Batman '66, a series that tells adventures set in the world of the classic Batman TV series is such a good idea that I wonder what took so long for DC to try such a title. They must be pleased with the reaction, because they have announced a series based on the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman TV show as well. I like this trend, and I hope that Marvel follows suit by bringing us a series featuring the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno Incredible Hulk one of these days.
what wouldve been cool have the tv hulk meet comic book villians not just random crooks and thugs
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping for a Superman '55. (Yeah, I know the TV series started in '52, but it ought to fit the double-digit pattern; and the first couple of seasons were in black-and-white anyway.)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: You're right, it would have been cool. But the producer, Ken Johnson, wanted a "realistic" fell that wasn't too "comic bookish." That's why he changed Banner's first name to David (because so many comic book characters have alliterative names). He also wanted to change the Hulk from green to red (because red is the color of anger), but Stan Lee put his foot down.
I meant "feel," not "fell."
ReplyDeleteIf you're NOT reading Batman '66 - you SHOULD be.
ReplyDeleteI've read comments where there should be a companion comic for the old The Adventures of Superman and maybe Lois & Clark television series. There was one for Superboy. It lasted twenty issues or so. Smallville seems to be wrapping up. I'd suggest a '90's Flash comic, but the new Flash and Green Arrow both have comics.
I'd love to read a comic for TV's The Incredible Hulk. You have to remember, according to Kenneth Johnson, The Hulk was based on Les Miserables, which looked a lot like The Fugitive. The Hulk newspaper strip came pretty close to the show. It would be interesting to see a The Incredible Hulk '78 series...with the rogues gallery adapted...
Hilarious!
ReplyDeleteActually, DC did test the waters, once...in a Wildstorm Universe annual that featured Dr. Frost and Company meeting various versions of Batman throughout the multiverse!
ReplyDeleteIncluding a slightly overweight Adam West pastiche. ;-)
This. Is. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI tried the Batman '66 comic and the art put me off. Too cartoony to capture my memories of the show. I don't know of any modern artists inspired by John and Marie Severin, but that strikes me as the right look for that comic. *Slightly* cartoony (maybe) but down-to-earth compositions and detail. Art that's grounded in people standing in a TV studio, reciting dialog...
But I might be all-in if there was a "DC Family" title that had Superman '55, Batman '66, AND Wonder Woman '77...!
Just so long as no-one does one based on the Nicholas Hammond Spider-Man
ReplyDelete@Ross: Although it wasn't explicitly stated at the time (I think), anyone who was reading both the four-color comic (Incredible Hulk) and the B&W magazine (Rampaging Hulk) noticed that when the magazine became color (and shortened the name to "Hulk!") the stories also started to look like more like the TV scripts, sometimes even drawing Hulk with narrower, more human legs.
ReplyDeleteThe Batman TV Show reruns as a kid led me directly to Bronze Age Comics. I preferred the Earth One, Darknight Detective of that era, but Batman 66 always held a place in my heart, and always wanted to see a comic series based in that universe (hopefully that would feature a crossover with Agent 86, Maxwell Smart!)The series finally came along and it has been a disappointment to me. The art is awful, but the scripts aren't much better. I would have preferred a Mort Drucker type to have drawn the series.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Ross can at least give me the longed for Batman 66/Agent 86 crossover cover some day!
how bout get smart inspector gadget or tenesse tuxedo and chumly vs the penquin or atom ant and firestorm
ReplyDelete@bygrinstow: Check out the Batman '66: the Lost Episode special that just came out. Based on a never-used treatment that Harlan Ellison submitted back in '66 to introduce Two-Face to the TV series, scripted by Len Wein, and penciled by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, it's definitely not too cartoony.
ReplyDeleteI got into comics in the summer of '65, about seven months before Batman debuted on TV. I was young enough to see the show as an adventure rather than a comedy, but today I appreciate both sides of it.
Oh, that's clever!
ReplyDeleteBTW, Batman '66 changes artists practically every issue, so if the style in one story seemed too cartoony to you, don't let that discourage you from picking up another one.
ReplyDelete@Bob: Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - It's "Elijah Snow", not "Doctor Frost". It's a Planetary / Batman crossover.
ReplyDeleteHow about a Reb brown Captain America comic? Watch him decide between costumes; see the clear plexi-glass shield float (extremely slowly) through the air. It was a pretty cool motorcycle, though.
ReplyDelete