Comic Review: Archie Meets Batman ’66 #1

Archie Meets Batman ‘66 #1

Archie Comics

Writer: Jeff Parker & Michael Moreci

Artist: Dan Parent

Holy boring bovine, Batman! What happens when you take the 1966 Batman TV show and mix it with Archie and his friends? You get this book, obviously. You’d think that there’d be plenty of laughs to be had in a crossover of this caliber. I mean…You’d think so. Archie Meets Batman ‘66 #1 (holy mumbling mandibles batman!) is more on the boring side than I expected.

Poison Ivy attacks the 1966 World’s Science fair but of course, the daring dynamic duo of Batman and Robin can stop her. Meanwhile, a variety of villainous evildoers plan new dastardly deeds for the city of Riverdale. The only person who takes notice, Veronica Lodge, contacts the Batcave to get help for the city.

The story itself is pretty straightforward so far. Besides Poison Ivy attacking the science fair, nothing much happens. There’s mostly just character introductions. But even a casual comic fan would know every character here, there are no deep cuts. From what I’ve seen, the characters themselves are captured pretty well from the Batman TV show. Archie and his friends as well seem in character. It’s just that nothing interesting really happens. Besides Batman, every character is on one or two pages, due to the comic jumping through different settings. Archie, one of the title characters, is only in here for one or two pages.

The most interesting character is Veronica, and that’s because she’s the only one who notices something off about a couple of people in Riverdale. Batman is a close second, but he just does the Batman thing and stops Poison Ivy. I would’ve expected the writers, Jeff Parker and Michael Moreci, to lean into the campiness of the 1960’s Batman. It’s just not there.

The art is the best part of this comic. It’s all drawn well, and the colors pop. The Batman characters all look good in this Archie kind of style. The costumes and designs are straight from the TV show, the Joker even has the mustache under the white face paint. Dan Parent is a longtime artist for Archie comics, so Archie and everyone else looks right at home in this. I don’t really have any complaints about the art.

Overall, this comic is not as good as it could have been. The art is enjoyable, and the Batman characters look good. The story is just… boring. It’s very straightforward and besides one or two funny moments, it stays bland the whole way through. I’m sure I’ll be reading the next issue if only to see Archie and Batman interact, but my expectations aren’t high.