1961-1968: The Retirement Years
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(1961)
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–REFERENCE: In DC Super-Stars #17. These are the quiet years for Bruce Wayne, who has fully retired to spend time with his wife Selina and to raise his daughter Helena. Bruce also focuses on political activism as his main retirement hobby. He will still be in charge of Wayne Enterprises, but Bruce now also takes a high-ranking job with Gotham’s Department of Public Safety, which is located in a building adjacent to police HQ. Robin finally forges out on his own, now functioning as Gotham’s primary protector.
–REFERENCE: In Convergence: Detective Comics #1. Bruce sets up branches of the Wayne Foundation in all major American cities, each with a hidden Batcave, alternate Batmobile, and arsenal underneath. Not only that, Bruce has miles of secret tunnel built connecting the Batcaves to the outer limits of each city. Robin will use these tunnels to travel between cities in his ongoing war against crime.
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(1962)
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–REFERENCE: In Wonder Woman #300 Part 1. December. Wonder Woman marries Steve Trevor! There’s no mention of a big wedding, so we should likely assume it is a private ceremony with no guests. In any case, Bruce, at the very least, would definitely be aware of Diana’s nuptials.
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(1963-1967)
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(1968)
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–NOTE: In Wonder Woman #300 Part 1 and All-Star Squadron #25. Diana and Steve Trevor welcome their child Lyta Trevor into the world.
–NOTE: In All-Star Squadron #25. Hawkman and Hawkgirl welcome their child Hector Hall into the world.
–REFERENCE: In Wonder Woman #286 Part 2. Bruce buys Helena her first chemistry set.
Wonder Woman #286 Part 2 by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton, Bruce D Patterson, & Adrienne Roy (1981)
–FLASHBACK: From Wonder Woman #286 Part 2—and referenced in Wonder Woman #282 Part 2. Helena is ten-years-old now and has grown up in a world without a Batman, although the Dark Knight’s tremendous legend and fame have lived on (and Robin has continued defending Gotham). The city is adorned with statues molded in Batman’s image and varied tribute ephemera, a constant celebratory reminder of the previous generation’s greatest hero. At Wayne Manor, the retired Bruce finally reveals to his young daughter who he is: the one and only Batman! Helena is shocked, delighted, and proud. Bruce shows Helena the Batcave and all of his many superhero secrets.
–REFERENCE: In Wonder Woman #277 Part 2. Bruce stresses to Helena the need to never tell anyone that he is Batman, citing that he trusts most people in general, but he can’t put his faith in circumstance. Bruce will, from time to time, remind young Helena the importance of keeping the secret. These reminders must be imagined as happening randomly on our timeline below.
–REFERENCE: In Wonder Woman #307 Part 2. A ten-year-old Helena poses for a picture with her mom and dad at Wayne Manor.
–REFERENCE: In Wonder Woman #290 Part 2. Bruce tells his daughter that she “came into the world kicking and screaming” when she was born. These inspirational words, including many others from her pop, will inspire a dominant fighting spirit in young Helena.
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Hello. I am a huge Batman fan. Your work reminds me of the Unauthorized Chronology of the DC Universe. I am reading through every entry (while reading the Batman Encyclopedia) and love your attention to detail. I am very greatful to you for listing all references for Batman’s trophies. I was wondering, have you ever seen the Dick Sprang lithograph “Secrets of the Batcave”? Would it be possible for you to do a detailed analysis/breakdown of all of the trophies in that lithograph and what books they appeared in? As I said, I am still reading through all of your entries and I am sure you cover each and every one of them in this chronology. I have seen people attempt to make the requested list, but no one has ever successfully listed all of the trophies from that lithograph in one place (much less the books they came from). My curiosity was especially piqued with the golden Aztec-like key thingy, a spooky goblin head and a few of the NASA-like rovers/projectors. Thanks.
Hi John, thanks so much for the kind words. The Unauthorized Chronology of the DC Universe was, of course, a major influence on my project. I love Sprang’s Secrets of the Batcave, and I think it’d be a great idea for a blog post to map it all out. I will say, though, that there is a lot of stuff in there (including some of the things you mention) that simply doesn’t connect to anything, which is probably why no one on the internet has been able to figure these items out! However, let’s see if we can solve some mysteries. Keep your eyes peeled for this toward the end of summer.
Just following up on this! Obviously, I wasn’t able to get to it this summer. My backlog for the site is very very long, so I had to table this neat idea to examine the lithograph. But one day, one day… I shall return to it!
Thanks for the reply. I’m in no rush. I have been working on my own listing of Batman’s trophies. Using one of the online comic book sites, I started reading all Batman centric comics in the order that you have them listed.
My list is a combination of actual trophies known to have been collected by Batman as well as trophies he most-likely would have collected.
I have lots of gangster’s guns, Thieves’ knives, villain’s weapons and vehicles, hero/villain’s costumes, traps, poisons, antidotes, and storyline McGuffins that would make sense to be in the collection but are never shown in any comic book.
For example…some of my favorite non-canonical trophies that I added to the cave would be: Doctor D’Orterre’s anthropomorphic talking flowers, his giant spinning wheel torture device and his face-removing sci-fi ray gun. Dr. Carl Kruger’s Dirigible of Doom and one of his death ray cannons. Hydro-Boy’s large water tower (which may actually have been a trophy) that he used to escape prison.
I have to get up to 1001 trophies by Detective Comics 158 somehow. LOL.
To get the most out of every issue, I theorize multiple trophies up for grabs and breakdown “significant” pieces of a villain’s costume to be used as separate trophies…to make one display.
For example, Clubfoot Beggs [Ward, the lawyer]’s hat, overcoat , hook and clubbed foot prosthetic (4) or Doctor Death’s monocle, lab coat and chemistry set (3) Jabah’s turban and sword (2)).
I will keep my eyes open for your replies in this thread regarding this and the “Secrets of the Batcave” investigation. Unless you have a better way to communicate directly to my email address.
Talk to you soon. Best of everything and keep up the EXCELLENT work.
Yes, he’s definitely collecting overtime haha. Who is Hydro-Boy? The Hydro from Batman #74? Interestingly enough, Star Spangled Comics #103 actually shows a water tower in the trophy room, but it pre-dates Batman #74. Feel free to email me at ccolsher@gmail.com anytime!