

Finally, after forty-five years, writers across the country have a good reason to drop "Biff! Pow!" into their headlines again. After finally settling licensing issues last year and paving the way for toys and merchandise based on the classic Adam West Batman show, DC will be publishing a new digital-first Batman '66 series by Jeff Parker and Eisner-winning artist Jonathan Case, with covers by Michael Allred.

The Batman '66-inspired stories are scheduled to hit Comixology and the DC app this summer, where they'll join their fellow TV-inspired properties, Smallville Season 11 and Arrow, along with the digital-first Legends of the Dark Knight and Adventures of Superman, for which Parker is also writing a story.While specific storyline information has yet to be revealed, Parker did confirm to ComicsAlliance that, like the show, the first Special Guest Villain of the comic will be the Riddler, with Catwoman also appearing to challenge the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder. He even provided us with one of Case's sketches for the product, featuring a Frank Gorshin-inspired version of the Riddler:



Stories that referenced the look of the classic Batman show haven't exactly been all that rare over the past few years -- Mike Allred's issue of Solo was to come with a cover of the '60s-style Batman dancing the Batusi (the published version featured Donna Troy in the same pose), Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Batman/Planetary featured multiple versions of Batman that included a West-inspired cameo that fought with Bat-Sleep gas from his utility belt, and the iconic, George Barris-designed Batmobile has made cameos all over the place. This, though, is the first time DC has gone with a full-on '66 aesthetic for a full series.

Case, a studio-mate of Parker's in Portland's Periscope Studios, hasn't done work for DC before, but his clean, expressive style and the eye-popping colors being used for the promo art make a pretty solid fit for Batman '66's world of Dutch angles and deathtraps.

Details have yet to be released on whether the series will be ongoing, but one hopes that it'll at least run long enough for the return of Surf Jams Joker.





