1966 O-Pee-Chee Batman #9A Knighting a Thief Batman Puzzle Back Canadian Red Bat

Description

1966 O-Pee-Chee Batman #9A Knighting a Thief Batman Puzzle Back Canadian Red Bat A suit of armor topples in mid-clatter while a green-suited thief flails beneath it, and that single frozen gag makes this one of the most charmingly theatrical paintings in the 1966 Batman series. The front shows Batman sweeping through the Gotham City Museum's Medieval Room as the armored figure crashes down on the escaping crook, the teal backdrop and tumbling helmet delivering real comic timing beneath the red bat title emblem of the Red Bat A Series. Released as the second Batman set of 1966 after the 55 card Black Bat issue, the 44 card series blended the television show's wink-wink humor with Norman Saunders style painted action, producing cards that feel like storyboard panels from episodes that never aired. The historical backdrop is the famous Batmania wave. The Adam West and Burt Ward series premiered on ABC in January of 1966, became a twice weekly primetime sensation, and launched a merchandising boom that carried Batman onto every product category imaginable, while the Grammy nominated theme and that summer's Batman movie kept the fever climbing. O-Pee-Chee's licensed Canadian printing brought the set to Canadian collectors, and the vertical T. C. G. PTD. IN CANADA credit on the reverse identifies this example as the genuine Canadian edition that parallels the American Topps issue. The reverse caption sets the scene: word reached Batman that a thief was hidden in the Gotham City Museum, and arriving with Robin, the Caped Crusader searched the museum, located the intruder in the Medieval Room and foiled his escape, a neat museum mystery resolved in classic Duo fashion. The back also functions as piece number 9 of 10 in the Batman puzzle, placing it one tile from completion for anyone building the hero's ten piece mosaic portrait. For the collector typing the exact phrase 1966 O-Pee-Chee Batman #9A Knighting a Thief, this listing presents a candid raw single from the Canadian printing, and to be explicit, the reverse is the English language puzzle back of the Canadian O-Pee-Chee issue rather than a bilingual back. the card offers nice gloss and strong color with slight corner blunting, a tiny print defect on the left border, light edge wear and centering that frames the action well, and no creasing is visible in the photos. These are the modest faults of a well preserved sixties card, so our conservative raw estimate of EX 5 positions it as an attractive, affordable example of one of the set's most playful scenes, ideal for set builders and museum of pop culture displays alike. Grade Estimate: EX 5