Batman: The Contaminated Cowl & The Mad Hatter Runs Afoul

The Contaminated Cowl

"He'd stop at nothing to add that cowl to his horrific horde of headpieces."

So, after a ridiculously busy 1966, Batman gives us its opening two parter of 1967, a momentous year for many reasons, but while a new year can bring change it's a relief hat, after a variable few episodes we have some solidity. This two parter may not be up there with the very best, but it's a good 'un, and it's a real joy to see David Wayne back, and if anything even better, in the second and sadly final appearance of the Mad Hatter.

After a splendid opening scenes where the Mad Hatter gets some cool lines as he steals 70 hat boxes, we get another laugh about Warden Crichton's very progressive penal policies as we hear how the aforementioned Jervis Tetch made his escape. But this time the focus is very much on Batman's cowl, after which the Mad Hatter will conclude his splendid collection of headgear (we see a few interesting and amusing exhibits, of course) and instead, er, use hats to steal other things.

There's a lot of nonsense about radioactivity, and a silly radioactive cliffhanger, but frankly who cares. We get Batman with a pink cowl(!) and a villain who, unlike last week, gets plenty of chances to be cool and show off. I'm enjoying this.


The Mad Hatter Runs Afoul

"Jervis, you sound like the Joker, the Puzzler or even the Riddler."

"Those phonies?"

It's hilarious how the fake deaths of the Dynamic Duo cause such intense and international mourning, with appropriate stock footage and just the right amount of bathos. World leaders and crowds show their respects, while Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara cry on one another's shoulders. The cliffhanger resolution is, of course, as silly as the very atomic age cliffhanger (old hat by 1967, pun intended?) itself, but very much played as such.

The faking of the Duos' death is played for its full amusing potential before the final confrontation with a desperate Tetch, his hat having blown off in the wind. There is perhaps not as much sense of threat this episode as there could have been, but it would be churlish not to admit how much fun this two parter has been. David Wayne and the Mad Hatter will both be missed.

Batman: The Thirteenth Hat & Batman Stands Pat

The Thirteenth Hat

“There’s been a kidnapping. And a hatnapping...”

Another episode and another new villain in Jervis Tetch, aka the Mad Hatter, played with splendidly camp aplomb by David Wayne. It’s instructive how all the villains so far, including Zelda (albeit with a gender swap) have been taken from the comics and this story is straight from an issue a few years previous. It may be 1966, and John F Kennedy may have supposedly caused the rapid fall of headgear from men’s fashion, but that needn’t get in the way of a good story- so Tetch can steal all the hats of the jurors who last convicted him. And their owners. And I love how everyone always refers to the hats being stolen before adding the owners as an afterthought.

Everything about this is awesome, up to and including David Wayne’s mannered pronunciation of “hat factory”. And even the rubbishness of this supposed death trap for Batman, in reality rather flimsy, just adds to the considerable fun. How can an episode consisting mainly of people being zapped by a Super Instant Mesmeriser pipping our of a top hat be anything but awesome? Even the extras are funny little characters, from the bimbo to the snobbish old lady insisting that “the communists” have something to do with this.

I suppose the cliffhanger could be better- quick drying plaster of Paris? But this is a splendid way to spend twenty-five minutes.


Batman Stands Pat

“I simply held my breath!”

Gaze upon the five words immediately above. Because they comprise Batman’s only explanation for how he survived being stuck in plaster of Paris for minutes on end. This made me laugh out loud, and from now on this episode can do no wrong.

The Caped Crusadets have had a bit of a rubbish detective week but finally work out what going on, coming up with a plan which even gives Alfred a bit of a fun comedy scene with another funny little character destined to be Tetch’s last victim. Batman seems almost manic in his determination to have the Mad Hatter “hoist on to his own petard”.

The concluding fight is one of the most well-choreographed we’ve seen, and more than usually entertaining. This has been one of the best two parters so far, and I’m hugely looking forward to seeing the Mad Hatter again- so far, only Zelda and the Riddler have been better.