SCENES FROM A BAT-LIFE — on ADAM WEST’s birthday and BATMAN DAY… — UPDATED 9/19/26: It’s the late Adam West’s birthday! He was born Sept. 19, 1928! It’s also Batman Day! Yeah, it’s a made-up corporate thing, but it’s still Batman — and it’s become a 13th Dimension tradition to reprint this fave from 2017. Dig it. — Dan — Over the years, I’ve written about Adam West, Neal Adams and Mego many times over in many different ways, but not quite like this. Why now? Why not! See, it’s all connected: Unlike a lot of people, I don’t really have a singular “secret origin” as a fan. There was no single day where it began. I actually remember a series of vignettes that have fused in my mind, a loose series of Scenes From a Bat-Life. But those memories are as stark and precise as if they came from yesterday. And it all began with Adam West… — Adam West was always there. I don’t remember the first time I saw the 1966 Batman TV show. It debuted a little more than a year before I was born and by the time I was of TV-watching age, it was in syndication on Channel 11 in New York. So I just don’t remember a time without it. I also don’t remember a time from childhood when it wasn’t my favorite show. I was as obsessed as any 5-year-old could be, acting out scenes in my bedroom and wearing my cloth Ben Cooper costume everywhere my Mom would let me. At the supermarket, the clerks would ask, “Hey, Batman, where’s Robin?” And I’d answer with all the authority I could muster, “He’s doing his homework.” And then some guy would ask me to fly, and I’d be quick to correct them, sternly: “Batman doesn’t fly.” All through the ’70s — except for those frustrating times when the show was off the schedule — Batman on Channel 11 was appointment television. The only time I would change the channel was when The 4:30 Movie was on Channel 7 — and they’d be showing the 1966 movie. Then I’d click back and forth and try to give myself commercial-free Batman. — So Adam West opened the door. Now, I was an A.M. kindergarten kid at Wayside School in Ocean Township, N.J. My...
AN ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: The Swift and Powerful Monarch of the Ocean made his first appearance 85 years ago… By PAUL KUPPERBERG When he first swam into the pages of More Fun Comics #73, on Sept. 19. 1941, Aquaman was just another back-up feature in a title that consisted of what was essentially a lineup of back-up features: Doctor Fate was on the cover, then came another hero who was making his debut, Green Arrow, plus Radio Squad, Johnny Quick, Clip Carson, and the Spectre. Of course, there was no way of knowing that three out of the six would grow up to one day star or be featured in big budget films (Aquaman and Doctor Fate) and long running television series (Green Arrow). But plucky, never-once-appeared-on-the-cover, talks-to-the-fishes Aquaman held on! The creation of editor and writer Mort Weisinger (who also co-created that issue’s Green Arrow debut with artist George Papp) and artist Paul Norris, the Marine Marvel not only survived the 1940s Golden Age but also managed to navigate the superhero doldrums of the 1950s as a back-up feature in Adventure Comics, until late 1960 when DC used its tryout title, Showcase, to see if he could anchor a solo book. Apparently, he could. And apparently someone had an underwater fetish because his four-issue run (#30-33) followed a three-issue tryout for the scuba diving Sea Devils, which would also be awarded its own title. And, oddly, in 1967, good King Arthur of Atlantis was selected to co-star with the Man of Steel in Filmation’s The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure cartoon series for CBS Saturday morning TV, which seemed a pretty random choice to me at the time. But it does give me an excuse to run this Alex Toth Aquaman model sheet for Super Friends, because who doesn’t want to see Toth art? Not that Aquaman ever lacked for good art. Just during my brief association with the character, writing Aquaman #62-63 (1978) and in Adventure Comics #460-463 (1978-79), I worked with Don Newton and Don Heck. There are many more such illustrators — but not too many to count! Here then, MY 13 FAVORITE AQUAMAN ARTISTS: — Paul Norris. It was a contractual complication that forced Paul Norris to leave his co-creation after about a year. Without realizing it had an exclusivity clause in it that prevented him...
A BIRTHDAY SALUTE to the late artist…
Change is good. But not always…
REEL RETRO CINEMA: New looks at old flicks — and their comics connections…
Thinking about comics’ greatest artist…
