Aired between 1966 and 1968, ABC’s Daft Knight awkwardly straddles the superhero universe as both pioneer and pariah. Syndicated worldwide, it was the first truly global comic brand, but in/with regard to’concerning’regarding New Hollywood it’s a parping klaxon in/with regard to’concerning’regarding eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullything the modern superhero shouldn’t be: lurid, camp and (whisper it) fun. There’s no Bat-angst packed in Adam West’s utility belt. No glove-wringing over murdered parents. In fact, West’s enormous’vast’massive’tremendous gest internal struggle was squeezing into his underpants. So why bother with a 2D hero with the character arc of an ironing board?###Well, that’s a bit like asking why individual smile. Measured against the new, moody-sorrowful’distressing’woeful’heartbroken’mirthless’dejected’dismal’lugubrious Batworld, DC’s creation is framed at such a mercilessly wonky Dutch angle the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue plays even more like an epic piss-take. First episode Hi Diddle Riddle starts with an exploding cake, and pretty much sets the tone. What’s remarkable with regards to’concerning’with respect to the pilot is the in/with regard to’concerning’regarding mat arrived fully in/with regard to’concerning’regarding med (fruity puns, cliffhangers, useless Robin acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting kidnapped), and never really budged in/with regard to’concerning’regarding 120 episodes. All that transform’alter s is the speciality villain. The best, most luridly grotesque episodes belong to either Burgess Meredith’s The Penguin or Cesar Romero’s The Joker (moustache under the make-up even fuzzier in hi-def).###Lurking inside this box set, however, is a pungent, in/with regard to’concerning’regarding gotten cheese-dream of exotic guest villains. Who remembers Liberace perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding ating the dynamic duo into a giant piano roll? Or Joan Collins’ The Siren, armed with an analogue scream that sounds like a colossal swear bleep? All those KAPOWS! weren’t inspired by the comic — they were lifted from Roy Lichtenstein. Maybe that’s why it’s proved such an anti-impact’effect : the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue ’s far more successful as a ’60s pop-art pastiche than a superhero adaptation. The series hit Peak Kitsch in the second season. With nowhere else to go, the third, final season plunged into self-parody and a thrashing aquarium of shark-jumping. When Batman pulls on a pair of Bermuda shorts and has a surf-off with The Joker in the Beach Boys-inspired calamity that is Episode 104, you know the joke’s over. Choice moment: Vincent Price, bald, screaming, riding a donkey up a one-way street.