Batman vs. Three (3) Villains of Doom

by Winston Lyon

Vintage TV tie-in paperback

Genres: Batman, Fiction, Dc Comics

Paperback

First published April 1, 1966

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are all these jokes about the homoerotic element in Batman, so I thought I would find out for myself whether there was anything to it.

Verdict: beyond all reasonable doubt. I think the most smoking-gun passage came from the sequence shortly after Batman believes he has seen Robin plunge to his death in an acid bath. He's pretty broken up about it. But, surprise! Robin's not dead after all. He makes a triumphant appearance a few pages later, and the bad guy (I think, the Riddler) is defeated again. Batman is overjoyed. He goes up to Robin, and "held him. Just held him."

That's an interesting use of the word "just", one must admit. As opposed to what, exactly?

[Michael P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novelization of the Batman TV series from 1966 is a stupid book by respected novelist William Woolfolk writing under the name Winston Lyon. It is interesting for adaptation students to study the differences between the book and the series and also the similarities. It is also interesting to track the similarities to the comic books from a few years earlier, with giant props on pages 20, 46, 49, 91, and 94, for example. Woolfolk had written DC comics prior to writing this novelization. The book was released in April 1966, just three months after the series began, so Woolfolk could not have been very familiar with the show when writing this novelization. The writing is more pedestrian than the writing on the show, the story bloated but unimportant, but there is a Shakespeare reference on page on page 49.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice time capsule, this book is based on some of the 50's Batman comics, with a touch of the 60's TV series thrown in. It's lacking the tongue in cheek humor of the show, but perfectly captures what Batman and Robin were to the Baby Boom generation. The closest thing I can compare it to would be those illustrated stories that you read along to a 45 record, with the sound effect reminder to turn the page. It's not quite the same, but it's very similar. The villains crack jokes and lame puns, while the Dynamic Duo are straightforward champions of Justice.

[Evangeline Feliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is dedicated to Larry Babbin from Mrs. Leux's class in room 46, to whom this book belonged.

What a silly little book! I wonder what little Larry Babbin in 1966 thought when his (maybe) favorite superhero got his own book. It's understandably cheesy, but such an intense, yet nice contrast to the Batman we know today. He feels like an entirely different character, but as with every legacy superhero, he is written for the times the story is penned in.

The premise is unbelievably ridiculous, even for a children's novel. Everything easily falls into play for Batman & Robin. It's dry but heavy with dialogue; almost as if this was supposed to be a comic book, but DC wanted to try their hand in the book market. Nevertheless, it's fun, and if you're over the age of Larry Babbin from Mrs. Leux's class, you'll get a good chuckle out of it.

[Conni Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for what it is, which is a 1966 Batman novel. Delightful. Every character perfectly had the voice and tone from the tv show, from Adam West's Bruce to Burt Ward's Dick, to Commissioner Gordon to Captain O'Hara, to Catwoman and the Joker and the Penguin, and of course Aunt Harriet and the wonderful, wonderful Alfred. The plot is no more exciting than an episode of the show, but it's fun and exciting, and if you're missing that little hit of Batman '66 because it's been cruely, cruely removed from Tubi, this is a perfect little morsel of the funniest Batman known to man (barring, maybe, Lego Batman).

[Michael David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a decent translation of the TV series. This book features Batman fighting Penguin, Joker, and then Catwoman, and successfully beats them with the help and strength of Robin.

Batman then was much more ambivalent with regard to homoeroticism, and this book is surprisingly rife with suggestions.

[Kimberly Karalius · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was SO GOOD! It reads just like an Adam West episode, right down to the sound effects. My favorite parts were the fight scenes (the way they are written - the wording - is sharp and hilarious) and the moments of loss and heartfelt feelings (especially Catwoman’s feelings for Batman, confessed only in secret haha).

[Logan Bourke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy Awesomeness if you loved the 1966 show you will love this book.... well I think so at least.

[Warbotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun light reading fair that is a bit more clever than one would expect, Frankly it felt like a better version of the movie.

[Nikki Mackay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn’t wait to read the next Bat-chapter!

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like a really fun episode of the 66 TV show.
The Tommy is the award for best criminal and the three main contenders just happen to be Batman villains.
So, they each set out to break the tie by planning to outsmart or kill Batman and Robin.

Fun story that keeps the feel of the TV show while not having any 'budget' limitations, so it can do big action set pieces.
Also has a little more room for characterizations, the bad guys are evil and smart, each with a distinct personality and modus operandi, there's room for the two heroes to work together as well as split up. Robin feels like an equal partner.

There is a repetitive formula, as each villain takes their turn, but all in all this is a fun romp.

[Drew Kenyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably read this 10 times when I was a kid. Adam West was the shit. Just read this book in all the voices from the 1966 TV show and you’ll love it.

[Paul Nuthall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been a fan of the 1960's Batman series since I was a kid, and this book had been sitting on my bookshelf for about as long after I picked it up as a collectable in a comic shop years and years ago. When a cable channel recently started airing reruns of the show, I thought it was a perfect time to check out this book.

The story concerns The Joker, The Penguin and The Catwoman's attempts to win The Tommy award - a sort of underworld Oscar, a solid gold tommygun awarded to Gotham City's greatest criminal each year. Since the terrible trio have tied on votes, the only way to decide on a winner is if they can up their game and succeed in killing Batman and Robin. What follows is surprisingly episodic, as the Dynamic Duo take on each villain one at a time and face a collection of crazy cliffhangers - including acid baths, electrocution, and runaway construction machinery. It really does feel like three episodes of the show strung together, and Lyon does a pretty good job at capturing the voices of the characters.

Where the book fails is in capturing the humour of the show, which was primarily visual and well ahead of its time (and a precursor to the Airplane! and Naked Gun films of the 1980s). Slapstick and visual gags just don't translate to this form; there were many passages that really wanted to be funny, but ended up just falling flat - such as Robin's miraculous escape from the acid trap.

Overall it was a fun read, but falls short of the TV show.

[Ed Wyrd · Rating 2 out of 5]

"To the motion picture industry, it's the Oscar. To television it's the Emmy. But to the world of crime, it's the Tommy ... the gold-covered submachine gun that is awarded once every decade to the man or woman who has done the most for crime." This time around it's a three-way tie between The Joker, The Penguin, and The Catwoman, and the crimelords decide to have a contest between them to see who is most deserving: a contest to defeat the Dynamic Duo. ZOWIE! POWIE! First printed in April 1966, this book rode the wave of the Adam West "Batman" television show and it tries, sometimes too hard, to simulate the campy over-the-top antics of that program. It's fun, for a while, but it gets tiresome for a whole novel-length story, even for a fan such as myself.

[Rich Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second novel based on the sixties' TV series reads like a couple episodes of the show; though it reads like the mostly-lamentable third season of the program.The story is well-written, but it is hard to count that in its tabor considering how mediocre it is. Definitely not worth paying vintage paperback prices for - find an OCR-ed copy on the net.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy troublesome trio! Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na....Kerpow!...Wham!...Zowie!...Eeyow!...Karoom!
(This review furnished by the eight-year-old me who read it with a purple bath towel safety-pinned around my neck.)

[bluetyson]

Batman vs. 3 Villains of Doom by Winston Lyon

[Ronald]

read during school year 1965-66, possibly spring 1966