Adam West and Burt Ward return to the Batcave in new weekly digital series by DC Comics.
Cover by Mike Allred
Written by Jeff Parker
Art & Coloured by Jonathan Case
Purchase your digital copy @ Comixology now
Like many other Bat-fans I have long been waiting for Adam West’s incarnation of Batman to come to home video. Like all those other fans I think I’ll be waiting a long time. But in March of this year we were all given a brief reprieve when Warner Bros. officially announced that it had acquired merchandising rights to the show meaning that the market would soon be flooded with new toys; t-shirts and a comic book series based in the ‘66 Batman cannon.
On 3rd July DC Universe digitally released issue (here referenced as ‘chapter’) #1 entitled ‘The Riddler’s Ruse Pt1: Mirth from Above’ featuring new DC² technology (read about it HERE) with print media versions to be released later.
As some who reads comics purely on paper the idea of this new technology was a big draw to pick up the digital version on release day rather than wait for the separate digital chapters to be brought together and released in print.
The animations are fun and take the transitions between panels to a whole new level. In the context of Batman ‘66 this is used to great strength to reveal the on-screen captions such as ‘KABOOM!’ in such a way that it really recreates the feel of the TV series.
For those uninitiated to comics the progressive reveal of the speech bubbles help the reader to follow the dialogue in a linear fashion and focus the eye on various aspects within the scene.
The dialogue itself is in keeping with the original TV series. I’m not familiar with the work of Jeff Parker although looking at his history on Comixology I must have come across some of his work in the past. Reading his words I can hear the voices of the characters in my head and this is a big bonus in helping the story feel organic within the universe we all know so well.
There is no time for origin stories here; but then what Bat-fan needs an introduction to this version of the Dynamic Duo? We arrive to find Bruce and Dick attending the ‘Lady Gotham Ceremony’ but it only takes a handful of panels before the Riddler makes his presence known.
The artwork features a hugely 60s vibe and seems heavily influenced by the work of Roy Lichtenstein and rightly so. Again I am not familiar with the work of Jonathan Case but he seems the perfect fit for this series. The likenesses of Bruce/Batman and Dick/Robin are accents in the pop art menagerie. It’s clearly them – the costumes of Batman; Robin and Riddler are spot on – although at times I felt it could have been more like them but this is hardly a drawback to this incredibly fun continuation of the series.
There’s little room for character development here, much like in the show, but it would be interesting to see these characters developed and made a little more believable if only as a way for younger audiences to connect more with the universe.
6/10
