uncas007's Batman '66 #1 - Vol. 1 review

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    • uncas007 has written a total of 268 reviews. The last one was for Book Six

    Zok! Splatt! Kapow!

    I was set to give this 4 stars, but the Red Hood/Joker storyline and a few panels and lines spoiled that for me. The Red Hood story does not evoke the Adam West Batman feel very well (okay, at all), since it is too heavily influenced by Post-Crisis Batman villains and stories. Some of the dialogue is too much of a knowing wink to the audience, and the "eggspletive deleted" comment from the Egg Man story was out of line. There is a couple of fairly racy panels, artwork-wise, too, which likewise feel out of place. And for no apparent reason, Commissioner Gordon always has glasses, as if the artists forgot the Neil Hamilton Commissioner Gordon didn't wear glasses.

    However, on the whole the collection is a fine throwback to the series, those semi-minor niggles aside. Many times the dialogue evokes the dialogue of the series well, without the overt self-awareness too distracting in Before Watchmen and others of this ilk. The plots (perhaps "schemes" may be more accurate) are similarly goofy like the old series, but most of them are respectful enough to the tenor of the series as to be acceptable to aficionados such as myself.

    Finally getting to watch all the episodes on Blu-ray, though, the series (especially season 1) is far more intelligent than most people give it credit for. Most people probably remember the goofiness (Robin's "holy" this and "holy" that, Batman and Joker surfing in costume, the outlandish escapes the Dynamic Duo make every other episode), but that is only one part of it. Before Batman was the "Dark Knight" who tangled with serial killers like Zsasz, he fought against people named after animals (Penguin, Catwoman) dressed as a bat with a sidekick named after a bird, usually with a grin on his face who cared about the safety of citizens and the environment. There is an authentic lightness to Batman the Adam West series explored, just as true as Frank Miller's version of the idea of Batman. This series does a decent job of bringing those days back. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.

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