Review: Batman '66 #20

This issue features a new writer, Rob Williams, who turns in a story featuring the Joker seemingly becoming a crime fighter, which in reality is just an elaborate ruse to snake the loot of all of Gotham's other arch criminals.  Williams' effort is kind of uneven. He gets in some good moments, like a frustrated Bruce yelling "Blast!", only to apologize for his dark side. Contrast that with a Joker who really doesn't come across as the Cesar Romero version.  The art by Ruben Procopio is generally good, but there are some mystifying inconsistencies, such as the second half of the story sees Jokerman in a completely different costume and Jokermobile than the first half with no explanation.  Likewise, the first part of the story has Mayor Linseed portrayed as a generic white man (not looking like the actor who portrayed him, Byron Keith), while the second half of the story sees Linseed once again erroneously portrayed as the African-American mayor from Batman Forever. Despite Procopio getting credit, it almost looks like a different artist drew the second half. This issue earns a C+.

Petition Rhino for Monkees on HD BluRay

With the release of the Batman TV series on BluRay, transferred into HD from the original camera negatives, all Monkees fans should respectfully and politely petition Rhino to do the same for the Monkees TV series.  To use the original negatives would also restore all missing scenes, such as the missing scenes of Vern in "Too Many Girls", and the missing tag in "A Nice Place To Visit".  Some new audio commentaries by Micky, Mike and Peter should be added in addiiton to reusing the ones from the DVD release.  One of the crimes of the DVD release was that Micky only contributed two audio commentaries.  Of course they should include all the expected extras: the unaired color-corrected pilot, all the recently discovered outtakes and bloopers, 33 1/3, the 1997 ABC TV special, the HD version of "Head", the Monkees' original screentests in HD, all the Kelloggs, Yardley, Kool Aid, and Nerf commercials, the 1969 TV musical performances from the Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell shows, the complete 1996 Billboard concert, and the 1976 Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart TV special directed by Micky.
Email Rhino to request this:  DrRhino@Rhino.com