The original Batman television show from the 60s holds a special place in my heart. When I was a child we didn’t have a great deal of, well, anything when we immigrated to the United States. This was the mid to late 80s and the best we had was a tiny black and white television. I don’t remember a whole lot from those early days, but I do clearly remember watching Adam West play Batman. So, when I heard DC was bringing that incarnation back in comic form I was excited.
Flash forward a few years and I was now a young man in my mid teens and experiencing the incredible breakthroughs in technology of the early 2000s. It was during this time that my father introduced me to The Green Hornet via their classic radio drama days. The magic of radio, of listening to a story whose images unfolded in your mind was incredible and is something that is almost all but lost today.
Now it’s 2014 and I’m an adult with a job talking and writing about all the things I loved from my youth and to my surprise, DC Comics release a comic book crossover event featuring two of my favorite heroes. Count me in!
For those of you in the know, this isn’t the first time these two duos have crossed paths. They worked together a few times during each heroes respective run on television.
This time around things are a little different with their story written by Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman. Smith is no stranger to The Green Hornet, writing for that series in the past as well as being an avid Batman fan, having a Batman themed podcast. While the is story is told by modern writers, they never make it feel that way. Fans of both characters will feel like this story was ripped straight from one of the episodes, with the writing expertly capturing the feel and mannerisms of all involved.
The art of Ty Templeton is clean and simple fitting well with the actual look of the original show. Characters look spot on while still having that certain comic book exaggeration that isn’t possible anywhere else. It must be noted that the coloring on the book is superb. Colorist Tony Avina really makes every panel pop with his vivid use of colors. It’s rare that you get a book that isn;t aimed for children with such a bright color palette.
The print issue collects the two parts that were released digitally. I have both digital editions that were tailored for on the go ready, but having the print issue is a must, if only because of the work of famed artist Alex Ross. Ross lends his hand to the books cover and his style of depicting heroes in a realistic manner really shines through here. The cover is an excellent display of his talents and it’s nice to see him take on heroes already based on real world people.
The basic outline of the story fits firmly into the camp factor that the show was known for. The back and forth between Reid and Wayne (out of costume) makes for some really enjoyable back and forth. We essentially get an old-fashioned trim robbery between the cities that connect both out heroes, thus bringing them together. General Gumm and his minions use their wacky glue guns to try to steal precious artifacts off the train. Gumm is the kind of villain that would be laughed off the pages of today’s more serious books, but fits like a glove in this world.
If you are a fan of either incarnation of these heroes, then you are definitely going to want to pick this book up. It really does justice to both and leaves you wanting more. It’s always nice to be able to read a comic that is just pure unadulterated fun and doesn’t ask a great deal from the reader. I can easily recommend this one to both kids and adults alike.
BATMAN ‘66 MEETS THE GREEN HORNET 2014
Written by: Ralph Garman, Kevin Smith
Art by: Ty Templeton
Cover by: Alex Ross
Written by: Ralph Garman, Kevin Smith
Price: 2.99
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