How and when did Leslie Thompkins discover Bruce Wayne was Batman?

[pressdarlings]

Is there a specific issue where this occurs? I'm reading Robin: Year One and she's introduced as already knowing Batman's secret identity.

[DonC]

I believe she's like Alfred, she's always been in the loop. Even when Bruce was just training.

[pressdarlings]

I believe she's like Alfred, she's always been in the loop. Even when Bruce was just training.

I read that she took it upon herself to look after Bruce after his parents were killed. Is there anything in continuity that addresses that?

[pressdarlings]

I read that she took it upon herself to look after Bruce after his parents were killed. Is there anything in continuity that addresses that?

I've looked up that her first appearance is in Detective Comics #457. Has this been reprinted anywhere?

[Brack360]

Leslie Thompkins learns Batman's identity in a story arc called "Faith" in Legends of the Dark Knight #21-23. It is written by Mike W. Barr.

You might also want to check out Batman: Gotham Knights #7, which features several flashbacks of Alfred and Leslie over the years.

[Chad]

Is there a specific issue where this occurs? I'm reading Robin: Year One and she's introduced as already knowing Batman's secret identity.

She discovered his identity in the Legends of the Dark Knight storyline Faith (issues 21-23).



SPOILERS




Although she helped look after Bruce, she had assumed that he had managed to put his parents murder behind him. She despised Batman who she considered no better than the criminals he faced. Batman crosses her path when he is gunned down in her hosipital and unmasked by Leslie.

Great story.

[pressdarlings]

Leslie Thompkins learns Batman's identity in a story arc called "Faith" in Legends of the Dark Knight #21-23. It is written by Mike W. Barr.

You might also want to check out Batman: Gotham Knights #7, which features several flashbacks of Alfred and Leslie over the years.

Thanks for your help! Will definitely check those out!

[siberia77]

Its probably overall a good thing that she is back as a supporting cast member (who doesnt wear a bat suit, sigh)

[Lorendiac]

I think what it boils down to is this:

1. In the Pre-COIE continuity (up through sometime in 1986?) she was the woman who first found and comforted little Bruce after his parents died, but I don't think she ever knew he grew up to be Batman.

2. Post-COIE, she is now a doctor (she wasn't in her Pre-COIE appearances), who was always a friend of the family, beginning when Bruce's parents were still alive, and she evidently found out Bruce was Batman fairly quickly after he created the role (as in, before he ever met Dick Grayson), although apparently different writers have played with different ideas regarding the details of exactly how she learned and how she first reacted to the knowledge.

Incidentally, in Pre-COIE continuity there was occasional mention of a "Dr. Douglas Dundee" who was an old friend of the family and knew Bruce was Batman. If Bruce needed to be treated for a gunshot wound or something, without a report being filed with the police, then Dr. Dundee was always willing to work on him if the problem seemed serious enough to require more medical skill than Alfred could provide with the medical supplies in the Batcave. As near as I can tell, in the Post-COIE era in the late 1980s someone must have decided it would be very clever to basically "merge" the roles of Leslie Thompkins and Dr. Dundee in Bruce's life into just one character, and so we now had Leslie as the kindly old doctor who was a close friend of the family, and Dr. Dundee no longer seems to exist in Batman's continuity at all.

[Lorendiac]

I've looked up that her first appearance is in Detective Comics #457. Has this been reprinted anywhere?

I knew I had read it -- the story was called "There Is No Hope in Crime Alley!" -- somewhere in reprint. I looked it up at The Grand Comic Book Database Project (www.comics.org)

That issue of 'Tec has a page at:

http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=29675

And on that page the entry for the first story in that issue includes mention of some TPB editions in which the story has been reprinted.

[joe27]

didn't she used to be black?

[Captain Jim]

didn't she used to be black?

No.

.........

[joe27]

No.

.........

yeah, i just checked and see i was mistaken. i always thought that woman in knightfall was leslie, but her name is shondra.

[bannermanonemillion]

I've got it! Dr. Dundee is the Black Glove!!!

I don't actually know, I'm just screwing around.