A Father’s Day Tribute to ADAM WEST: The Bat-Dad of a Generation
He was the pop we wanted… — UPDATED 6/21/26: This piece first ran on Father’s Day after Adam West died in June 2017. I wouldn’t change a word today. — Dan — When Adam West died a little more than a week ago, I was as anguished as I’ve ever been. I felt like I’d lost a member of the family, someone who loomed much larger in my psyche than I realized. It didn’t take long for me to figure out why: His Batman was the father I always wanted. I’d told people that before, but I was taken off guard by the depth of my feelings and was astonished that I couldn’t croak out two sentences without breaking down. And so I sit here, on Father’s Day, thinking about what that means. See, I’m not alone in this. I’ve spoken and emailed and messaged with many, many people about Adam West over the past week and this has been a common theme. Artist Sandy Jarrell said here that Robin had the best Dad ever. Mike Allred, the Batman ’66 cover artist, wrote about West being a father figure, underscoring comments he’d made to me in the past. Facebook and Twitter were crammed with the same sentiment, whether you had a good relationship with the old man or not. John S. Drew of The Batcave Podcast had a few of us on his show and the topic came up as it inevitably would: Adam West’s Batman as the perfect Dad. Well, I needed that perfect Dad. My folks split when I was young and it wasn’t smooth. Pretty typical, I know, but painful and traumatic nonetheless. For me, the show Batman was my haven. That go-go world was created by William Dozier and Lorenzo Semple Jr. and a platoon of writers, directors and other producers, yes, but it was embodied by Adam West. Steady, never-say-die, never-lose-your-cool Adam West. We don’t live in a black-and-white world, but for all its DayGlo finery, Batman was as close as you might come: The good were good, the bad were bad and only Catwoman was really in between. Gotham City was the place where I would go to feel safe and secure. Batman had all the answers and he never wavered. He was prepared for anything. And even at the young age of...
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