New Release: Set your Bat-timers for November 11th! After decades of legal acrobatics, the 1966 Batman series starring Adam West will finally arrive on home video. All of the episodes have been remastered in hi-definition and a cool assortment of bonus features, cards, and toys have been produced to mark this special event. If you grew up with the Miller, Burton, Nolan interpretations of the Dark Knight, the 60s version may appear overly campy, but you are in for a treat, old chums! The show was a masterpiece of Pop Art design and featured sharp performances that kept adults laughing and kids on the edge of their seats. Blu-ray and DVD sets available now on Amazon. Spy Vibers can also look forward to seeing the Blu-ray release of Season 5 of The Avengers on the same day!
Vintage photo below: Batman co-creator Bob Kane strikes a Hefner pose with painting and Catwoman model. Dig those shoji-inspired walls! Bob Kane was born on October 24th, 1915. He passed away in 1998. Although often credited as the sole-creator of the Caped Crusader, it is more widely known today that his collaborators, Jerry Robinson and Bill Finger, invented much of the Batman mythos. Learn more about Bill Finger. Related posts: Spy Vibe interview with Batman animation designer Shane Glines here;
Batman '66 Meets Green Hornet interview with Ralph Garman Ty Templeton;
Spy Vibe's Batman image archive on Pinterest; Batman and Andy Warhol here;
Teen Titans and Secret Agent here;
My visit to the original Batcave here; Batman TV and Manga releases;
Batman 66: The TV Stories Book;
Batman in Swinging London;
Julie Newmar;
Batman 66 posters;
new comic and Adam West Sings!;
Adam West spy ad;
James Bond & Batman Robots; Man From UNCLE & Batman Manga.
Selected Spy Vibe posts: Flint Scores!, Bond Danish, Louis Feraud, Roger Moore Day, Home Movies, New Richard Sala Book, New 007 Comics, Unseen Fleming in new 007 by Horowitz, Designing Bond Books, Foster Spies, Green Hornet Manga, Margaret Nolan Art, No 6 Festival, Barbarella Returns, 007 Audio Books Return, Harry Palmer Blu, One Million Prizes, Designer: Gene Winfield, Avengers Blu-Ray, Avengers Interview: Michael Richardson, Ian Fleming: Wicked Grin, Jane Bond Hong Kong Records, Ryan Heshka Interview, Comics Week: Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., Comics Week: Archie, Comics Week: Robots, Comics Week: Cold War Atomic, Comics Week: SPYMAN, Comics Week: Jimmy Olsen, Diana Rigg at 76, Gerry Anderson Doc, Mr. Hulot's Box Set, Rare Avengers Scripts, Man From Uncle UK Comics, Mattel X-15, Thunderbirds Comics, Shakespeare Spies: Diana Rigg, Shakespeare Spies I, Batman News, Monty Python Fathom Spies, Rodney Marshall Avengers Interview, Avengers Book: Bowler Hats & Kinky Boots, George Lois Design & Mad Men, Richard Sala: Super-Enigmatix, Big Fun Toys, Danger Diabolik Soundtrack, Mod Fashion Dolls, Cold War Archie, Playboy Bunny Interview, The 10th Victim Japanese and Kindle, U.N.C.L.E. Japanese Books, The 10th Victim German Edition, The Saint books return, Trina Robbins Interview, Catsuits, Batman '66 Green Hornet Interview: Ralph Garman Ty Templeton.
Happy 100th birthday to Bill Finger! Collaborating with Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, and others in the late 1930s, Finger is an unsung hero credited with developing many of the major elements in the Batman mythos. Without his imaginative input, we might not have had a Batmobile, cape and cowl, Commissioner Gordon, Bruce Wayne, Gotham City, Batcave, or the archetypal story of a boy thrust from tragedy to become a dark knight. Bob Kane acknowledged Finger in Batman and Me (1989): "I made Batman a superhero-vigilante when I first created him. Bill turned him into a scientific detective…Now that my long-time friend and collaborator is gone, I must admit that Bill never received the fame and recognition he deserved. He was an unsung hero. I often tell my wife, if I could go back fifteen years, before he died, I would like to say 'I'll put your name on it now. You deserve it.'" Finger scripted the first appearances of Batman in Detective Comics (1939) and wrote the character's origin story for issue #33 (Nov 1939).
In The Streranko History of Comics, Bill Finger shed some light on the development of Batman's sidekick: "Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob. As I said, Batman was a combination of Douglas Fairbanks and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea". Finger wrote Robin's origin story. An essential force in the foundation of the DC universe, Finger also co-created the Joker and the Green Lantern characters. Artist Ty Templeton recently lobbied Google to celebrate this centennial and he shared the graphic observation below of a Batman without Finger. Learn more: Bill Finger: The Boy Wonder by Ty Templeton and Marc Tyler Nobleman, Batman: Complete History by Les Daniels and Chip Kidd,Batman and Me by Bob Kane. Commissioner Gordon design above by Shane Glines from Beware the Batman. See our interview with Glines here.
Recent Spy Vibe posts: Gloria Steinem and Denny O'Neil on MOD Wonder Woman, Win Scott Eckert interview, Siegel and Shuster's SPY, David McCallum: Son of Batman, Jon Gilbert talks Fleming, Barbarella TV series, Meet the Beatles 50th, Wonderwall comes to Blu-ray, Batman Strips, David Bowie at 67, Kevin Dart talks Ringo & Powerpuff Girls, Sherlock Exhibit, Fu Manchu history panel, Andy Warhol box set, Six-Million Dollar Man, Striped Light Nude, Buckminster Fuller, Dylan at Newport, Jane and Serge, The Goldfinger Variations, Mod Tales Interview, Pete Seeger, Kraftwerk returns to US, Beatles BBC on Fresh Air, Steranko S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist Editions, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Modern Architecture LP, Julius Shulman, Shane Glines Batman, The Prisoner and Captain Scarlet, Diego Fortunato and Verner Panton, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Assassination Bureau on DVD, new Young Bond series, new Hercule Poirot novel, Early Beatles image archive, Julie Newmar, Erno Goldfinger, Hitchcock tribute.
Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Ian Fleming Letters, Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.
