Adam West has died

[TheWho87]

Batman actor Adam West dies at 88 after a battle with leukaemia

[Bobfoc]

I always used to watch the 1960s Batman series. To me, Adam West was Batman, and it wasn't until playing the Arkham games that I could accept any "serious" version of the franchise. Batman: The Movie is probably the most brilliantly stupid film I've seen, and I've spent years trying to convince people to watch it. Oddly enough, I was watching clips from it a couple of days ago. The bomb scene and the dispatching of an exploding shark with the Shark Repellent Bat Spray are bona fide classics.

[Kaney]

[Draevyn]

It hit my heart like a big KAPOW....and a ZONK!  He was honestly my first ever exposure to Batman when I was a kid and my love has only grown since then. RIP Mr. West. 

[Josh]

No joke on nothing, he's the best Batman ever. And the show was the best iteration of the property ever.

And he was a very funny and charming guy, to boot.

[Schlitzbrille]

Heaven better have plenty of taffy. I heard he's a man who loves his taffy

[OctoberRaven]

I grew up watching the OG Batman movie, rediscovered it in my college days and loved it ever since. When I picked an alt skin in the Arkham games, it was always the 60s Batman I was looking for.

Rest in Peace old chum

[Just Joe]

 

[HarshMillennium]

I was sad to hear his. My brother and I would watch old VHS copies of the batman show when we were younger. I still maintain the best part about the whole thing was the eyebrows on top of the mask. And he was always funny and self deprecating on Family Guy.

[=BK=]

I was never a fan of 60's Batman. I kinda hated it even when I was a kid but I've always appreciated Adam as part of the Batman legacy. He always came off as a nice,interesting and fun man in interviews. A little while back on a thing PBS did about comics I heard a voiceover of him reading a part of The Dark Knight and it was honestly amazing. I've been wanting to hear more of him him as serious Batman since then and now it can't be. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

When I was 16 or 17, I spent one summer staying up all night, playing video games. But I had a cable hook-up in my room and I always turned my PS2 off to catch Batman on TVLand at 3AM. That summer, I watched every episode of the 60s Batman and grew to really appreciate it and, I think, it helped me appreciate camp a lot more than I had at the time. I still remember the first time I saw the movie, on WGN (!) at 3PM on a Saturday afternoon. I fell out of my chair laughing so hard at the bomb scene. 

Just the sheer absurdity of the scene - the nuns, the baby - and to top it all off, the ducklings and "somedays, ya just can't get rid of a bomb!" broke me.

it feels like it was very self-aware and I loved that. My first exposure to Batman was the Michael Keaton films and Batman: TAS, and while they were both very good, I found myself appreciating the camp of 60s Batman a lot more than I thought I would. The fact that Adam West has always been a good sport about it and seems to have been a lovely man only makes it that much worse that he's gone. He was even Batman's hero.

 

[=BK=]

20 minutes ago, =BK= said:

I was never a fan of 60's Batman. I kinda hated it even when I was a kid but I've always appreciated Adam as part of the Batman legacy. He always came off as a nice,interesting and fun man in interviews. A little while back on a thing PBS did about comics I heard a voiceover of him reading a part of The Dark Knight and it was honestly amazing. I've been wanting to hear more of him him as serious Batman since then and now it can't be. 

 

[Your Mom]

 

[HailtotheYo]

  .... this just hurts.

As a kiddo I loved the 60s series.  For so long he WAS Batman.  When the Keaton Batman movie came out I was still young enough to appreciate it on my own merit as a comic loving kid, but as I got older I understood more about why SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many people turned out for it the first couple of weeks.  It was the dads and grandpas taking their sons/grandsons to see the character they grew up with on TV.  That one single show shouldn't define him but IT IS the perfect encapsulation of what he's meant to pop culture and 3-4 generations of people.  

Got to meet him twice at cons over the years and the man was simply phenomenal.  As down to Earth and over themselves at it comes.  He laughed at himself and genuinely enjoyed and appreciated his fans.  The second time I met him, we had a 3-4m convo and he was astounded at the fact someone as young as me (was in my early 20s) was as into the series as I was.  I stated that it was hard not to because he had the greatest Joker running him in circles.  He let out an honest to God chuckle and stated "kid, Cesar will always be the best and you're awesome for getting it" ... he shook my hand and winked as I walked off.  The man was just fantastic.  

[Moses Julep]

The original Batman encompassed my childhood from the age of 3 to well into my teens and frequently rearing its head in my adult life as well. I can genuinely say there's never been anything like it and there never will be anything like it ever again. it was just a complete phenomenon.

[CobraKaiEnTai]

R.I.P Adam West . While we can debate all day who the best Batman was, we must appreciate that the Batman 66 series, while campy, was well done and West was a great Bruce Wayne and is the only one to truly portray Batman as a master detective. You will be missed for this, as well as your always hilarious voice work.  Thank you for the memories sir.

 

[Pooker]

Just watched his guest starring role on The Big Bang Theory the other day. Haven't watched 60s Batman in years, but enjoyed it growing up. His work on Family Guy was always funny. RIP Mr. West. The world of TV has lost an amazing man today.

[Heel Turn]

*solemnly does the Batucci*

[Skummy]

I love '60s Batman - I think the '66 movie is genuinely decades ahead of its time as an absurdist, surreal comedy, the "Bat Labels" schtick is one of my favourite running jokes of all time, and Adam West is on a par with Lesley Nielsen as far as playing the straight man in a wacky comedy.

Beyond that, it's a constant reminder that comic books should be fun. There's a place for Batman as a darker, more realistic character, but I hate the ret-conning that this is how Batman is "supposed" to be or intended to be - he's a man in a Bat suit with a child sidekick fighting evil clowns, don't pretend it's high art, enjoy it for the madcap, very silly, utterly absurd thing that it is. Despite all of that silliness, Adam West played Batman perfectly - he was the calm, collected, unflappable genius in amongst all the insanity.

 

Reminds me of this wonderful page from Neil Gaiman, in tribute to the Batman of old;

[GA!]

60s Batman was a big influence growing up. A dream of mine still is to write something as wonderfully absurdist yet deadpan. Adam West's delivery of some ridiculous lines was brilliant, a precursor to Leslie Nielsen as some of you have already said.