ICYMI: ‘Batman ’66’ Just Ended By Telling The Origin Of The TV Show’s Opening Credits

Batman '66 was too good for this fallen world.

With this week's digital-first issue, the series has finally come to an end after 73 chapters, and in that time, it's been an incredible tribute to the classic TV series that's also involved some incredible innovation, introducing new, '60s style takes on villains that never made it to the show, and operating on a scale that a TV show could never quite match. At its heart, though, the main appeal of the series was the way that it incorporated the signature styles of the show, which is why it's so great that it ended the way it did. In case you missed it, the final issue of Batman '66 is an origin story for the show's opening credits.

The story by Lee Allred, Michael Allred, and Laura Allred is called, appropriately enough, "Main Title," but it still took me until the second half to really figure out what they were doing with it, because there's another great hook in play, too. The setup for everything is that all of Gotham City's arch-criminals have gathered together for what essentially amounts to a super-villain trade show, showing off 1966's latest deathtrap innovations and recruiting henchmen. That's a great idea on its own, but when the second half rolls around and Batman and Robin show up at the abandoned film studios to put the kibosh on ther gathering, that's when it gets great.

The thing about the opening title sequence for Batman '66 is that it's made up of images that are only connected in the loosest sense, from Batman and Robin cheerfully uppercutting a couple dozen bad guys to the Batmobile slowly rolling across the streets of Gotham City, but the Allreds have managed to combine them all in a way that ties it all together and serves as a great tribute to the visual style of the show while still being a fun story on its own.

If you're a fan of the show --- and if you are, I can't imagine that you're not reading the comic --- then it's well worth checking out to see just how well they pull it off. And in the meantime, here's hoping that the Dynamic Duo can slip out of the diabolical deathtrap that is cancelation for a second time!

The Best Batman '66 Art Ever