      FADE TO BLACK

    • I’d buy that book.

    • Oh indeeeed!

  4. Come on man, everybody knows that Jessica Fletcher is actually a super-villian in very clever disguise who goes around murdering all those other people and then framing others and then brainwashing them with her mental powers to think they actually did it. Its the only explanation that makes sense. Or would you have us believe that this little old woman just happens to stumble upon an unnecessarily complex murder case everywhere she goes on a weekly basis? I mean, that would just be silly. 🙂

    • I’VE BEEN SAYING THAT FOR YEARS!!

      Sorry for venting like that. …I would have never thought the subject would’ve come up here. Who’da thunk it? I mean …iFanboy!

  5. Alfred would be flirting the entire time while Bruce tries to make sure she is kept busy while he patrols as Batman. As Bruce returns home, she would explain to him how she already solved his case and allude to knowing who the Batman is without having to reveal his secret. Harvey Bullock would keep telling Jessica, “Listen lady, this is Gotham we don’t need help from some BOOK writer from Cabot Cove gettin in our way” but by the end of her trip would be thanking her and they would all have a laugh. And somehow Jessica would catch up with the Batmobile every time while riding her bicycle.

    • I like the idea of doing a Magnum on Ice style episode, where Batman is put on trial for the murder of, say, the Joker. While he’s incarcerated by the Gotham judiciary, Jessica Fletcher and Alfred Pennyworth have to clear the Dark Knight’s name.

      Now I’m sad that this will never exist 🙁

    • I’d love to see her walking through Arkham to find out more about this “Joker” person. To walk by Batman’s rogue gallery and have that shocked look with eyes wide open at seeing Killer Croc or Mr. Freeze.

    • Nah, you have to keep it quite “daytime TV’, you know? Nothing too horrible. So you can have Harvey Dent, but not Two-Face. And it has to be at least a little grounded, so nothing as outre as Mr Freeze or Croc. I guess perfect candidates would be… I dunno: Pamela Isley, Edward Nygma, Oswald Cobblepot… maybe even Selina Kyle?

  6. Don’t hate on the Golden Girls. I’m waiting for when it’s added to Netflix Instant. “thank you for being a friend”

  7. I was always more of a Colombo man myself, but I’d read the hell outta this. Dear DC, please take my money.

  8. Brilliant, and a wonderfully timed post – Angela Lansbury is 86 today!

  9. I imagine this occurs in the “Joker-is-Really-Alfred” canon Neil Gaiman set up in “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”.