The Batman also received a spin-off comic book series – "The Batman Strikes!" – published by DC Comics. The spin-off comic books were set in the same continuity and style as "The Batman". The man known as Batman, the costumed protector of Gotham City, is secretly billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne (voiced by Rino Romano). Batman began three years prior to the start of the series, and the Gotham City police do not publicly acknowledge the vigilante's existence. Operating out of a secret lair underneath Bruce Wayne's mansion — known as the Bat cave — Batman and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth (voiced by
Alan Napier Sherlock Holmes, in an adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band". In the 1950s, he appeared on TV in four episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and guest starred on Dale Robertson's NBC western series "Tales of Wells Fargo". In 1965, he was the first to be cast in the "Batman" TV series, as Bruce Wayne's faithful butler Alfred, a role he played until the series' cancellation in 1968. I had never read comics before [I was hired for "Batman"]. My agent rang up and said, 'I think you are going to play on "Batman,"' I said 'What is "Batman"?'