Back in 1995, legendary Batman artist Dick Sprang produced a lithograph for DC called "Secrets of the Batcave," and it is awesome:

I'm pretty familiar with it (my old boss used to have a signed copy hanging in the store), but it wasn't until I was looking at it today that I realized just how much Sprang worked into the art. So much stuff is crammed in there, drawn, as you might expect, from Sprang's Golden and Silver Age tenure as Bob Kane's favorite ghost artist, that there's barely any space left uncovered by something.

And today, I tried to figure out just what it all is.Here's what I was able to identify:



SECTION 1: THE CRIME FILE

Atomic Power Source. In the far back is what I'm pretty sure is the Batcave's In front of that (the long yellow filing cabinet) is Batman's Crime File (A-C), as seen in 1956's "Detective Comics" #229. Also, the computer in the foreground is Batman's Electronic Data Analyzer, depicted exactly as it is in that issue, complete with fluttering punchcards. Dead center is one of the Batcave's two most famous (and most consistent) trophies, the 1947 Lincoln Penny from "World's Finest" #30's "The Penny Plunderers!" I can't place the Penguin, the giant Joker and Two-Face Heads, or the 8-ball.

SECTION 2: THE BATMOBILES

1943-1944 model is off to the side, while the one on active duty is the more streamlined 1950 version. In the foreground, we have two Batmobiles: Themodel is off to the side, while the one on active duty is the more streamlinedversion. In the hangar, we have the 1952 Batplane, what is likely the tail of the 1950 Batplane/Batmarine, the Whirly-Bat (circa 1958), and the Bat-Copter. The latter looks like a later model than the usual stuff, as it's more streamlined than the one from 1965. The Robot Tyrannosaurus is the other most famous Batcave trophy, and originally appeared in 1946's "Dinosaur Island!" ("Batman" #35) The pink sign is leading to what I think says the Whit Ellsworth/Jack Schiff Memorial Park. Ellsworth and Schiff were both DC editors, probably most famous today for their hand in creating Starman. I'm not sure where the fingerprints come from, nor do I know quite why there's a little hatch in the stone where the bats live.

SECTION 3: THE HARBOR

Here's where things start to get really cluttered (and really awesome): In the harbor itself, we have the silver Batsub as it appears in 1954's "The Undersea Batman" ("Batman" #86), the Bathysphere from 1949's "Detective Comics" #147, and the Batboat, which hit the comics page in 1968 with a redesign courtesy of the TV show. Directly above the Batboat are the Famed Specialty Batarangs that we've mentioned previously on ComicsAlliance. To the left of the stairs is the 1957 model of Batman's Flying Eye (later the Bat-Eye) that first appeared in "Batman" #109. To the far left is what I originally thought was a silver Batarang, but what I'm now sure is the Ceremonial Bat-Shaped Police Badge (made of platinum with diamonds!) that was presented to Batman by Commissioner Jim Gordon in 1945's "Detective Comics" #95. Next to that is what looks like a gun, which may be either Batman's own gun from his early days, or maybe the gun that killed his parents. Everything else, including the head with the axes, the framed gloves, and what looks like an autographed picture of the Green Goblin, I'm not sure about.



SECTION 4: THE VILLAINS' TROPHY ROOM