There have been quite a few celebrities pass away over the past year or so that I had a great admiration for. I wish I had gotten around to making comics for a lot of them. Harold Ramis specifically comes to mind, but this past weekend we lost Adam West and it struck me so particularly hard that I just couldn’t let the time slip away. When I was very small my older brother and I would run around in our underwear, donning capes that our aunt made for us, and sunglasses in place of masks. We were pretending to be Batman and Robin, but more specifically we were the Batman and Robin portrayed by Adam West and Burt Ward. When we played Ghostbusters, we were just random Ghostbusters. I don’t recall my brothers and I ever getting specific about which one of us would be Venkman or Stanz, even though we loved all those poltergeist punching palookas, but long before I ever picked up a comic book I only knew Batman as Adam West, so if my brother was Batman, he was Adam West. I looked up to both of them and they both taught me a little bit about being a solid citizen.
Unfortunately I never got a chance to meet Mr. West but most of the stories I’ve heard paint him as a kind and congenial sort and I found that always shone through in his work. Whether he was horizontally scaling a building or being generally insane as a cartoon mayor, he never ceased to entertain me. His guest appearance on Batman: The Animated Series, as the Gray Ghost, remains one of my favorite episodes. So, it’s with a heavy heart that I try to pay tribute, in what small way I’m able, to a man who brought me so much entertainment and joy. Goodbye Mr.West, may the next life be one big Batusi.
