Batman wasn’t always dark and scary.  There was a time when the Dark Knight was more a cuddly, hides in open daytime and a black convertible.  The guilty pleasure of the 1960s featured Adam West and Burt Ward as the unrightfully spandex wearing dynamic duo.  In every episode, Commissioner Gordon reported a major crime on the Bat-phone.  West and Ward sprang into action, sliding down their not-at-all homoerotic Bat-poles, instantly changing from suits to spandex.  And then the heroics begin.

The popular series became the standard reference for everything comic books from Bat-named everything to corny sound effects during fight scenes.  Batman comics even copied the campy show to capitalize on the show’s success.

The show ended and Batman comics (thankful) returned to their dark, morbid roots, but the Adam West Batman remains an embarrassment and guilty pleasure of geeks all around.  It’s embarrassing cause newspapers can’t write an article about comic books without Bam, Zip, Kerpow in the headline.  And it’s a guilty pleasure cause, well, of Bat-shark repellent. Yes, Bat-shark repellent. It’s awesome.