Get Your Kicks with Batman ‘66

Superheroes in media tend to come in two varieties—the serious, gritty he­roes, like in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, or the more fun and lightheart­ed heroes, like Chris Pratt’s Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy. Batman ’66 falls gleefully into the second category. DC started this digital comic book series in 2013 and immediately got rave reviews from critics and fans alike. Based on the live-action television series which pre­miered in 1966, Batman ’66 celebrates the campiness of the original series while not being limited to only the characters who existed at the time.

So, why should you, random reader, pick up Batman ’66? Here are a few rea­sons.

YOU LIKED THE LIVE-ACTION TV SERIES:

If you liked the TV series, you’ll love the comics. For fans of the old series, this is a dream come true. Batman ’66 lives up to the original series, from the dialogue to the storylines to the art style. When reading Batman’s dialogue, you unmistakably hear Adam West’s voice. Also, the old villains are back, from clas­sics like the Joker and less familiar vil­lains like Egghead.

YOU LOVE EVERYTHING CAMP:

If you love campy action, then these comics are a dream come true. With lines such as “Riddles. What an eggcen­tric fixation” and “Holy sonnets, Bat­man!”, you’ll be in your element, and that’s before they throw in a giant Bat­man robot. With Batman facing nefari­ous plots involving icebergs, Big Ben, and Mount Rushmore, there’s more than enough cheesiness to go around.

YOU LOVE ONOMATOPOEIAS:

You know who you are. There’s plenty of POW! BAMS! And SPLATS! for everyone. Batman loves punching people, you love words that sound like the sound they describe. Everybody wins.

YOU’RE SICK OF THE “SERIOUS” SUPERHEROES:

We get it—you want to read graphic novels to have fun, not fall into an exis­tential crisis over the state of mankind. More importantly, Batman ’66 under­stands you. It never gets too dark, and the villains’ schemes are more “steal the world’s biggest diamond” than “destroy all mankind while kicking puppies.” That doesn’t mean it’s written down, like the writers are targeting children—Volume 3 references the notoriously filthy joke from The Aristocrats—it’s something readers of almost any age can get into.

YOU WANT A SERIES WHERE YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW THE HISTORY:

With DC and Marvel both being founded in the 1930s, it can be daunting to pick up a series and wonder what history you’re missing. It doesn’t matter if you’ve ever even heard of Batman be­fore, much less read any of the comics; you can pick up this series and not feel lost. While fans of Batman throughout different series and mediums will be familiar with the characters, you don’t need to know the over seventy-year his­tory to enjoy Batman ’66.

YOU WANT TO HAVE FUN:

Let’s face it—there’s nothing quite as fun as Batman thwarting a silly scheme, escaping a devious death device, or cap­turing a vile villain. With Batman ’66, we get the best capers, with a wide range of crazy enemies, one of which turns Batman and Robin into Neanderthals, and another who disguises himself as Abraham Lincoln to avoid getting punched (spoiler alert: It doesn’t work).

Interested? Batman ’66 is available as a digital comic book subscription on readdcentertainment.com or you can buy the comics in book form from retail­ers such as Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. Three volumes are currently released and a fourth becomes available in December.