Adam West, who became the first man to put on the bat suit on in "Batman" in the 1960s TV hit and continued to be one of America’s beloved actors died after a brief battle with leukemia. West’s family first announced the news on Facebook and later thanked his fans saying: "We know you'll miss him too and we want you to know how much your love and support meant to him throughout the years."
As a fan of the 1960s Batman series, I will miss Mr. West. (No, I was not alive for the actual airing of the show.) I did watch the reruns and I loved the comic book feel of the show when they used the “KAPOW!” AND “BAM!” throughout the episodes when Batman would battle the Penguin, the Joker and the other Batman villains. West managed to win the day every time.
West was the first man to bring the comic book hero to the big screen, with a feature film, featuring his trusty sidekick Robin and pitted them against the Joker, The Riddler and Catwoman. Batman would later take a more serious tone when everyone from Val Kilmer to Ben Affleck took their turn to dawn the suit.
Despite West’s amazing career as Batman he struggled to find work and was forced to rely on his cape and vigilante justice at car shows and carnivals. West would later voice the cape crusader in several cartoons including "The Simpsons". However, millennials of today know Adam West as the Mayor of Quahog on Family Guy. Family Guy managed to meld West’s tongue-in-cheek with the dry humor of Family Guy. West talked about his time with "Family Guy" and Seth McFarlane during a 2012 interview with IGN Gaming:
“I had done a pilot with Seth that he had written for me. It turned out we had the same kind of comic sensibilities and got along well,” West said. “When 'Family Guy' came around and Seth became brilliantly successful, he decided to call me and see what I was doing. He asked if I would like to come aboard as the mayor, and I thought it would be neat to do something sort of absurd and fun.”
He capped off his career with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012. Despite his legacy being completed in the '60s, he still found love from fans, when he attended each and every Comic-Con he went to as he got older. West’s family has not publicly announced where he will be buried or cremated at, however, everyone will remember the “same bat time, same bat channel.”
