An orphan driven by vengeance to mete out justice while maintaining the façade of a millionaire playboy, Batman, AKA Bruce Wayne, is one of the world's most popular superheroes with comics, television shows, movies and endless amounts of merchandise released since his debut in Detective Comics #27 back in 1939. In Geppi's Entertainment Museum, we feature Batman throughout his long history in our comic book library, "A Story in Four Colors," but he gets the center spotlight in our 1960s gallery, titled "Revolution."

Batman and his faithful sidekick Robin leapt onto the small screen in 1966 with a campy mix of big name guest star villains, gaudy costume and set design, and a delightfully tongue-in-cheek approach to superheroics that won over adults and children alike. For three seasons, and occasionally with the aid of Batgirl and the woefully inept police of Gotham City, the Dynamic Duo fought the forces of evil and virtually set the standard-for good or bad-by which we judged superheroes and comics for decades to come.

Batman had already undergone a 'new look' renovation in the pages of DC Comics, spearheaded by artist/editor Carmine Infantino, when producer William S. Dozier conceived of bringing the Caped Crusaders to television with a serial-style adventure series that would take nothing too seriously despite its earnest heroes and dastardly death traps. Adam West and Burt Ward played Batman and Robin alongside a veritable A-list of Hollywood stars eager to please their children or grandchildren and match wits with the crime-fighters. Caesar Romero (The Joker), Burgess Meredith (The Penguin), Frank Gorshin (The Riddler) and Julie Newmar (Catwoman) headlined a rotating rogues' gallery that also featured Roddy McDowall, Vincent Price, Tallulah Bankhead and Joan Collins.

Batman even made it to the big screen in 1966 with a feature film version of the show that replaced Newmar with Lee Meriwether but retained all of the series' action and humor. "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb" was just one of the lines West had to deliver with a straight face.

While our "Revolution" gallery features many items connected with the television series, the Dark Knight standing on our city rooftop is symbolic of the character's more serious reinvention at the end of the '60s. But Adam West is a tough act to follow. Today, newspaper stories heralding the latest events in comics invariably begin with the words that were once emblazoned on TV screens as Batman and Robin duked it out with their foes-"Bam! Pow! Zap!"