ZLONK ZOK ZOWIE EXCLUSIVE Interview With Contributor And Crazy 8 Press Co-Founder Bob Greenberger

Batman fans now have a brand new book to check out, especially if they like the 1966 series featuring Adam West and Burt Ward. Crazy 8 Press published Jim Beard's (Gotham City: 14 Miles) new book yesterday, Zlonk Zok Zowie: The Subterranean Blue Grotto Guide to Batman '66 - Season One, and we had the amazing opportunity to speak with Co-Founder Bob Greenberger, who also contributed to the book.

Greenberger previously made a contribution to Jim Beard's Gotham City: 14 Miles, which is said to be a "side-prequel" to Zlonk Zok Zowie. This time, however, Greenberger assisted Beard by publishing the book through the company he co-founded, Crazy 8 Press, as well as handling a chapter in the new book. Their relationship is solid and looking to continue accross the entire series which will span three seasons, just like Batman '66, the show that inspired the work to begin with.

Take a look at what the Greenberger had to say below!

Joe: I understand you are the co-founder of Crazy 8 Press, but can I ask what your exact contribution is to this book?

Bob Greenberger: I contributed to the Gotham City: 14 Miles book because like Jim this was fundamental to my growing up and it was a treat to do and when Jim invited me to do Volume One I was thrilled and then when I saw that he was intending to self-publish it occured to me that Crazy 8 has already done a previous anthology of comic book related essays and I thought this could be a good add-on to this portion of releases and I also thought Jim deserved the members of Crazy 8 supporting him and going to our own social circles to promote the book. Because getting noticed is incredibly difficult and yes it’s Batman and yes it’s a Batman tv show so it’s going to get that much more attention but it’s easily overlook if you don’t scream loud enough from enough mountaintops. So we just wanted to support him.

Joe: Do you feel like your work on other Batman work has helped inspire what you put into this project?

Bob Greenberger: Well, yeah, I mean growing up it used to be said you fell into one camp or the other -- Superman or Batman. And even though Superman was the first comic book I was ever given, I always gravitated more to Batman which has been great for my career because I got to help Len Wein on the Batman books editorially, and then I got to do The Batman Encyclopedia and The Batman Vault and some kids books so Batman has definitely been a key part of my life. So yes that affection for the character and this tv show definitely helped.

The fact that Jim gave me King Tut, one of my favorite villains, was terrific. There was something really charismatic about that performance and you know King Tut wasn’t a character in the comics so he really left an impression on my mind. And then I saw Victor Buono as a guest star on other tv shows growing up and he was a terrific guest on the Johnny Carson show. I just have this deep affection for Victor Buono as this really amazing performer. It’s a shame he died young.

Joe: Did you say if you’re going to contribute to the next two as well?

Bob Greenberger: Yes! Basically Jim has no choice. I’ll be back in book two. Now that Crazy 8 Press involved Jim was nice enough to extend an invitation to most of the current members of the team to contribute to Volume 2. That’s actually another reason why Crazy 8 is involved is to make sure we stay involved.

Joe: Can you say which episode you got for Season 2?

Bob Greenberger: It’s a Catwoman two-parter but it’s the one which features pop star Leslie Gore. I knew the Green Hornet episode would be heavily requested so I veered away. It’s Green Hornet and Kato and secondly it’s Roger C. Carmel who is an amazing character actor.

 What do you make of Bob's comments? Will you be reading Zlonk Zok Zowie: The Subterranean Blue Grotto Guide to Batman '66? Check out the cover art and synopsis below, and let us know if you plan on picking this book up in the usual spot!

 

Zlonk Zok Zowie: The Subterranean Blue Gotto Guide to Batman '66 Season One contains essays from Crazy 8’s Greenberger and long-time comic book writer Paul Kupperberg, in addition to frequent Crazy 8 contributors Keith DeCandido, Will Murray, and Dayton Ward. Other ZLONK! ZOK! ZOWIE! contributors include long-time Batman writer Chuck Dixon, comics historian Peter Sanderson, ComicMix contributor Ed Catto, 13 th Dimension.com’s Dan Greenfield, the Batcave Podcast’s John S. Drew, Rich Handley, Alan J. Porter, Pat Evans, Steve Thompson, Mark B. Racop, Joe Crowe, and, Chris Franklin.