Speak to you again on Monday.
Yes, I have turned this whole thing upside down today, putting the final things I normally say last, first.
I just felt like it, and it isn't even April Fool's Day yet.
But anyway, I know we have a new Batman/Superman movie out, and it even includes Wonder Woman, and it leads up to the Justice League on screen, and the movie will probably make millions, and that it all fine and good, and , and, and ...
George Reeves and Adam West remain Superman and Batman to me, and they always will.
I am a Baby Boomer, and proud of it.
If you are a Baby Boomer, sure, other actors have filled the bill, and some have done it quite well--Christopher Reeve, for one--but I grew up with George Reeves and Adam West in those roles, and I am not going to give them up just because other actors have portrayed the two greatest comic book heroes of all time since then.
These two actors were perfectly cast for their roles--as were those filling the other roles and their respective TV shows--and they portrayed these heroes the way I like them to be portrayed, as beings with nerves of steel, not as the brooding wooses that they are portrayed as today.
Sure, the George Reeves Superman and the Adam West Batman had feelings--certainly when it came to Lois Lane and Catwoman, respectively--but when it came to crime fighting, nothing stood in their way.
As a former comic book collector of long standing, that is how I liked my heroes. They didn't have to duplicate real people, because, well, they simply weren't real people.
They were heroes, period, existed because they were heroes, and they stood fast and tall and honored the American way of life.
Today they are petulant, self absorbed, and well, weaker than they once were.
No, that is not how I want Superman and Batman to be.
I want them to be strong, fierce and unrelenting.
And I want them to have at least a tinge of humor about themselves and their situations.
And I want them to have at least a tinge of humor about themselves and their situations.
Funny, the way these heroes are portrayed today, versus the way they were portrayed when George Reeves and Adam West had these roles, kind of parallels the America of then versus the America now.
Yes, this is a stretch, but back then, we were all consuming, probably a bit full of ourselves, but everyone knew what America stood for.
Yes, "truth, justice and the American way."
Yes, "truth, justice and the American way."
Today, we are moody, and I don't think we have the standing around the world that we once had.
Therefore, it makes perfect sense that these two heroes are portrayed the way they are today.
But for me, give me the heroes of yore, give me the America of yore, and that is the way I want it.
Nobody will ever beat George Reeves and Adam West as Superman and Batman, because, as I said before, they stood for the American way, the way I grew up with, and to me, the way it should be, always.
Have a nice Easter and yes, now, I will speak to you again on Monday.
I think you see things through a filter that says "everything from my childhood was better". I'm 3 years younger than you are, I have very strong memories of watching those shows. In fact, my friends used to come to my house to watch Batman because we had a color TV. But when we saw Dawn of Justice last night, I was doing comparisons with Christopher Reeve and Michael Keaton. Good movie, by the way, but it did drag in spots.
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