Did Bruce and his wards/sons ever do anything for purely recreational purposes?

[Buried Alien]

No, not that. Get your minds out of the gutter, already. :)

During the Golden and Silver Ages, Pre-COIE, there were times when we saw Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson out doing things together for purely recreational purposes...not as a pretext for their crimefighting activities as Batman and Robin or for training purposes. They might go out to a movie or ballgame together, go camping or fishing, play a game of tennis or catch, etc. The kind of normal things that men and their sons or younger brothers typically do for recreation and heterosexual male bonding.

But in current continuity, has Bruce ever done such things with Dick, Jason Todd, or Tim Drake? Post-COIE, Batman has been depicted as completely obssessed with his war on crime. Everything he did with his three Robins was always part of either a crimefighting mission or training. In current continuity, has Bruce ever participated in a purely recreational activity with his wards/adopted sons?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[The Xenos]

Well, we know what Ollie's ward did for recreational purposes. Though he wasn't quite aware of that for some time.

[Mia]

Hmm...I thought that being Batman was Bruce's form of recreation? For type 'A' personalities like Bruce. Working is playing. I imagine that going to parties and socialising is really Bruce's form of work.

[Damo]

I just have this image of Robin and Nightwing setting up like 50 "slip and slides" all over the mansion and cave...

[Buried Alien]

Hmm...I thought that being Batman was Bruce's form of recreation?

Some recreation. It's burnt him out mentally and physically on several occassions.



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Damo]

Some recreation. It's burnt him out mentally and physically on several occassions.



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

He's a party animal.

[Jack]

Hmm, I get the feeling there's something just out of the reach of my memory..

[Mia]

Some recreation. It's burnt him out mentally and physically on several occassions.



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Hey, better to be burnt out physically and emotionally. Than be bored to tears. I'm sure that Bruce get's more enjoyment and fullfillment being Batman. Than he does driving expensive cars, socialising with celebrities and sleeping with models.

[Sizzle]

Back when Dixon wrote Robin, before he was on the school of the month program, Tim used to play role playing games with his friends if I remember correctly.

[Punch]

Hmm...I thought that being Batman was Bruce's form of recreation? For type 'A' personalities like Bruce. Working is playing. I imagine that going to parties and socialising is really Bruce's form of work.
I don't know if I'd call being Batman recreational, but I definitely agree with the second part of your post.

[TheLazy]

Well, we know what Ollie's ward did for recreational purposes. Though he wasn't quite aware of that for some time.

LMAO:D


Hey, better to be burnt out physically and emotionally. Than be bored to tears. I'm sure that Bruce get's more enjoyment and fullfillment being Batman. Than he does driving expensive cars, socialising with celebrities and sleeping with models.


Well since you put it like that, WTF is he thinking? He could be driving expensive cars, socialising with celebrities and sleeping with models!

[Super Buddies Forever]

They play emulated Mario Kart on the Batcomputer. Bruce can be a bit of a dick with it though, since he always hogs Donkey Kong.

[Sanagi]

They must sneak in and secretly slide down the batpole just for fun once in a while.

[Buried Alien]

Well since you put it like that, WTF is he thinking? He could be driving expensive cars, socialising with celebrities and sleeping with models!

He already has been driving expensive cars (the Batmobiles), socializing with celebrities (the JLA), and sleeping with women who could be models (Talia, Selina).

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[DubipR]

I remember an issue of Rucka's Detective Comics, when Sasha was his bodyguard, Bruce was playing golf. Granted it was a business meeting on the links, but that's recreation.

[Buried Alien]

I remember an issue of Rucka's Detective Comics, when Sasha was his bodyguard, Bruce was playing golf. Granted it was a business meeting on the links, but that's recreation.

Bruce does do those things (play tennis, golf, attend parties, etc.), but that's always just going through the motions to maintain the public Bruce Wayne persona. It's never *really* for recreation.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Mia]

I remember an issue of Rucka's Detective Comics, when Sasha was his bodyguard, Bruce was playing golf. Granted it was a business meeting on the links, but that's recreation.

Playing golf is not recreation. It's business. Many top business deals are made on golf courses (and strip clubs). Though again, I think for a type 'A' personality like Bruce, making a business deal is recreation!

[dreyga2000]

I know he in JLA he would often sparr with Wonder Woman in his freetime...and he suppossdly visits Arkham Asluym every night to play a single chess move with Two-Face... and in most adaptations Batman does have fun doing cases...

[pringlesman]

I know he in JLA he would often sparr with Wonder Woman in his freetime...and he suppossdly visits Arkham Asluym every night to play a single chess move with Two-Face... and in most adaptations Batman does have fun doing cases...

That is one of the single coolest things I have ever heard (The two face one). If books aren't currently doing that, they should start.

[Tequilamokinbrd]

I think the most important thing we're forgetting here is the thrillseeking element of superheroics. Intentional or not, I'm sure there's a certain rush that one would get from backflipping off a building to destroy a robot and knowing that you're saving the world by doing so. I think this is especially true with Dick Grayson, who's always been portrayed as loving what he does.



To explain what I mean, I'll cite Robin: Year One where Bruce and Dick are at some charity ball or other such social obligation, until Bruce suggests going out on patrol to a bored looking Dick who lights up at the prospect of going out in costume.


They fly around in planes and rocket ships, they use Kung-Fu to fight Zombies and gangsters. If me and my dad did that kind of stuff when I was growing up, we certainly wouldn't need camping trips to bond.


Why watch TV together when you can patch a feed from the JLA headquarters and check out what Lobo is up to in deep space?




Trust me, being raised by a Superhero to be a Superhero would be good enough.

[Buried Alien]

I think the most important thing we're forgetting here is the thrillseeking element of superheroics. Intentional or not, I'm sure there's a certain rush that one would get from backflipping off a building to destroy a robot and knowing that you're saving the world by doing so. I think this is especially true with Dick Grayson, who's always been portrayed as loving what he does.



To explain what I mean, I'll cite Robin: Year One where Bruce and Dick are at some charity ball or other such social obligation, until Bruce suggests going out on patrol to a bored looking Dick who lights up at the prospect of going out in costume.


They fly around in planes and rocket ships, they use Kung-Fu to fight Zombies and gangsters. If me and my dad did that kind of stuff when I was growing up, we certainly wouldn't need camping trips to bond.


Why watch TV together when you can patch a feed from the JLA headquarters and check out what Lobo is up to in deep space?




Trust me, being raised by a Superhero to be a Superhero would be good enough.

Good points, and at least with Dick, there's no question that this applies. Bruce, on the other hand, seems to need to rediscover how much he *enjoys* being Batman. Ever since the death of Jason Todd (actually maybe even slightly before that), he hasn't been portrayed as enjoying the experience of being Batman very much. It's been like an albatross around his neck: crippling of Barbara, death of Jason, broken by Bane, Gotham destroyed by earthquake, No Man's Land, Jim Gordon's first retirement, being accused of murder, becoming a fugitive, Hush, the death of Jack Drake, the return of Jason, the revelations of Identity Crisis, the OMAC affair, then the Infinite Crisis. Bruce hasn't had any "fun" being Batman in ages.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Kaos]

They all sit around playing monopoly...with real money...and Bruce always wins.

[Kara Zor El]

I can't remember a single moment. I remeber Robin playing role play games but not with Bruce. I'd like to think they do and the writers and editors don't want to bore us with it and just give us the real meat of Bruce's life.
Also, I think that once you have swung from the rooftops over Gotham, dashed around in a batmobile or plane, busted thug after thug and used hi tech imobilization gadgets and looked real good doing it, then playing table tennis just doesn't carry any sort of thrill. They may have tried to have fun and play catch but it's like smoking herbal tobacco instead of snorting cocain, if you are a cocain user.

[Lee Kaye]

Bruce went skiing, in something I read recently, Year One, or maybe Blind Justice actually? But it was to provide an alibi for not being Batman and explain injuires....so again, probably doesn't count.

[glennsim]

I'm going to suggest that while they were probably encouraged to take part in school activities (nothing too athletic that would give away their abilities, of course). But I'm sure Alfred was the guiding force there. He might have taken them places too. But Bruce was too busy.

Although in this post-Infinite Crisis world, it might be that he was less of a Bat-dick all that time, so the paradigm might be different.

[sgt pepper]

They must sneak in and secretly slide down the batpole just for fun once in a while.

knudge knudge, say no more

[Alan2099]

Batman is secretly a huge fan of dance aerobics. Don't tell anyone.

[mattx110]

before jason todd was kidnapped by manbat, bruce was supposed to take him to go see a movie.

i believe bats paid off manbat so he didn't have to sit through the film, draw your own conclusions.

[MaxofSteel]

Bats and Tim often go to the beach to make sand castles and throw frisbees.

And on weekends they go to the park to fly kites and eat ice cream that always falls off the cone.

They also like running towards each other in slow motion. Typical hero stuff.

[Doom]

I remember one great issue of Gotham Knights where Batman gets insomnia and tries to find something to do. It shows him like going out on patrol (nothing happens) does a bit of training, checks in on his team (all asleep or busy.) reads about 3 different novels in an hour. In the end he calls up Aquaman and asks him to try and fish out the giant penny from the bottom of the lake where it's stuck. Most of the issue is Aquaman talking to Batman about this, before Aquaman realizes he can't get the penny out and Batman was just doing it so he'd have someone to talk to for a while.

[Chad]

I think that once it was established (my guess is with LOTDK 100) that Bruce Wayne's motivation for adopting Dick Grayson wasn't so much because Bruce Wayne sympathized with Dick's loss (as it was pre-Zero Hour), but more a result of Batman needing a soldier in his war on crime, the writers assumed that their relationship was much more formal than it had previously been depicted as. The last time I can remember it being established that Bruce and Dick had a warm relationship was in Year Three. LOTDK 100 retold their first encounter and included Batman telling Robin that "I will not be your father". I guess that could be read as Batman wanting to make it clear that it's important for Dick to not forget his real father, but it came across as cold as did the Robin: Year One Annual which came out a couple of years earlier in which Bruce Wayne acted completely indifferent to what Grayson was going through after the death of his parents.

Having not followed the titles regularly since the late 90s, I can't say with any certainty how things stand now, but back then, almost everytime Nightwing appeared in the Bat-titles, he made some comment about how hard Batman was to deal with when he was Robin and very few comments about how much he enjoyed going on picnics with him.