airdave817's Batman '66 #4 - The Hatter Takes the Crown; The Clock King Strikes review

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    It's About...Time.

    It's shame that the '66 live action Batman television series peaked so quickly and caved in under the weight of it's own formula. Over the years a term has been coined, "simulacrum", to defined how similar each episode is to each other based on the formula. First, a villain commits a crime. Gotham police are alerted. Commissioner Gordon uses the Batphone to call Batman. The Dynamic Duo race to police headquarters; then, either back to the Batcave or to an encounter with the villain. The episode ends with a cliffhanger: Batman and Robin caught in a deathtrap that they have to escape from in the open moments of the next episode before another encounter with the villain, before they finally catch the bad guy and reach the conclusion. By the third season, it was too late, even with the addition of Batgirl, the episodes were no longer cliffhangers, and each episode was resolved in something like twenty-two minutes!

    Fortunately, Jeff Parker has come along to breathe freshness into the Batman '66 concept. None of the stories are like each other, not even the pencillers. Each issue, each story is unique.

    "The Hatter Takes The Crown" opens with Bruce and Dick actually going on a fishing trip instead of using the excuse to fight crime. They are leaving, telling Alfred that they are going, when they hear a BBC report of a stolen hat in London.

    The next thing that happens, the Dynamic Duo and Alfred are on a flight to England. They get off the plane right behind four young lads from Liverpool! They are greeted by Commissioner Gordon's cousin Detective Inspector Gordon, and a British Batmobile!

    Following his theft of the Crown Jewels, Batman and Robin pursue The Mad Hatter in his new escape vehicles: top hat hovercraft!

    The live action series had it's limitations. It confined itself to a format. There were limitations as far as special effects as well. All shows have a budget ceiling as far as story and effects. While it was very cool to see flying umbrellas, the Batcopter and Batboat in the '66 Batman film, it's hard to imagine flying top hats in the regular series. Here it's not. The Batman that came to live action on the ABC network in '66 was more of the over-sized props of the '50's than any thing else.

    In "The Clock King Strikes", the Dynamic Duo are feted for successfully capturing Jervis Tetch, The Mad Hatter. They quickly realize that Tetch is not the only villain at work in London. They race off to Big Ben to thwart The Clock King!

    There are a number of villains, like Clock King, that only made a single appearance over three seasons of the Batman series. The live action series was so concise, that it did not give much to the personal life or identities of the villains. While Batman and Robin were really Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, the villains were just who they were: The Riddler, The Penguin, The Joker, Catwoman, The Bookworm. The Mad Hatter was only Jervis Tetch in that his story was about revenge against the jury, and Batman, that had sent him to prison. He became the Mad Hatter out of revenge. Here, in "The Clock King Strikes" there is a surprising reveal about The Mad Hatter and The Clock King that is brilliant. Parker has included some fine details about the rogues. He is once again aided and abetted by Jonathan Case and Sandy Jarrell; with Tony Avina on colors for the Clock King story and super-imposed screen Pow! Biff! Bam! by Wes Abbott. The trippy Mike and Laura Allred cover still take some getting used to.

    Maybe on the next visit to London, there might be a side trip to Cardiff, and maybe a blue police call box will be visible somewhere. That would be the only thing to improve on the fantastic "new stories inspired by the classic TV series!"

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