“No, I was Catwoman, not Poison Ivy!”
The Secret Lives Of Julie Newmar #0
Bluewater Productions (September, 2012)
“Time Has Come Today”
WRITERS: Marc Shapiro & Julie Newmar
ARTIST: Emiliano Urdinola
LOGO DESIGN: Adam Ellis
COVER ART: Joe Philips
LETTERER: Warren Montgomery
EDITOR: Bea Kimera
This is a preview for the full comic, as Julie Newmar joined Adam West (I’ve reviewed all the issues of The Mis-Adventures Of Adam West I own), and both later joined by Dirk Benedict (I have one issue digital, also reviewed), in having some kind of wacky adventures tied to their previous acting career. Adam West was bouncing through the multiverse while Dirk Benedict ended up on an alien planet. For Newmar, it’s time travel. While working in her garden, her rather evil-looking lawn gnome opens up and drags her into the past, where she’s 28 and wearing the Catwoman costume from her time on Batman. She arrives in the offices of Hour Glass, a time-travel project formed while trying to calculate escape velocity during the space race. JFK was on board and kept Hour Glass a secret until his assassination…and apparently Julie was the first test subject!
I forget, did Burt Ward get one of these? I know she’s the only villain actor from the show with her own book. This was an odd trend Bluewater was getting into, after Adam West’s comic where relived past movies got a small audience but it didn’t last all that long. It is interesting that Newmar herself is a co-writer. I just looked through my old reviews and Adam West was just listed as a co-creator on his while Benedict was a co-writer, probably to get his voice right. I guess West was either more trusting or not as shrewd with the contract. I’m not sure how many more of these they made but even if they didn’t run out of actors they would run out of concepts.
As for this one, it’s a silly story, but so were the other two and at least we got an explanation right away. If you were a Julie Newmar fan back in the day you might like this book but beyond the premise all we have are promo art, including one where she and West appear ready to punch each other. What is Newmar supposed to do in this series besides go back to being 28 in the past? The book doesn’t really tell you. So I don’t know how good this is as a series because I only know half the concept. Was she supposed to be a time travel agent? Would she be struggling to get home? Would it be a Quantum Leap deal where she had to write other people’s mistakes, and is she in her own body or does she simply become the age she was in that time period? (Better not go too far back if that’s the case.)
Basically what we have is half the concept so I don’t know if newer readers would enjoy the story whether they know who she is or not. That’s not a sign of a good preview I’m afraid. Anyone read the full series? How was it?
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