Since its main series came to an end, Batman 66, the comic book tribute to the much-loved Adam West TV series, has lived on in six-issue collections where the Dynamic Duo have paired up with other ‘60s icons, including the Green Hornet and Kato, the Man from U.N.C.L.E and The Avengers (John Steed and Emma Peel). This time around they are paired up with another DC legend: Wonder Woman, but not just any Wonder Woman, the classic Lynda Carter TV incarnation of the 1970s, who has also enjoyed her own main series Wonder Woman 77. Starburst went to find out whether this really was a pairing made in Holy matrimony! (Yes! Every pun intended!)
After apprehending Catwoman, the Caped Crusader reminisces with the Boy Wonder over the time he met “one of the greatest heroes the world has ever known”, however, not as a man, but as a young man in the company of his parents at a Wayne Foundation function in aid of the war effort. Bruce is introduced to a very young Talia Al Ghul, but she is not alone, her father, Ra’s Al Ghul, is keen to bid for two volumes of Lost World of the Ancients in the charity auction. The party is then ambushed by Nazis with equal interest in the books. However, an attending army officer named Diana Prince has other ideas, spinning into action as Wonder Woman. Bruce is able to escape with and hide the books, just as Ra’s Al Ghul has him cornered with a sword…
Batman 66 Meets Wonder Woman 77 is a good old fashioned yarn and has the potential to be a first rate story. The inclusion of Ra’s Al Ghul was a bit of a gamble, given that the character never existed when the 60s TV show first began, but this incarnation is certainly channelling his inner Yul Brynner to be menacing in a manner that fits the series. It will be exciting to see how the meeting of these much loved incarnations pans out.
BATMAN 66 MEETS WONDER WOMAN 77 / WRITERS: MARC ANDREYKO, JEFF PARKER / ARTISTS: KARL KESEL, DAVID HAHN / PUBLISHER: DC COMICS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
