batman

In the most fitting tribute imaginable, the Bat-Signal lit up the skies of Los Angeles last night, in honor of the late Adam West, the first Batman of television, and one of the most beloved versions of the iconic Dark Knight (or the “Bright Knight,” as West liked to describe his more upbeat version of the character). West died of leukemia late last week; he was 88 years old.

Here’s how thoroughly Batman’s influence has permeated the mainstream: he’s claimed tacit ownership of the very notion of shining a light into the sky. The Bat-Signal, introduced in the comics as Gotham City’s method of summoning the Dark Knight, has been endlessly parodied in the annals of pop-culture — just earlier this month, the poster for Captain Underpants paid homage to the iconic (a word I mean here literally, and not in the ‘a photo of the Kardashians’ sense) design of the skyward spotlight. And all too appropriately, the Bat-Signal will now be used to give one former Batman, the dearly departed Adam West, a proper send-off.

We’re still reeling from the loss of Adam West, TV’s original Batman and “Bright Knight” icon of superhero fans. The actor lost a battle with leukemia this weekend, and now Batman co-stars Julie Newmar and Burt Ward weigh in, along with Family Guy producers and many more.

Adam West, star of the 1960's 'Batman' TV series, died on June 9.

Between the epic run of Game of Thrones and the impressive first season of Westworld, odds are good that you’re currently rocking an annual subscription to HBO or HBOGo. Few networks are still in the business of appointment television, but with social media sites like Twitter exploding into a flurry of spoilers after each new episode of both shows, fans are finding that their only real options are to watch on time or to not watch at all. In fact, we can sometimes get so caught up in the flurry of long-form television that we forget that HBO has some pretty darn good movies, too.

FOX’s Gotham has delved even deeper into Batman’s beginnings in recent weeks by the additions of Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange and more, while li’l Bruce Wayne and Gordon’s journeys are only just beginning. FOX has officially renewed its Bat-prequel drama for a third season, airing this fall.

The time is once again here for Thanksgiving in America, and while most of us just use the holiday as an excuse to binge on turkey, there is a deeper meaning behind it. It's the day that we set aside to honor the time that the Native Americans helped out the Pilgrims, who would not have otherwise survived the harsh winter in their new home. Things eventually turned pretty sour between the two groups, but that first Thanksgiving stands as a testament to the power of people helping each other through the rough times. However, Batman apparently never got the memo about brotherhood and equality, which is why a 1954 story in Detective Comics #205 found the Dark Knight traveling back in time to drop the hammer on Gotham City's indigenous population in the name of Bat-Imperialism and discovering "The Origin of the Bat-Cave!" It's one of our favorite crazy stories, and we're rerunning this classic Bizarro Back Issues feature this week in honor of the occasion.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our years on the Internet, it’s that there’s no aspect of comics that can’t be broken down and quantified in a single definitive list, preferably in amounts of five or ten. And since there’s no more definitive authority than ComicsAlliance, we’re taking it upon ourselves to compile Top Five lists of everything you could ever want to know about comics. As we all know, comics, and especially superhero comics, are gratuitously violent slugfests that corrupt the morals of children by telling them that we can solve all our problems with our fists and/or lasers. As such, there have been literally tens of thousands of punches thrown across the history of the superhero, and what I have done here is diligently scoured and subsequently rated each one on a 100-point scale so that I might objectively rate the five very best, rather than just writing about five different punches that seemed especially notable to me at the time I was composing this script, which I definitely did not do. No sir.

FOX’s Gotham detects its 17th installment in “Red Hood,” as a string of bank robberies brings citywide attention to a masked criminal group, while Alfred suspects something amiss about his old friend's return, and Fish lays eyes on her mysterious captor.

The 1966 Batman television show was one of the most successful and influential adaptations of comic books to mass media of all time. Over the course of three seasons and 120 episodes, the series became a cultural force with its unique combination of tongue-in-cheek humor, thrilling superhero adventure and celebrity guest stars, and shaped the way the public would view the Caped Crusader for the next five decades. Now, in the midst of a well-deserved renaissance of the show, ComicsAlliance is proud to present The Batman '66 Episode Guide, an in-depth examination of every single adventure, arch-criminal and deathtrap cliffhanger of the series. This week, the Joker launches an unstoppable crimewave that hits below the belt!

A few weeks back, we heard that Ryan Gosling went in to meet about a possible role in WB's 'Suicide Squad' film, but it wasn't clear which role that might have been, as details about which characters might be featured in the movie are still a mystery. According to the latest report, Jared Leto is now up for that role -- and that role could very well be The Joker, Batman's longtime nemesis.

Coming to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio in 2015, it's the world's first 4D Free Fly Roller Coaster. "Batman the Ride" is guaranteed to rock you, roll you, spin you, and twist you up so much they should just call it the "barfanator".