Would you have been a Bat-fan if the series had never aired?

[RuxieCat121]

Hmm... Adam West was my first introduction to Batman as a little kid. I'm not sure if I would have tried to get into the comics versions if I'd not seen the show, but I can guaranteee I would have become a humongous Bat-fan when the animated series came out. I never missed a single episode and it definitely brought out a renewed passion for the characters.

~Heather

[gothosmansion]

I would say I probably would not have been as big a fan had the series not aired. It was my introduction to the character. I caught it in reruns in the 1970s when I was around 4 or 5. My mother told me that she was glad that I enjoyed the series so much because I was very eager to learn to read so I could read the Batman comics. If the series had never aired, I may have gotten into some other superhero, as I became fans of other characters, too, once I started reading comics.

The TV show is why Batman is so familiar to people outside of comics. Had the TV show never aired, there would not have been a 1989 movie, which I didn’t like anyway, and if there hadn’t been a successful 1989 movie, there wouldn’t have been the excellent 1990s animated series.

As I mentioned, I grew up in the 1970s, and still consider the 70s to be Batman’s best decade, comics-wise. Starting in 1969-70, there was a conscious decision made to move away from the image of the TV show and Batman became a darker character. DC really put some top-notch talent on Batman in the 1970s and I can’t think of a character who has had as many talent creators in a decade. If the TV show hadn’t existed, DC would probably have stayed with the status quo and we comics fans would have missed out on the works of Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, Terry Austin, Len Wein, Irv Novick, Frank Robbins, and some others I’m probably forgetting. After all, they were rebelling against the more camp image of the TV show, and, if it hadn’t been for the show, they wouldn’t have had anything to rebel against.

As an aside, the 1970s Batman is darker than the character had been since 1939-1940 but was still heroic and not the psycho-nutjob that is as bad as the criminals that Frank Miller foisted on the public in the mid 1980s. Unfortunately, that is how Batman has been portrayed far too often ever since.

Finally, my understanding from the books on Batman history that I’ve read is that the Batman comics were safe from cancellation by the time the TV show aired. I have read that sales were in a slump towards the end of the Jack Shiff era, when Batman was battling aliens, going through weird transformations, and fighting alongside Batwoman, Batmite, Bathound, etc. I think it was in Arlen Schumer’s book, Silver Age of Comics, where Carmine Infantino mentioned that the Bat-books were turned over to Julius Schwartz, who was told he had a year to get things turned around or Batman would be cancelled. Schwartz generated the desired uptick in sales by bringing Carmine Infantino on as a semi-regular artist and main cover artist. I don’t recall where I read it, but Infantino was the first artist not to have to sign Bob Kane’s name to his work on Batman. Supposedly, Kane wanted his signature on Infantino’s work as well, but Schwartz quite correctly made the point that fans would recognize Infantino’s style, anyway, and know Kane hadn’t drawn it.

[K.G. Bird]

I think I can safely say I would not have been that much of a Batman Fan. I loved the series and it has always been my favorite show. It colored everything to come afterwards. I particularly love the campy humor and moralizing which is unique to this show. I would have been a fan of the Filmation cartoon as well. I have a fairly large collection of Silver age Batman and Detective comics from 1960's. But again, I owe it all to this show.

I can not wait to the DVD/Blu ray announcement. I am hoping for an awesome set loaded with goodies. Between that release and the Filmation cartoon set coming out I'm in Heaven.

Here is another angle though. The 1966 show has been instrumental in my dislike for the modern Bat movies starting in the late 1980's. I think the Batman I grew up with bares no resemblance to the modern one. I like my Batman or hero to be a stalwart, model citizen, I don't need a Dark Knight. I know a lot of fans here love anything Batman but I am strictly old school.

[RuxieCat121]

Here is another angle though. The 1966 show has been instrumental in my dislike for the modern Bat movies starting in the late 1980's. I think the Batman I grew up with bares no resemblance to the modern one. I like my Batman or hero to be a stalwart, model citizen, I don't need a Dark Knight. I know a lot of fans here love anything Batman but I am strictly old school.

I don't love everything and anything Batman, but what I do love is to see different angles on the character. I'm always curious as to how someone can interperet a character. I can read a story and see things one way, you can read the same story and see something completely inside out. That's kinda why I love the Batman movies as well. I'm not that way with everything though... like Superman. I only envision him one specific way and deviations tend to bother me.

~Heather

[Yellow Oval]

I can't remember which I discovered first - the show or the comic, but I do know I loved both and one would have automatically led me to the other so no real dilemma for me.

[Lou Szabo]

I used to look through the batman and Superman comic books at the barber shop. I was already a Zorro and Superman fan prior to that from the reruns. I just turned 7 when the series first aired, so I was one of their target audience members. I was more of a visual reader anyway, so comics were ideal. I also like the moral lessons, defend the week,stand up for those that can't stand up for themselves.

I have a number of "full circle" stories about these characters. I suspect we were all positively influenced by the series specifically, and comics in general. Just think of how much we reminisce with perfect strangers from around the world. It's a beautiful thing!

[Mr.Freeze]

It's weird , when NRK (Norways NBC) aired it around '90 , they only showed ep's 1-18 (minus Zelda ep's).....and that was it

[batman1984]

yes i would be a Batman fan, if i had never seen the tv series, i been a Batman fan, since i was a little kid, when i started buying the Comic Books.

[WayneGrayson]

[... like Superman. I only envision him one specific way and deviations tend to bother me.

~Heather

I know what you mean - I really despised that Man of Steel movie that came out last year. The movie might not have been so bad if it was about another character, but I kept thinking "I thought this was about Superman". The George Reeves series and the (first two) Christopher Reeve movies were it for me - I need nothing else. Batman's 1966 incarnation was all I need with that, too - I was never really impressed with any of the modern movies.

Now, as if I didn't have enough problems with my digestive system - comes Batman V Superman.

[RuxieCat121]

I know what you mean - I really despised that Man of Steel movie that came out last year. The movie might not have been so bad if it was about another character, but I kept thinking "I thought this was about Superman". The George Reeves series and the (first two) Christopher Reeve movies were it for me - I need nothing else.

I wasn't impressed with the film at all. Reeves and Reeve are really the only ones I enjoy in the role. I did enjoy the series Smallville though. As for Batman, part of me hopes that something down the road will be more like the 60's series was, but my hopes are low. I feel that if anyone tried to recreate what that series was or to emulate it in any way, it would come across as more of a joke. I'm just glad the series itself exists at all. I'm not sure how I'd feel about Batman now had the series or '66 Film never existed.

~Heather

[Lord Death Man]

I feel that if anyone tried to recreate what that series was or to emulate it in any way, it would come across as more of a joke.

It would probably be a lot like the recent Green Hornet movie crossed with the Joel Schumacher Batman films. Robin and Batman would be pretty much the same age and they would want to make it a 'buddy'/'bromance' film.

[RuxieCat121]

It would probably be a lot like the recent Green Hornet movie crossed with the Joel Schumacher Batman films. Robin and Batman would be pretty much the same age and they would want to make it a 'buddy'/'bromance' film.

Oh good grief... I didn't enjoy the recent Green Hornet film at all. Hollywood tries to make a lot of these things into bromance films lately and I don't know why.

~Heather

[greenhornet66]

As a young kid in the mid 60's going into the late 60's, BATMAN was my hero, my favorite etc. Why, because it was on tv. You can see and hear the action and seeing this on tv made it all seem real. For those of you that were an older age in the 60's, their only Batman exposure was in comic books.
So if there wasnt a tv show of Batman,or the Green Hornet i probly would care about them. TV is what brought these comicbook crime figthers to life. But lets not forget, both Batman & Green Hornet was live crimefighters in movie theaters in 1939-40.