FEBRUARY: The second animated Batman cartoon – THE NEW ADVENTUERS OF BATMAN – premieres on Saturday, February 12, 1977 on the CBS television network. The series would consist of 12 episodes ending its short run on May 28, 1977. Adam West and Burt Ward returned to voice Batman and Robin respectively.
1977 was a great and life-changing year for this Batman fan – but not a good one for this Elvis fan.
My most vivid Bat-Memories of ’77 are the beginning of the Englehart/Rogers run on DETECTIVE COMICS and the Saturday morning cartoon, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN.
While I was first acquainted with the “dark and serious Batman” via Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams a few years earlier with BATMAN #251, it was the “Strange Apparitions” story arc in DETECTIVE that really and truly turned me on to “The Dark Knight.”
I clearly remember how strange it was for me to watch the new animated Batman “cartoon” on Saturday mornings and then compare its tone to how the character was being portrayed in the comics.
Looking back, 1977 was the year that I turned my back on my first Batman – the 1960s Adam West TV series. It would take three decades for me to realize and come to grips with my mistake. – Bill “Jett” Ramey