That is wrong on multiple levels. Firstly, Bob Kane had zero say in whether they could make the tv show. He signed a contract in the 1930s that allowed him to always be credited as creator, but it didn't give him any control over what DC did with the character.

Secondly, the Adam West show SAVED Batman, whose popularity had been in decline for years at that point. The series turned things around, increased Batman comic sales by hundreds of thousands, and if you look at back issue covers from that era, you'll see that Batman suddenly started to appear everywhere.

If you want to learn something about Batman history, and want to see the REAL sell out and not caring about the original source material, check out the Batman comics from the mid-1950s to early-1960s... the years BEFORE the television show. The years when Batman stopped fighting crooks and instead fought aliens, giant cavemen, wore rainbow color costumes, turned into a zebra-man, BECAME aliens, etc.





The Adam West television show is one of the best things that ever happened to Batman and is the reason he's as big as he now is. Without it, the whole thing could have died out by the mid-1960s. By Kane's own statement, Batman's popularity before the show had dropped so much that DC was considering ceasing publication of the character. Without the tv show, there wouldn't have been the built-in public awareness of the character needed to give the Burton movie a reason for being a couple decades later.

If you like the character, you should be kissing the feet of anyone even remotely involved with the production of that tv show on a daily basis. You should be mowing their lawns and walking their dogs. For free.

 

Yes, it was goofy, but not down right insulting like the Adam West garbage. The West stuff took the series down into an even worse road than it was on.

And you have no proof that Batman was in decline. I want to see something where this was stated by someone working for DC themselves because I'll trust a man who knows any and everything there is to know about the history of comics from every artist to writer to editor in chief throughout history before I believe something the internet said. A man who used to teach college courses in writing.

 

I hope Godzilla does well at the box office. I've seen a lot more hype for Godzilla than any other movie all over the internet. Still, everyone is betting on Spider-Man and X-Men do win this month. I say it could bring in around 650-700 million

 

The West series was closer to the material that creators Finger and Kane produced themselves. Try actually reading those late-1950s/early-1960s comics, and then see if you can still make the same ridiculous claim.

If you ever bothered to read a book about Batman's publication history (like THIS one), or any of the HUNDREDS of interviews in magazines like Alter-Ego or Comic Book Artist with artists, writers and editors who were working for DC during the Golden and Silver Ages, you'd already know all this instead of spouting ignorance. It's all extremely well-documented. Batman was in decline, and cancelation was discussed, according to editor-at-the-time Julie Schwartz, as related in the book linked above.


You don't like the Adam West show. Too silly for you. That's fine. But it's dumb to pretend it didn't have an overwhelmingly positive effect on raising Batman's profile again and helping turn sales around in a major way. No one within the industry at that time has EVER denied or contradicted that.

 

Apparently some of you need to watch the "making of" featurettes found on the Batman '89 DVD/BR that came out in the past couple years so as to get a way better understanding of exactly what the campy 60's show did (and most certainly did not do) for Batman's credibility and overall public perception before Miller *and* Burton came along. It was actually anything but favorable - and that's straight from the mouths of Kain *and* DC.

 

lol@ "Kain". The making of featurettes were made and edited as fluff promotional pieces for...what... oh yeah, the '89 movie.  

Try reading interviews with the same people when they have no agenda to promote, and see how different what they say is.

Also, take anything from Miller, O'Neil, Levitz (the main people interviewed) with a HUGE grain of salt, because none of them were even at DC at the time Batman comics were struggling and the tv show debuted. O'Neil was barely breaking in at Charlton, and Levitz & Miller first got comics work in the 1970s.

So thanks, but I'll take the word of the guy who was editing the actual comics at the time Batman was struggling, in interviews given without any agenda to promote a specific product.

 

Ever notice, SouthtownKid, how you are such a self professed know-it-all in these movie forums, complete with the jerkoff smug attitude, yet you are constantly wrong on so, so, so many things? Because that's what the rest of us see, and even when you are PROVEN wrong, you continue to chirp about shit like it's a "fact" just because your (inane) opinion says so. It would almost be hilarious if it wasn't regularly ridiculous to read over and over again. We get it - you like it movies and think you're an authority. But so does and so is everyone else. Go get a blog and spew your banality there, and let people have their discussions here.

 

Shots fired.

 

The only positive I will say about it is it allowed Denny O'Neil to bring Batman back to the way he was supposed to be, a detective. Not to mention he brought Joker back to his roots to with "Joker's Five Way Revenge."

 

man, i don't care what people say, silver age batman is awesome. lol adam west as batman, is always fun too. it SO fit in with the silver age.

 

Learn to read. I was not proven wrong. I cited the EDITOR of the book during the time we are discussing. You are citing people who didn't even work for the company at the time we are talking about.

You watched a little puff piece they included to tell you how great the movie you just watched was, I pointed to interviews with people actually involved with what we were talking about, who lived it and made the decisions. The entire reason Schwartz was given the Batman books is because they were dying.

You don't like my attitude, so you'd love me to be wrong. Unfortunately, you are completely ignorant on this topic, so you lose. Having a conversation doesn't mean spreading a bunch of lies about what you THINK happened or what you would LIKE to have happened, while everyone sits around quietly and lets you spread disinformation. Not when there are so many resources that document the era we're talking about.

Unrelated. That was years later. You're also ignoring Frank Robbins, the writer who started the movement O'Neil helped, which is a common mistake people who don't know about comics history often make.

 

Unrelated my ass!!

The only thing unrelated is it being in the May release discussion.

 

How is it related? The show ended in 1968. Denny O'Neil did not work for DC in 1968. And he didn't start writing Batman until the January 1970 issue of Detective. AFTER Frank Robbins began returning Batman to his darker roots. O'Neil gets more credit for it because he wrote the character longer and created Ra's, Talia, etc. But Frank Robbins is the writer who first darkened the tone again, got rid of Bat-Mite and any other campy elements, and sent Dick Grayson away to college, making Batman a lone grim detective again (Robbins also created Man-Bat). Robbins was working on Batman with Neal Adams and Irv Novick before O'Neil ever showed up.

But either way, you are talking about a while after the show had already ended.

 

My most anticipated movies of the Summer for each month are:
May:
X-Men: Days of Future Past- I almost put Godzilla, but I only got into Kaiju movies recently. It still looks like a great monster movie, and I will probably see both one night at my local drive in. I have been a fan of the X-Men for much longer. I am really hyped to see the old cast and the new cast in one movie. It is trying to do a lot, and I have confidence that it can pull it off.

June:
How To Train Your Dragon 2- It is my third most anticipated movie of the year in general. The first one is one of my favorite movies, and I can't wait to visit that world again. Transformers looks good, but I have more confidence in How To Train Your Dragon.

July:
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- I like everything I have heard so far, and it looks well directed. I am a big Planet of the Apes fan, and this looks like it could be the best one since the 1968 original. Honestly, there wasn't much competition for this pick, but it still looks great.

August:
Guardians of the Galaxy- My second most anticipated movie of the year. It looks different from any other summer movie. It looks action packed and hilarious.

 

O'Neil still wrote the best stuff. Plus, he DID bring Joker back!! And yes, he created Ra's and made him Batman's ultimate nemesis. He created Talia, Batman's true love.

Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff Neal Adams did with Robbins, as I have the Illustrated by Neal Adams books, but O'Neil (and Len Wein) are my favorite Batman writers. Adams is my favorite Batman artist, while Giordano is my favorite Batman inker.

 

I do not disagree. Well, after Finger.

 

Spiderman
X-Men
Godzilla
Maleficent

 

Sheesh Kain, your no fun.

 

Damn, Godzilla is dominating. I expected it to be close between X-Men and Godzilla. Apparently, not

 

A king's return is never silent.