I’ll be honest, the vast majority of times I hear about a media personality dying, I don’t really care. Actors, musicians, performers, guys like Chris Cornell, Roger Moore, Chuck Berry or Bill Paxton come to mind. Some, I feel like I should have appreciated more than I did, like Mary Tyler Moore and Don Rickles, but they were also of a different time than my own, and I never sought them out later in life. Often, I’ll see stories of their passings flash on the web and social media, and sometimes I’ll recognize their names, but other times, I quickly come to the conclusion that as unfortunate as the loss of life may be, I didn’t really know much about them, have any sort of emotional, nostalgic connection with them, and not really care and be off with the rest of my days.
Adam West is a different story however, because I am a nerd who was and is a fan of Batman in just about every possible iteration of the property. And despite all the jokes throughout history about a jaded and resentful portrait of Adam West, resentful of the passage of time and the laundry list of other actors who have portrayed the character, there was always a shred of truth to his underlying message: he’s Batman.
As campy and corny the 60s television series was, it was still classic and iconic television that will probably never be touched in terms of formula and execution. As a kid, I wanted to mock it and goof on how campy it was, but when the day was over, I realize that I had sat through two episodes of the show and found myself enjoying it. Every day after elementary school was the same formula:
- 3:30 – Tiny Toons
- 4:00 – Animaniacs
- 4:30 – Batman the Animated Series
- 5:00 – 60s Batman
- 5:30 – 60s Batman
- 5:45 – Protest about not wanting to go to Tae Kwon Do
And at first, I would watch 60s Batman with the eye rolling and the commentary about how corny it was, but it wasn’t long before I started to get caught up in the artificial suspense at the end of every episode that ended with the voice over putting over the perils and dangers of The Dynamic Duo, and before I knew it, I was almost always present at the same Bat-Time on the same Bat-Channel every afternoon.
Names like Cesar Romero, Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt and Yvonne Craig became familiar names in which I’d look forward to seeing on television, and before I even got into the actual comic books, Adam West and Burt Ward were already forever engrained as the original Batman and Robin.
So unlike most celebrity deaths, the news of Adam West’s departure left me with a feeling of flooded memories, nostalgia and legitimate sadness of a figure that I remembered so fondly throughout a large chunk of my formative years. A Batman had fallen – sure, it might have been the least intimidating and the antithesis of the Dark Knight, but it was still an iconic Batman nonetheless.
I remembered episodes where Batman and Robin twice broke the world record for the mile, when they had to run down the train cart path in the Bat Cave because the rogues had infiltrated the place. Or when London Fog was the villain of the week, and Bruce Wayne just magically found another Bat Cave in England to base his operations out of coincidentally so Batman could fight crime in Great Britain. Bat-this and Bat-that, but none more ludicrous than Bat-Shark Repellant.
In a time before the world felt so jaded and nihilistic at times, no matter the adversity, Batman always prevailed. The endings were always happy, the bad guys always apprehended, and peace was brought back to Gotham City, albeit until the next episode’s wacky hijinx. Sure, that’s not necessarily a great reflection of reality, but shit, that’s why people watch television in the first place, to sometimes get a reprieve from reality.
The passing of Adam West is certainly sad, but I’m trying not to dwell on his passing, but rather memorialize the life he had. At 88-years old when he left us, nobody can say that he didn’t have a long and fruitful life. And he wasn’t just Batman throughout his entire career, as he enjoyed a pretty entertaining revitalization and renaissance of his acting career later in life with all the voiceover work he did, most notably for Family Guy, and it can’t be said that he didn’t leave us quietly and obscurely, as should very appropriately have been the case for such an iconic performer.
So happy trails, Adam West. May we all pour a Bat-one out in your Bat-honor.
