Batman '66 Goes Grim 'n' Gritty!

[skjam]

Yet more Batman! this is from Batman '66 #13.



It's the latest issue, so only four pages.



Batman and Robin climb a building to get a better view of the city, but Robin notices something disturbing even higher up.



Come Saturday, the stately Wayne Manor residents, including Aunt Harriet, sit down for an hour of must-see TV. Aunt Harriet has read an interview with writer-producer-director Fred Fillips that makes the show sound a bit lurid.




Gotham City and the nation are soon swept with "Dark Knight Detective" fever. This is the show they never knew they wanted!



As you might expect, Fred Fillips turns out to be an old foe of the Dynamic Duo, with a particularly convoluted plan. In keeping with the grim and gritty nature of this issue, however, this is one time the bad guy wins at the end! (And no, it's not a cliffhanger.)



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Comments

[shingi70]

I thought bat-business was something only reserved for Selena, Talia, and on occasion Clark Kent.

[goattoucher]

Hey, sometimes he just wants to be Bat-held, you know?

[icon_uk]

Ah, you beat me to it posting from this! :)

Not quite sure I see the Gotham citizenry accepting Grim!Bat quite so easily when Batman is a fairly public figure, but what the heck, it's quite a fun little story and the ending IS great!

(Also, this story appears to alter the villains abilites again)

[drtechnobabel]

I keep reading 'Fred Fillips' as 'Fred Phelps'. I'm not sure whether to feel horrible about the implications or keep laughing at the idea of the Westboro Baptist Church producing, writing, and directing a dark and gritty Batman TV show.

[icon_uk]

Oh, and news fresh out of SDCC, the "Lost Episode" of Batman 66, which was a story written for the actual show by Harlan Ellison, featuring Two-Face, will be released in comics form in November!

[lego_joker]

I get what the show is trying to parody, but really, Adam West's Batman was a lot more violent than most people seem to think.

That violence was dressed up with the music and the "ZAP WHAM POW" color-insertions, but at the end of the day, it's still Bruce and Dick whaling on a dozen-odd thugs with their fists, feet, and whatever they can find around the villain's hideout. Heck, I'm pretty sure that the real West-Batman broke a chair over some villain's head at least once or twice.

This parody is still fun to look at, but I'd have liked to see a show that captured the more depressing elments of "grim n gritty Batman", not just the violent part. Like, I dunno, a show where the villains actually get away with their crimes at the end of the two-parter.