Sock! Pow! Zok!

Sock! Pow! Zok! Censored out punches flash across the screen. The Dynamic Duo saves the day.

In 1966, William Dozier was presented with the opportunity to turn comic book star, Batman, into a television show by ABC, a struggling television station at the time, Dozier, who wasn’t a fan of comics, decided that he would look into the idea. Dozier thought of the Batman comics as corny and wanted to portray that same sense of humor in his show. He cast Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as sidekick Robin. At first Dozier was skeptical of how well Adam West would be able to portray the Bat. Then he saw West in a commercial for Nestlé’s Quick where West played a corny character with a James Bond manner. At that moment, Dozier knew that the two would make for the perfect Dynamic Duo because they were both able to say and do corny things so seriously that it was actually funny. Now Dozier just had to find the right people, who were equally as entertaining as the Duo, to play the villains. Cesar Romero was cast as The Joker, Burgess Meredith as The Penguin, and Frank Gorshin as The Riddler.

Everyone worried that the show would be a flop, but it wasn’t. It was actually quite successful. The show ran for three seasons from 1966 to 1968 and was turned into a movie July 30^th 1966.

The show conjured up a lot of attention, appealing to both young kids and their parents. But was Batman always a character who appealed to adults? The answer is no.

In the 1950’s Americans thought comics brought on juvenile delinquency, which was a huge issue at the time. Parents were strongly influenced by German psychiatrist, Dr. Frederick Wertham’s, book Seduction of the Innocent. The book went on to say how bad comics were for children because they showcased poor role models and homosexuals like Batman and Robin. By this point in time, comic book readers were more focused on romance writings and were already paying less attention to Batman. So were these children really being delinquents because of comics such as Heart Throbs and Cinderella Love? Probably not. Nonetheless, parents forced children to give up their comic books, some even going to the extent to burn them in fires. With the ongoing issue of child behave and its link to comics, public hearings were set up in towns across the nation. Americans tried to rid the nation of comic books completely. To keep from going extinct, publishers set up a system called Comics Code Authority, which restricted the freedom of comic writers. Batman comics suffered because writers felt forced to write dry, unentertaining stories that bored both readers as well as themselves. This failing comic is what brought on the idea of the television show in an attempt to revive the Bat.

Comics Code Authority: http://www.comicartville.com/comicscode.htm

Ironic, isn’t it? That in order for comic books to be published and for parents to be okay with their children reading them, comics had to be approved by the Comics Code Authority, a system developed by comic book publishers and writers… So the same people parents were fighting became the people parents looked for approval from.

But really, how could parents hate a crime-stopping bat that is dead set against killing and throws punches blurred out by flashy “Bat-fight” words?

For those who don’t know what “Bat-fight” words are, here are a list of 85 of them that were used in the Batman television show and film starring Adam West:

1. AIEEE!
2. AIIEEE!
3. ARRGH!
4. AWK!
5. AWKKKKKK!
6. BAM!
7. BANG!
8. BANG-ETH!
9. BIFF!
10. BLOOP!
11. BLURP!
12. BOFF!
13. BONK!
14. CLANK!
15. CLANK-EST!
16. CLASH!
17. CLUNK!
18. CLUNK-ETH!
19. CRRAACK!
20. CRASH!
21. CRRAACK!
22. CRUNCH!
23. CRUNCH-ETH!
24. EEE-YOW!
25. FLRBBBBB!
26. GLIPP!
27. GLURPP!
28. KAPOW!
29. KAYO!
30. KER-SPLOOSH!
31. KERPLOP!
32. KLONK!
33. KLUNK!
34. KRUNCH!
35. OOOFF!
36. OOOOFF!
37. OUCH!
38. OUCH-ETH!
39. OWWW!
40. OW-ETH
41. PAM!
42. PLOP!
43. POW!
44. POWIE!
45. QUNCKKK!
46. RAKKK!
47. RIP!
48. SLOSH!
49. SOCK!
50. SPLATS!
51. SPLATT!
52. SPLOOSH!
53. SWAAP!
54. SWISH!
55. SWOOSH!
56. THUNK!
57. THWACK!
58. THWACKE!
59. THWAPE!
60. THWAPP!
61. UGGH!
62. URKKK!
63. VRONK!
64. WHACK!
65. WHACK-ETH!
66. WHAM-ETH!
67. WHAMM!
68. WHAMMM!
69. WHAP!
70. Z-ZWAP!
71. ZAM!
72. ZAMM!
73. ZAMMM!
74. ZAP!
75. ZAP-ETH
76. ZGRUPPP!
77. ZLONK!
78. ZLOPP!
79. ZLOTT!
80. ZOK!
81. ZOWIE!
82. ZWAPP!
83. ZZWAP!
84. ZZZZWAP!
85. ZZZZZWAP!