Villains Being Awesome - The Mad Hatter takes a question from the audience..

[icon_uk]

From Batman 66 #4, the Mad Hatter may be a loon, but he's an ERUDITE loon!



Look, it can't ALL be Lewis Carroll references. In the series the Hatter used the name without the Alice in Wonderland theme, he was genuinely obsessed with hats themselves.

"But why?" you ask? Well, Batman 66 #4 addresses that question, when the Hatter visits London (None of that weird "Londinium" thing the show used in it's 3rd season) to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.







All that AND promoting business amongst tourists too! You have to admire a villain who seeks to boost the economy of the country he's visiting.

For those interested in such things, the Mad Hatter in the 1966 Batman TV show was played by versatile stage and screen character actor David Wayne. Noted for creating the role of Og in "Finians Rainbow" (Where he sings the charming, and wordplay filled When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love" and played the villain in the TV version of It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman, as well as being Ellery Queen's dad in the wonderful "Ellery Queen Whodinnits" in... oh ye gods it was 1975. Damn I feel old again.

As you might notice from the video clip, his Mad Hatter had one of the most gloriously exagerrated accents you can imagine. And he'll always have a special place in my warped little heart for being the only villain in the entire series to properly gag Robin.



And speaking of the Boy Wonder, he has a nice couple of moments in this issue too.

As he discovers that the Beatlemania level of attention on arrival at Heathrow Airport can get a little... dangerous.



And then has to drive the British Batmobile, with help from Alfred.... it doesn't start well!


 

Comments

[razsolo]

I am really gonna have to start buying this, it looks so fun :)

[his_spiffynesss]

Paul Cornell's British heroes from Knight and Squire would fit so well with Batman '66. I could see a pre-Bond Roger Moore would be a good model for the Knight.

[randyripoff]

Not really a fan of the British Bat-mobile. Not that there's anything wrong with it other than not looking like a Bat-mobile. I'd understand if they were going undercover, but they're pretty much announcing to the world that they're in London.

Of course, I didn't remember Robin being bound and gagged by the Mad Hatter in the TV series, but of course I wasn't looking for it either.

[lieut_kettch]

Was Bats ever referred to as "THE Batman" in the TV show? From what I remember Batman was always used there as a proper noun rather than as a title.

[lego_joker]

According to certain sources on the Internet, David Wayne actually hated his role on the show - I think he even claimed that Dozier and company "blackmailed" him into doing the second Hatter storyline. Don't know how much of it is true, though.

On a lighter note: holy cow this looks fun. I might have to pick it up myself (sadly, it appears that Batgirl is absent).

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Odd... I would have sworn they visited England, or at least some part of Europe, in the show itself. I bring it up because I seem to vividly remember Batman instructing Robin to remember to drive on the left, as only Adam West could.