Blowing Smoke...
The live-action Batman series was a lot like what The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Murder, She Wrote would be in the '70's and '80's. It was a cool place for cameos and celebrity guest villains. That was the gimmick. Two virtually unknown stars: Adam West as millionaire-socialite, Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman; and Burt Ward as Wayne's youthful ward, Dick Grayson and sidekick, Robin, The Boy Wonder. Each week they would face dastardly villains played by celebrity guest stars.
The idea of a cameo is to help revive a possibly flagging career, or to reach a different audience.
Batman did this. Rudy Vallee was a well known singer, his career starting in 1928. Both he and his career reached middle-age by the mid-1960's. Batman fans probably know Rudy Vallee only as Lord Marmaduke Ffogg. Glynis Johns, who played Ffogg's sister, Lady Penelope Peasoup, was also known for her role in the 1965 family film, Mary Poppins. She played family matriarch Winifred Banks.
Professor Ffogg and Lady Penelope return in Jeff Parker's full issue story, "The Villain of Vapor Street" with Leonardo Romero, Tony Avina and Wes Abbott.
Ffogg, his sister and the students from the newly established Gotham Girls Academy are in town with a giant pipe blowing smoke to take over Gothamites!
Parker's story is typically snappy and fun, with Mayor Linseed wondering aloud why every major event is marred. The story also features the first time a Bat-climb has quite literally been cut short.
Romero's art is enjoyable. His Professor Ffogg, Lady Penelope and Lady Prudence look nothing like the stars that played them on the series, but that's okay. The character designs and Romero's art are impressive. Romero fits Batman '66 like the gloves on The Dynamic Duo's hands!
Reading Batman '66 19 and remembering the three-part Ffogg episodes, one wonders if James Robinson was inspired by The Bright Knight with what he did with The Mist and Nash in Starman. Professor Ffogg is very much akin to The Mist and Prudence very much mischievous like Nash. The gimmick of Lord Ffogg was also used in Teen Titans with The Mad Mod, capturing the British Invasion and pop culture phenomenon.
Like the rest of Batman's television rogues gallery Ffogg is a delight to see return. It is a delight to see full issue adventures like this one.
Batman '66 19 earns a Ffull Ffive stars Ffor a Ffun story that's never cloudy.