Posted by Dan Greenfield on May 4, 2026
The 1960s CATWOMAN Pinup That Should Have Been
A MORRISON MONDAYS epilogue to BATMAN PINUPALOOZA… — Last week, we published the seven-day BATMAN PINUPALOOZA, a 60th anniversary celebration of the seven seminal 1966 Batman pinups by penciller Carmine Infantino and inker Murphy Anderson that in large measure became the definitive versions of the Dynamic Duo and their venal villains for years to come. It was a 13th Dimension theme week unlike any we’d done before: Each of our artists — Kerry Callen, Bill Morrison, Des Taylor, Walt Grogan (who did that fab banner), Chris Franklin, Dakota Alexander and Franco — reimagined at least one of the pinups every day, with equal parts reverence, whimsy and humor. But here’s a special EPILOGUE that addresses a historic comics wrong! For more on BATMAN PINUPALOOZA and the history of the pinups, click here. — Dan — By BILL MORRISON OK, listen, I know we’ve concluded BATMAN PINUPALOOZA, the weeklong celebration of seven Batman pinups that were created in 1966 by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, but I want to keep the party going long enough to correct what I feel was a grave error. Individually, the seven images are all brilliant and stand on their own. But, when viewed as a group, as we’ve just done, there’s a glaring omission. Of course, I’m talking about Catwoman! I’ve always wondered why DC never did a pinup of Batman’s feline femme fatale, especially given the popularity of the character on the 1966 TV series and her inclusion as one of the four villains in the ’66 movie. So, I’ve created my estimation of what such a pinup might have looked like, complete with purrr-fect colors by the great Walt Grogan! I chose to depict the Princess of Plunder in the green scaled costume that was introduced by Infantino and Mike Esposito on the cover of Batman #197 in 1967: That outfit was obviously inspired by Julie Newmar’s catsuit from the TV show, and since pretty much everyone agrees that a green Catwoman costume makes zero sense, Walt decided to do a version with coloring based on her television ensemble, too: Plus, here they are, “aged” for your approval: — Want more BATMAN PINUPALOOZA? Click here! Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below! — MORE — The Complete BATMAN PINUPALOOZA Index. Click here. — ‘To the BATMO… I Mean the RADIOACTIVE-MOBILE!’ by...
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