Adam West Waxes Poetic on Batman 66

Batman 66 himself, Adam West, has written an op/ed piece for the Hollywood Reporter in which he looks back on his time under the Cape and Cowl. He talks camp, cheese and society’s often reluctant love for the cartoony side of the Caped Crusader.

"Batman was in vivid comic-book colors and aired twice a week. It was a first. And it was an homage to the comic books with a tongue-in-cheek take.At first, DC Comics didn’t much like the fact that we were not serious enough for adults. However, when they saw their book sales dramatically increase, they began to love us, as did the Japanese color TV manufacturers. They became big fans, of course. Our TV series and our older Batman movie tuned in to the vivid colors and escapism of the ’60s. We were reflecting artists like any AndyWarhol, RoyLichtenstein and JasperJohns. Our above- and below-the-line crew all shared a clear vision of what we were creating and where we were headed."

We’ve written about DC trying hard to erase this vision of the character several times before, and how our culture has recently embraced it again. What surprises me is that DC disliked Batman 66’s tone from the beginning. I always assumed it was a reaction to the stigma after the fact.

"Whatever the decade, generation, or whatever you read or watch, there are good guys and there are bad guys. Of course, there are shades of gray, but our Batman and the area of pop culture we created gives us easy-to-determine villains and heroes. Most of us, as we mature, carry inside many of the attributes of those heroes of popular culture. Somehow, they have become a part of us."

You can check out the full article here.