MORRISON MONDAYS meets BATMAN ’66 WEEK — again! — Welcome to BATMAN ’66 WEEK, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the beloved TV show starring Adam West! Over the last week, we’ve been presenting daily tributes and features, leading up to Jan. 12 — the premiere date itself — where we’ve rolled out a brand-new TOP 13 BATMAN ’66 EPISODE COUNTDOWN, voted upon by a panel of the most knowledgeable Bat-experts around. Click here for the COMPLETE INDEX. — Dan — By BILL MORRISON If there was a religion based on the 1966 Batman TV series, today would be the equivalent of Christmas. 60 years ago, on January 12, 1966, the ABC television network delivered a big, Bat-present to fans of the Caped Crusader, and we celebrate that groovy, campy gift to this day. For my part, I’m observing the anniversary by sharing some original artwork from my Batman collection and highlighting 13 astonishing artists who drew the Dynamic Duo in the spirit of the TV show. (I also voted in the TOP 13 BATMAN ’66 EPISODE COUNTDOWN.) — 1. Joe Giella. In May of 1966, after the phenomenal success of Batman on TV, DC Comics resurrected the newspaper strip that had ended 20 years earlier in 1946. The revived strip mirrored the campy tone of the TV show, taking full advantage of Batmania. The comic books in which the Caped Crusaders appeared, mainly Detective Comics and Batman followed suit a few months later. These daily strips are from the “Joker on Parole” and “Jolly Roger” storylines and were drawn by Joe Giella. Joe was known primarily as a great inker in the comics, but these 1966 strips prove that he was also a magnificent penciller! — 2. Bob Oksner. If there had been a Batman comic book based on the TV show in 1966, Bob Oksner would have drawn it. He was an extremely versatile artist, and could draw comics in a realistic adventure style that was in the same league with fellow DC artists like Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, and Curt Swan. But he was just as adept at drawing humor comics, and DC kept him busy throughout the ’50s and ’60s on funny books like Leave it to Binky, Miss Beverly Hills of Hollywood, and Angel and the Ape, as well as titles based on comedians and sitcoms such as The Adventures of Bob...
MORRISON MONDAYS meets BATMAN ’66 WEEK! — Welcome to BATMAN ’66 WEEK, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the beloved TV show starring Adam West! All week, we’ll be presenting daily tributes and features, leading up to Jan. 12 — the premiere date itself — when we’ll roll out a brand-new TOP 13 BATMAN ’66 EPISODE COUNTDOWN, voted upon by a panel of the most knowledgeable Bat-experts around. Click here for the COMPLETE INDEX. — Dan — By BILL MORRISON One of the most prized items in my Batman collection is an original production script by Lorenzo Semple Jr. from the two-part, pilot episode of the 1966 Batman TV series. The script is a revised draft, dated September 3, 1965, a little over six weeks before shooting began on October 20. Simply titled “Batman Pilot Script,” the titles “Hi Diddle Riddle”/”Smack in the Middle” had not yet been assigned to the episodes. For years, I’ve thought about watching the episodes while following along with the script to see what things may have changed between this draft and the final aired version of the pilot. And in recognition of BATMAN ’66 WEEK, this column has given me the excuse to do just that. Much of what changed is merely lines that were trimmed or cut altogether. There are too many to list, and frankly many are not all that interesting. Most seem to have been altered or eliminated to shorten running time, or to follow the general visual storytelling rule of “show, don’t tell.” But here are a few somewhat interesting examples. In the first-ever “Bat-climb,” Batman chides Robin about not being able to solve one of the Riddler’s clues due to the Boy Wonder having his mind on a cute girl that waved to him on their way to the Peale Art Gallery. In the aired version, Robin just responds “Aw, come on, Batman!” but in this draft, the Dynamic Duo’s exchange goes on a bit further. And here, when Commissioner Gordon patches the Riddler into the Batphone, allowing Batman to talk to the captured Boy Wonder, Robin has a line that was cut in which he teases Batman for falling for Molly’s orange juice trap at the What a Way to Go-Go nightclub. Also of note on this page is Scene 118, which describes Batman as being “half asleep,”...
