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Batman '66: The TV Stories
For the first time, DC Comics collects Batman stories originally published between 1948 and 1966 that were adapted into specific episodes of the classic Batman TV series! Starring The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler and Mr. Freeze (here called “Mr. Zero”), and featuring the debut of Batgirl, these stories have never been collected together before. Collected from BATMAN #53, 73, 121, 169 and 171, and DETECTIVE COMICS #140, 230, 341, 346 and 359.
158 pages, Paperback
First published January 14, 2014
15 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Bill Finger
647 books105 followersWilliam "Bill" Finger was an American comic strip and comic book writer best known as the uncredited co-creator, with Bob Kane, of the DC Comics character Batman, as well as the co-architect of the series' development. In later years, Kane acknowledged Finger as "a contributing force" in the character's creation. Comics historian Ron Goulart, in Comic Book Encyclopedia, refers to Batman as the "creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger", and a DC Comics press release in 2007 about colleague Jerry Robinson states that in 1939, "Kane, along with writer Bill Finger, had just created Batman for [DC predecessor] National Comics".
Film and television credits include scripting The Green Slime (1969), Track of the Moon Beast (1976), and three episodes of 77 Sunset Strip.
-Wikipedia
Film and television credits include scripting The Green Slime (1969), Track of the Moon Beast (1976), and three episodes of 77 Sunset Strip.
-Wikipedia
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 25, 2018
Haven't read much Batman prior to the 1970s, but I am a huge fan of the 66 show. This collections has a bunch of stories that inspired the Adam West Batman show, and they're all pretty fun. Some gems include Joker's utility belt, the first appearance of Batgirl, and the first appearance of The Riddler.
May 18, 2020
3.5. Goofy fun with not a Dark Knight to be found.
March 17, 2015
What a fun book! Grew up a huge fan of the television series, and had always read/heard that some of the episodes were based on comic stories...had just never tracked them down until now. It was great to read these stories and remember the episodes that they inspired. Two disappointments...no Catwoman, and the Batgirl story was just the very original Barbara Gordon origin. Otherwise, very highly recommended!
January 7, 2014
An absolutely wonderful graphic novel that takes you down the road of Batmania nostalgia. Fun artwork and great story lines will make you treasure the day you picked this book up.
December 11, 2018
The 1966 Batman series redefined the Caped Crusader. Despite the ultra-camp factor of the TV series, the show has endured as a fan favorite for over 50 years!
This DC Comics collection features about a dozen stories that either influenced or were influenced by the ABC live-action series. Featuring The Riddler, Penguin and The Joker, almost all of your favorite villains are here! Sorry- no Catwoman. But this volume does contain the origin of the Barbara Gordon Batgirl and the first appearance of Mister Freeze using his original moniker, Mr. Zero.
Some of these stories are sheer genius. Others are quite mad or madcap. You definitely can see the influences regardless.
Speaking of influences, I love the Amanda Conner tribute cover!
With art and stories by Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, Carmine Infantino and many more, this is a great way of getting to read the stories that inspired a cult classic without having to pay collector's prices.
This DC Comics collection features about a dozen stories that either influenced or were influenced by the ABC live-action series. Featuring The Riddler, Penguin and The Joker, almost all of your favorite villains are here! Sorry- no Catwoman. But this volume does contain the origin of the Barbara Gordon Batgirl and the first appearance of Mister Freeze using his original moniker, Mr. Zero.
Some of these stories are sheer genius. Others are quite mad or madcap. You definitely can see the influences regardless.
Speaking of influences, I love the Amanda Conner tribute cover!
With art and stories by Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, Carmine Infantino and many more, this is a great way of getting to read the stories that inspired a cult classic without having to pay collector's prices.
November 18, 2025
A good collection for any fan of the 66 TV series, or just any Batman fan interested in reading some of quality stories from the Golden and Silver Age. It's easy to see how the tone of these stories was camped up for the TV show, as they're already a little silly and just need an extra push to become laugh-out-loud funny. As they are, they're very entertaining stories featuring some of Batman's classic foes. Our two biggest complaints: one is that the introduction is woefully lacking in more detailed information about the way these stories were adapted, often just going for "this character would be played by this actor". We would've enjoyed a more complete paragraph about each story that fully highlighted what was changed. And then our second complaint is minor, but you're gonna put Catwoman on the cover and not include a single Catwoman story? Either you gotta find one they adapted, or switch her out for Riddler, who actually features in the collection! You can't lie like this DC!!!
October 13, 2022
A collection of the original Batman comics that were used to create scripts for the 60's TV show. Included in the collection are the Joker's Utility Belt, the introduction of The Mad Hatter, and the introduction of Mr. Zero (who become Mr. Freeze).
Another interesting piece of Batman-alia I learned from reading this collection is that Batgirl was originally by/for the TV show to help shore up ratings. She became so successful she became her own superhero series of comics.
Another interesting piece of Batman-alia I learned from reading this collection is that Batgirl was originally by/for the TV show to help shore up ratings. She became so successful she became her own superhero series of comics.
January 12, 2020
This is a collection of silver age Batman stories that inspired the ‘66 TV series. Included are origin stories for Mad Hatter, Mr Freeze, and Batgirl. Also included are some great Joker, Riddler, and Penguin stories. One can recognize some plot points or some dastardly traps from these stories in episodes of the TV series. I found myself reading with Adam West’s and Burt Ward’s voices.
August 16, 2019
Man~! the only thing missing with this was the Narrator, sound effects and the music!!
Loved reading this collection of comics that inspired the campy show.... just go to show you that if you search hard enough you can find comic book stories that support your point of view.
Loved reading this collection of comics that inspired the campy show.... just go to show you that if you search hard enough you can find comic book stories that support your point of view.
July 13, 2019
Classic, fun, cheesy comics of “the caped crusader” and “the boy wonder.”
Read
August 28, 2020Campy as hell except the last 2 stories!
November 23, 2020
3.5 Stars.
April 19, 2022
As a fan of the campy 1966 Batman television series, this compilation of classic stories that inspired the show is awesome. Loved it!
January 6, 2019
Great collection of stories that inspired the ‘66 tv series as well as some that were inspired by it. Though many were written long before the series was cast, it is easy to imagine the voices of Adam West, Burt Ward, and the rest as you read through the panels. Looks like the many of the classic tales were restored and recolored and look better than when they first appeared on newsstands.
December 21, 2016
My journey through Batman continues with this collection of issues that inspired certain episodes of the campy classic 1960s TV show.
Outsized gimmicks and punning villains galore, even as it seems that the edges between Joker/Riddler/Penguin could sometimes blur: Joker in teasing Batman with clues to his next crime, and Penguin as an insane gimmick-obsessed babbler (as opposed to the cold and calculating mob boss he would become).
The collection also includes BATGIRL'S MILLION DOLLAR DEBUT, revealing (to me, at least) that one of the perennial members of the Bat-Family was an accidental addition due to a chance encounter with Killer Moth and his Moth-Men (!) on the way to a costume party.
You can tell the writers and artists became a little tired of doing the same thing over and over again, as we now start to see things like Batman taking off his cowl as he walks into the batcave, or a torn-shirted Bruce Wayne sneaking through the undergrowth -- expressions of humanity not often seen in the Golden and Silver Age. 70s, here we come!
Good fun and good laughs in this low-barrier entry into classic Batman!
Outsized gimmicks and punning villains galore, even as it seems that the edges between Joker/Riddler/Penguin could sometimes blur: Joker in teasing Batman with clues to his next crime, and Penguin as an insane gimmick-obsessed babbler (as opposed to the cold and calculating mob boss he would become).
The collection also includes BATGIRL'S MILLION DOLLAR DEBUT, revealing (to me, at least) that one of the perennial members of the Bat-Family was an accidental addition due to a chance encounter with Killer Moth and his Moth-Men (!) on the way to a costume party.
You can tell the writers and artists became a little tired of doing the same thing over and over again, as we now start to see things like Batman taking off his cowl as he walks into the batcave, or a torn-shirted Bruce Wayne sneaking through the undergrowth -- expressions of humanity not often seen in the Golden and Silver Age. 70s, here we come!
Good fun and good laughs in this low-barrier entry into classic Batman!
June 3, 2015
A great collection of golden and silver age stories that inspired episode of the classic 60's Batman television show. Included are the first appearances of Mr. Freeze (Mr. Zero), the Riddler, The Mad Hatter and Batgirl. Also there are some great Joker stories that are some of my personal favorites- the Joker making his own utility belt to rival Batman's and his scheme to rob an eccentric millionaire that loves classic slap-stick comedy. Also included is a pretty fun Penguin story with plenty of trick umbrellas! The only glaring omission is the lack of a Catwoman story despite her being featured on the cover. This is an awesome and affordable volume to get some great classic Batman stories!
June 19, 2014
Fun series that uses the 66 TV show as a springboard to tell stories that couldn't have been possible with a 60's TV show budget.
Fun villain team ups, the writers have a good handle on the characters and the world of the TV show and it even looks like they are creating a version of Harley Quinn.
If you miss the days before Batman was a mopey ninja and all his villains were serial killers then this is the Batman comic for you.
I keep hoping this will do good enough that DC decides to give the Superman and Wonder Woman TV shows their own comics.
Fun villain team ups, the writers have a good handle on the characters and the world of the TV show and it even looks like they are creating a version of Harley Quinn.
If you miss the days before Batman was a mopey ninja and all his villains were serial killers then this is the Batman comic for you.
I keep hoping this will do good enough that DC decides to give the Superman and Wonder Woman TV shows their own comics.
June 30, 2016
While there's not a lot of meat to it, this is a very enjoyable collection of classic Batman stories. These are not the dark Batman stories that we have seen recently, but the light-hearted Batman stories of old. These are the stories that inspired the hit TV show from the 60s, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. So this is the "Kapow!" Batman, not the Dark Knight. Again, not a lot of depth, but still very enjoyable.
January 28, 2014
Fun read, interesting to see all the 'tools' they had during this phase.
April 5, 2014
Wow. Hard to believe how diabolically bad the dialogue was back in the day. Comics definitely had a different target audience in the 1960s :)
September 19, 2014
this was a really good book reading the comic book stories that inspired the 1960s tv series the stories were well written and the artwork was good
March 26, 2015
Lots of fun. DON'T blame Adam West and company for the camp tone of 60s Batman. It's clearly in the comics that inspired episodes as evidenced in this collection.
September 17, 2016
Nostalgic
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews