Batman ’66 #6 – Review

By: Tom Pever & Jeff Parker (story), Ty Templeton & Ted Naifeh (art), Tony Aviña (colors)

The Story: The evil Bookwork demonstrates the danger of reading.

The Review: Fun fact about me: I’m an addict for PBS kids’ shows.  I’m particularly fond of Wordgirl, which combines three of my favorite things into one show: superheroes, vocabulary, and self-aware humor.  One of its most endearing features is the supervillains, each of whom comes with his or her own gimmick which dictates their crimes.  Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy, for example, spends the bulk of his time harassing delis and grocery stores.

This might explain why I seem so inordinately entertained by the villains on this series.  Of course, it helps when the writer finds a way to spin what could otherwise be a rather predictable obsession.  Bookworm, for example, sets his sights beyond the library tomes for weirder, less expected targets.  At the suggestion that he’s out to steal Bruce’s ceremonial check for a literacy charity, Bookworm sneers, “I don’t want your giant check…I want your giant checkbook!”