Batman 66: The Lost Episode is a fantastic amount of fun. It really brings to mind everything that makes the comic book medium such a wonderful world. A place where ideas have a place to shine without any of the limitations one might face of television of the movies. Batman 66: The Lost Episode is based on an original television treatment by the legendary talent, Harlan Ellison. His works span many genres and previous television works have been adapted into comic book form over the course of this year.
What makes Batman 66: The Lost Episode special is that there is no way that a project like this would have worked for the Adam West led Batman television series. The limitations of the time most likely would have left us with sub-par Two-Face as the art of television makeup wasn’t even really around at the level needed for this project. Even something as simple as the way the Two-Face character is revealed within the story would have been a near impossible feat, even for a movie studio to accomplish. The fact that the studio never went ahead with this script is a godsend to us, as we now get one of the best, most fun, comic books of the year.
The writing is some of the most accurate, not only to the time, but to the Batman 66 series as a whole. Pulling from a script written specifically for the show gives Batman 66: The Lost Episode the most connection to the original television series, more so than any of the previous books of the series have up to this point. It’s funny, campy, and chock full of more Adam West Bat-speak than you can shake a stick at. Everything from a story perspective just flows really well, shifting from act to act using the notion of a multi-part episode to tie everything together.
The book even managed to fool me into thinking that they were leaving things on a cliffhanger even though I knew I was reading a one-shot book. The whole thing is just a lot of fun and that’s something I can really appreciate as many books/series today have gone the way being dark and gritty only for the sake of being dark and gritty. Batman 66: The Lost Episode isn’t a book aimed for the kids market, but it’s certainly one that you can share with you kids. I love when you can read a comic book and enjoy it from an art and story level as much as adult and still be able to recommend it to younger fans of not only Batman, but of comics in general.
The art is another thing that really stands out with Batman 66: The Lost Episode. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez knocks it out of the part with the art in the book. The panels flow nicely into each other and the art has a certain smoothness that makes it a joy to follow just as much during the action scenes as the slower non-action ones. He manages to make Adam West look like a man that really is a monster of a hero without sacrificing the fact that he is just a regular human being. Let’s face it here, Adam West is a great guy and made a fantastic Batman for his time, but he never quite filled out the suit just right. We also get the pleasure of seeing lots of gadgets at works all buffered by a Two-Face that acts more along the lines of his character than any of the modern interpretations have.
That’s just it, I really like how Two-Face is handled in this script. Gone is the murderous crime lord that only has the coin because DC deems he needs it; No more using the coin as a simple prop to be used only when things come to a climax; No more being essentially only being the evil side of the Two-Face persona. The duality of his character actually shines through in this one-shot better than in most of his other modern appearances. You really get the idea that he can be saved because he shows acts that would allow for some sort of redemption/salvation, thus making Batman’s desire to help Harvey Dent all the more powerful and not just because he’s depressed that he didn’t save him.
Sure, maybe I’m reading too much into things, but that’s what makes me enjoy this book so much. When you can take something as silly and campy as Batman 66 and turn it into something more, that’s when you have a good book on your hands. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up this week, it’s sure to please even the most hardened Batman fan.
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