Monday, October 5, 2015

Batman '66 #69 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Jeff Parker
Art By: Dean Haspiel, Allen Passalaqua, Wes Abbott
Cover Price: $0.99

Release Date: September 16, 2015


What A Croc


*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

It's time we finish out our foray into bringing current Batman villains into the world of Batman '66 and while I love the idea of bringing these villains into this world, too much too soon is never a good idea.  So yeah, I hope that it continues periodically down the line........ for what time this series has left, but we've got a whole bunch of classic Batman '66 villains that want their time to shine by taking on the Dynamic Duo.  For this issue we'll be dealing with one of my favorite villains, Killer Croc and it feels like his debut is long over due.  Let's jump into this issue and see how Croc can fair against the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder.  Let's check it out.


Explain It!:

Our story begins with two guards of a armored transport car going up against a monster in the streets and I guess it's lucky for them that this monster is more interested in the money they're transporting than doing normal monster things.......... you know like eating their faces and whatnot.......monster things.  So after the monster robbery, Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara contact Batman by, get this.... the Bat Signal.  Yeah, it might not sound fancy to most folks, but believe it or not this is something that's out of the ordinary because they normally contact Batman by the Bat Phone and the Bat Signal only appeared a hand full of times in the actual show.  I don't know, maybe it's not that big of a deal but I know when I read this I got that old giddy feeling and had to make sure that I wasn't being loud with it because I don't want my girlfriend to look down on me more than she already does.  Another cool thing about this issue is that when Batman and Robin show up to police headquarters, they determine that the monster must be a callback to when they fought King Tut way back in issue #23.........which I unfortunately didn't read, but apparently one of King Tut's henchmen named Waylon Jones went and drank himself an elixir that Batman believes gave him the power of the Nile Crocodile.  That's a pretty cool origin story for this version of Killer Croc.


Our Dynamic Duo get on the case immediately and first they go to Waylon's old girlfriend, Eva Allister's apartment to see if she's seen Waylon recently and while the book isn't that action oriented at this point, it is certainly funny to see how flustered Robin is when she offers Batman and him a drink.  It's even funnier when Killer Croc makes his presence known and to buy him some time to get away, Eva splashed the alcoholic beverage all over Robin and when Batman and Robin go after him, Robin's worried that it might impair his judgement....... Oh it's so campy and so good.


In the end, Batman and Robin chase Killer Croc into the sewer and for as much as I enjoyed this issue for it's awesome humor, the climax just wasn't really there.  Batman uses his brains to overcome Killer Croc's brawn and the issue simply ends with Croc getting handcuffed to a pipe and ending his first entree into the Batman '66 world very lackluster-y.


That's it for this issue of Batman '66 and right now the only reason that I could possibly recommend this issue to people is if you're a huge Killer Croc fan......... and even then it's a little rough because of how quick this issue begins and ends his criminal career.  I will say that the humor and boy scout like demeanor of Robin was hilarious and I found myself actually laughing out loud about how goofy and on point he was for the style of this world.  I just wish that we could have gotten a little more Croc and actually had him doing something that proves he's up to the task of taking on Batman and Robin.

Bits and Pieces:

While this issue rocks the first appearance of Killer Croc in the Batman '66 world, I can't say that it was treated like a big deal with how little Croc actually had to do here.  At least we had some hilarious writing that really compliments the ideals of Batman and Robin in this world and I found myself really enjoying the art....... I just really really wish that Killer Croc had been handled a little better and seemed to have more of an impact than a simple henchman with scaly skin.

6.3/10

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