Batman Vs. Two-Face (2017)

As someone who grew up in the 1960s one of my favourite Gothic gateways was the Adam West Batman series. It had everything a darkling child could possibly want; a masked hero, sinister villains, mad science, a great car and action packed punch ups. As I grew to realise when I was a touch older, the reason my mother was watching the show with me was because it was also packed with wickedly subversive wit and camp humour and a host of Hollywood big names queuing up to fill the villainous shoes of Gotham City’s criminal community .

Sadly in 1968 West’s Batman was cancelled after just a mere 120 episodes over three seasons (boo!). Subsequent incarnations of the character have been much darker both on-screen and in print, but now West (In his final role) is reunited with Burt Ward as his trusty sidekick Robin and back in 1960’s Gotham City for Batman Vs. Two-Face the sequel to 2016’s animated Batman:Return of the Caped Crusaders. Joining the voices of West and Ward is that of Julie Newmar who was always my favourite Catwoman and she’s just as slinky and sensuous here (Calm down boy). And as if that isn’t batastic enough for you William Shatner is along for the ride as twisted super villain Harvey Dent/Two Face facing off to West’s Batman for the very first time.

Joining forces with Dent are some nicely replicated classic villains including; Romero’s Joker, Frank Gorshin’s Riddler, Burgess Meredith’s Penguin, Roddy McDowell’s Bookworm and Victor Buono’s King Tut. West, Ward and Newmar still spark off each other, the camp humour buzzes, Batman is still concerned about safety belts and eating vegetables, there are a whole bunch of barely concealed movie Easter Eggs and a fabulous tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. In short its a whole bunch of retro fun. 666/666

Batman Vs. Two-Face is out now in the UK on VOD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray Steelbook and DVD

Blu-ray extras include, interviews with Burt Ward (he even geta a plug in for his dog food brand) and Julie Newmar, the Adam West Tribute Panel from the 2017 Comic-Con International and a trailer for a far darker Batman animation.