The 1966 Batman Message Board

TO THE BATPOLES will return on March 19!

High C (publicly): I understand. Real life always takes precedence. Take your time and do what needs to be done. High C (privately, hitting refresh button constantly as he stares at the To The Batpoles website the way Commissioner Gordon did at the Batphone when Batman wasn't picking up): This is t...

Paul is now at least as busy as I am, so both of us have been having difficulty finding time to record an episode! Fingers crossed, new episode in early March. Thanks for your patience.

We explain why we need to take a short break, and explain how you can get in the running to win a "Batman meets Godzilla" T-shirt!

http://tothebatpoles.libsyn.com/bat-announcements

Just realized we goofed on who sent us the links to the Noblemania site. Eric did send other articles, but thanks should go to JB ANDERTON for pointing us to Noblemania! Thanks, JB!

http://deconstructingcomics.com/Batpoles/RoastGodzilla.jpg This time, a double-header! First, we finish what we started by discussing Legends of the Superheroes: The Roast. Was it a great achievement by West and Ward? (Um…) Was Frank Gorshin probably better off for having skipped it? Was the inclus...

https://deconstructingcomics.com/Batpoles/thechallenge.jpg In January 1979, Adam West, Burt Ward, and Frank Gorshin reprised their '66 roles in two specials that barely registered in the Nielsen ratings. The first was "Legends of the Superheroes: The Challenge," in which Batman, Robin, and other DC...

https://deconstructingcomics.com/Batpoles/batgirlwrappedup.jpg We've finished season three (and the series), so it's time to examine the final year of Batman. It's not a task we relish; so much of season three is a disappointment, from the writing to the production values, the head-scratching cliff...

https://deconstructingcomics.com/Batpoles/minerva.jpg TO THE BATPOLES: After nearly 5 years and many detours, we’ve reached the last episode of the ’66 series: “Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires,” an episode where the show makes fun of itself while giving us a …. rather sub-par Batman story. Also, R...

One other thing worth mentioning: Supposedly the character of The Penguin was inspired by the advertising mascot for Kool cigarettes Right, that was something I had meant to bring up in the podcast but didn't get to it. Wikipedia says that that was Bob Kane's explanation, but "Co-creator Bill Finge...

https://deconstructingcomics.com/Batpoles/penguinalysis.jpg How might a longtime Batman comics reader in 1966 have reacted to Burgess Meredith's portrayal of the Penguin? That's the question our friend Kyle hit on a few months ago, and in this episode he joins us to read pre-'66 Batman comics to co...

http://deconstructingcomics.com/Batpoles/purplecassandra.jpg As Batman neared the end of its run, the budget situation got worse (occasioning the need for an invisible fight), and the writers threw caution to the wind: witness at least half a dozen double entendres in "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra"...

https://deconstructingcomics.com/Batpoles/Jerry-Lewis---Green-Horned-Bee.jpg When Batman was the hottest show on TV, it naturally became a major target of humor and parody as well. In episode 115 we looked at a couple of contemporaneous Bat-parodies from 1966-67, and this episode we examine three m...

I have a CD set of some of the Superman/Batman team-ups on the radio. Before your show, I hadn't noticed, but I think Ronald Liss portrayed Robin on the 1960s Batman records https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpgb8C3A1iw Does anyone else think the voices sound the same? I do -- and in fact, Discogs li...

And don't forget the Green Hornet's "Invasion from Outer Space!"