Tuesday, November 22, 2011

"Batman (1966)" Super Post!

Batman is, hands down, one of the most popular television shows ever and a cornerstone of pop culture.  But surprisingly, it doesn't have as many canon immigrants as later shows.  Do people just not like it as much or something?  Actually, it all has to do with a very complicated tangle involving the rights and which company (Fox, Warner Bros., or CBS) actually owns the characters created for the show, of which there are TONS.  I have no doubt that once those rights get figured out, nearly every villain created for the show will make the jump to comics.  Until then, though, we have the following:

Chief O'Hara 

King Tut 

Egghead

Bookworm and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds

UPDATE: They have gotten sorted out, so take a look at Bookworm's Character Spotlight!

Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)

Batgirl is an interesting case.  She first appeared in Detective Comics #359 (January 1967) and did not appear in Batman until the episode "Enter Batgirl, Exit Penguin" (September 1967), so she technically should not be on this site.  But the only reason she exists is because the producers wanted more female characters to put on the show, so I've included her here.  (A similar, but ultimately different, case can be found in Renee Montoya.)

Aunt Harriet's Last Name and Widow Status
Despite common misconception, Aunt Harriet did appear in the comics before the tv show, making her first appearance in Detective Comics #328 (June 1964).  But that's all she was: Aunt Harriet.  It wasn't until the first episode of the tv show (January 1966) that she was Aunt Harriet Cooper, widow of the late Mr. Cooper.  These facts were brought over to the comics in Detective Comics #373 (March 1968), which incidentally brought over the name "Mr. Freeze" from the show as well.

The Batmobile's afterburner

The Batmobile's famous afterburner first appeared in the Batman tv series (1966).  It first appeared in comics later that year in an issue of The Brave and the Bold.

(Note: Mr. Freeze, The Riddler, and the Batmobile will be featured in a later post.)

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