  We study timelike and spacelike virtual Compton scattering in the generalized
Bjorken scaling regime at next to leading order in the strong coupling
constant, in the medium energy range which will be studied intensely at JLab12
and in the COMPASS-II experiment at CERN. We show that the Born amplitudes get
sizeable O(\alpha_s) corrections and, even at moderate energies, the gluonic
contributions are by no means negligible. We stress that the timelike and
spacelike cases are complementary and that their difference deserves much
special attention.
