1966 WEEK! The grooviest, ginchiest parts of Batman’s longest season… — UPDATED 9/7/26: It’s 1966 WEEK! The Adam West Batman series’ second season debuted 60 years ago, on Sept. 7, 1966. Perfect time to reprint this piece from September 2021! For more 1966 WEEK festivities, click here. Right on! — Dan — Last week, on Adam West’s birthday, we reminded you of the release of Zlonk! Zok! Zowie! The Subterranean Blue Grotto Essays on Batman ’66 – Season One, a non-fiction anthology edited by Jim Beard, with Rich Handley, by bringing you Jim’s 13 COOL THINGS ABOUT BATMAN ’66 SEASON ONE. Click here to check it out because it’s pretty dang swell. Anyway, we decided to go back to the Bat-well this weekend, with 13 COOL THINGS ABOUT BATMAN ’66 SEASON TWO — because Biff! Bam! Ee-Yow! The Subterranean Blue Grotto Essays on Batman ’66 – Season Two is out now, featuring The Batcave Podcast host John S. Drew, 13th Dimension columnist Paul Kupperberg, Michael Jan Friedman, Bobby Nash, Chris Franklin, Ed Catto, and my own bad self, among the contributors. So if you want to order the books – and you do – click here for Season One and click here for Season Two. In the meantime, dig 13 COOL THINGS ABOUT BATMAN ’66 SEASON TWO: — By JIM BEARD 1. Van Johnson’s Minstrel doesn’t get the attention he deserves, especially since he’s not only one of the few Bat-Villains that, within the fiction of “The Minstrel’s Shakedown/Barbequed Batman,” the Caped Crusader’s never met before, but he’s also said to be Batman’s equal or better in terms of being an electronic genius. How cool is that? — 2. Forget about the absolute insanity of Liberace being on Batman and take a moment to consider the absolutely cool badassery of Aunt Harriet in “The Devil’s Fingers/The Dead Ringer.” Now there’s one pistol-packin’ mama! — 3. It’s no surprise to me a hip show like Batman would include then-cool musical guest-stars like Paul Revere and the Raiders in “Hizzoner the Penguin/Dizzoner the Penguin,” but the group was actually working for the dirty bird on his crooked campaign? Wild! — 4. There’s something so incredibly cool in “The Impractical Joker/The Joker’s Provokers,” it often goes unnoticed by fans—Batman talks about the Clown Prince of Crime’s past as a hypnotist. What does that...
With a new, improved Facsimile Edition out this week, dig this tribute to a comic book that emblemizes the best of the best era… — UPDATED 9/7/26: The Batman #251 Facsimile Edition is being re-released this week, this time with the UPC symbol on the back, and with foil and sketch logo covers. Perfect time to reprint this piece, which first ran during October 2019’s JOKER WEEK! Plus, also hit up BATMAN #251: How Fans Reacted to the Return of THE JOKER. Dig it! — Dan — Walking into Midtown Comics this week and seeing a glorious new reprint of 1973’s Batman #251 made me realize something that has really been self-evident for a good long time: the Bronze Age is comics’ true Golden Age. Now, I love the actual Golden Age. I love the Silver Age even more. And I love a lot of what the Modern Age has to offer. But, push to shove, no period in the history of our favorite entertainment medium burrows deeper into my heart than the Bronze Age, which I define as 1970 to 1986. (Others have more nebulous definitions but I see it as beginning when Robin split for college and ending when Crisis on Infinite Earths wrapped up.) Anyway, you could chalk some of it up to nostalgia, sure. I was a child of the ’70s, that era of Batman TV reruns, Megos and Hostess ads, the heyday of Ben Cooper costumes and Slurpee cups. But there’s more to it: Taking the 81 years of the Superhero Era in sum, no period better exemplifies comics’ ability to entertain and make you think. It’s the ideal nexus of high adventure, dazzling art, pathos, realism and fantasy. Serious but never too serious. Sometimes silly but in the best way. And as far as standalone stories go, Batman #251 — The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge! by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams — is absolutely unparalleled. Everything taken together, it’s the single greatest issue ever produced and I expect I’ll believe that until I read my last comic. But hey, I’m sure you’ve got your own Bronze Age choice for that distinction and I invite you to list it in the comments below. In any event, Batman #251 is a deceptively simple story executed masterfully: the Joker, who has been locked away (DC pretty much...
Another upside-down cover…
Lots of classic tidbits from the ’70s — and MORE…
SNEAK PEEK: It’s like 1977 all over again!
A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: The best of Batman’s greatest writer…
