Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

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clavierankh
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Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by clavierankh »

This may have been broughht up before. I have been reading golden age comics lately and read Batman 53 June July 1949. There is a story called A Hairpin, A Hoe, A Hacksaw, A Hole In The Ground, The joker steals the titled items (including a hole from the Winne -Koh-Toh Country Club. From the clues Batman deduces that Joker is going to rob the Maharajah of Nimpah when he plays at the course with his gold golf clubs. No fake Maharajah but Joker does trap them in a room with a gas cylinder with a fuse attached to it. Batman uses a watergun he took from one of Joker's gang to extinguish it.

Clearly this story was the inspiration for Joker Trumps An Ace / Batman Sets The Pace.
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John Mack
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by John Mack »

Absolutely!

A little water had passed under the bridge from 1949 to 1965/66. That supposed stack of comic books Dozier was reading on this supposed airplane trip he talked about were totally out of date. I never understood why he was supplied with less than modern material. Can you imagine what the TV series would have been like had Dozier been given current, relative material to work with? Let's look at some covers from 1964/65 that Dozier SHOULD have been supplied with. They apparently did look at comic books of the time, as we got Batman's yellow chest logo.
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Tom1980
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by Tom1980 »

Was there not a mid sixties comic which reprinted some old stories (Joker's Utility Belt amongst them), which indicates current comics (albeit reprints) were being used as reference material?
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by chrisbcritter »

Re the last image: Hope I can be forgiven for imagining Batman stumbling over a fully-charged weed whacker in the dark toolshed!
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clavierankh
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by clavierankh »

There is a book called Batman: The TV Stories. 'd forgotten it has the story mentioned above. A number of the stories are from the sixties I suspec if Dozier saw the issues above he would have realized they were unusable.

I wonder if some of the older stories were in reprint issues or annuals?
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AndyFish
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by AndyFish »

In an interview at the time on TELESCOPE Dozier said he had bought several "vintage" Batman comics along with those on the stands-- he said he spent $3 or $4 for each of the old ones.
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Jim Akin
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by Jim Akin »

Tom1980 wrote: Wed Jun 20, 2018 6:18 am Was there not a mid sixties comic which reprinted some old stories (Joker's Utility Belt amongst them), which indicates current comics (albeit reprints) were being used as reference material?
It's almost certain that the stack of issues Dozier and Semple used for research included Batman #176 (cover-dated December 1965, probably on newsstands in September or October). It was an all-reprint "80-Page Giant" issue that spotlighted costumed archvillains.

Its seven stories included "The Joker's Utility Belt," the 1952 story used as the basis for "The Joker is Wild/Batman is Riled;" the 1959 Mr. Zero story that inspired "Instant Freeze/Rats Like Cheese;" and "Parasols of Plunder," a 1952 story in which Penguin opens an umbrella factory. (A new story with a similar title, "Partners in Plunder," appeared earlier in 1965, in Batman #169, and provided the main template for "Fine Feathered Finks/Penguin's a Jinx." That story had Penguin running an umbrella shop and using a bugged bumbershoot to get ideas for crimes from Batman, but it lacked the factory setting.)

"Showcase Presents Batman," the black-and-white digest series that collects New Look Batman tales, promises "The stories that inspired the Batman TV series!" but it skips reprint material, including the contents of Batman #176.

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High C
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by High C »

Wow, it looks as if Dozier did some one-stop shopping. Great research, Jim!
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Jim Akin
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by Jim Akin »

A couple of other possible connections between Batman #176 and the development of the TV series:

The cover touts five of the seven stories included in the issue. The other two are "Parasols of Plunder," the Penguin adventure mentioned in my previous post, and a 1956 story titled "The Caveman at Large." In that story, an actor shooting a prehistoric picture in Gotham gets hit on the head and runs amok, convinced he really is a caveman.

It's not a leap to imagine that premise inspiring a certain King of the Nile. (The caveman even makes his way to the Batcave—and then forgets all about it when a second blow to the head returns him to his senses.)

Finally, Catwoman hadn't appeared in a new Batman comics story since 1954, so the syndicated newspaper story reprinted in issue 176 could have put her on Dozier and Semple's radar.
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John Mack
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by John Mack »

Very cool Jim. I guess, Batman the TV Stories book only scratched the surface.
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Dan E Kool
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by Dan E Kool »

Nice one, Jim! That explains a lot. "Seven stories for the price of one" must've piqued Ol' Dozier's interest.
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High C
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by High C »

Dan E Kool wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 12:55 am Nice one, Jim! That explains a lot. "Seven stories for the price of one" must've piqued Ol' Dozier's interest.
You got me on that one. I just lost it.
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Keith Mayo
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Re: Another comic story that was the basis of a Batman 66 episode.

Post by Keith Mayo »

John Mack wrote: Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:10 pm Very cool Jim. I guess, Batman the TV Stories book only scratched the surface.
Joe Desris' episode guide in Cinefantastique Feb 94 is another source.
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