1966 Topps Batman The Joker #33B Raw Batman Blue Bat B Series

Description

1966 Topps Batman The Joker #33B Raw Batman Blue Bat B Series A garden of geraniums, a gas mask, and Batman reaching for the window frame. This is the 1966 Topps Batman The Joker #33B Raw Batman Blue Bat B Series, card number 33 of the 44 card B Series, and it captures one of the most purely silly moments from the 1960s Batman era. The front banner reads Gassed by a Geranium, and the art shows the Joker's trick in action, with the flower bed in the foreground and the Caped Crusader reacting to the threat at the window above. The back story explains the gag, a visit to a flower show that would unveil a ghastly gesture, because the Joker hated the flowers, but Batman thought it was a gas. It is exactly the kind of light handed, pun driven villainy that made the 66 show a family institution on Sunday evenings, and the scene is one that fans of the original series still bring up when talking about the show's best gags. Topps issued this 44 card Batman B Series in 1966 under license from National Periodical Publications, Inc., the copyright holder of the Batman properties, at the height of the boom created by the Adam West and Burt Ward television series. The set came in three border variations, the Black Bat, the Red Bat, and the Blue Bat, and this copy is the Blue Bat version with its light blue frame. The T. C. G. PTD. IN CANADA marking along the right edge of the reverse identifies the Toronto Card and Game Company as the printer, confirming the Canadian printing. For buyers, that clarification matters, because this is not an O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, and the reverse is English only. The back follows the classic story back layout of the series, with the title, a short synopsis, the collect all 44 line, and a large color art panel, the design that modern checklists call the puzzle back. The Joker is the single most collectible character in the entire DC universe, and vintage Joker cards from the 1960s sit at the top of the want list for most Batman collectors. The 1966 Topps Batman set gives buyers a dozen or more Joker related cards to chase, and the flower gas scene on this #33B is one of the more distinctive of the bunch, because the geranium gag is a scene you do not see on many other cards from the era. The market backs that demand. The Black Bat version of the #1 The Batman has set records at Heritage, the broader 1960s pop culture market keeps expanding, and even worn Blue Bat cards with clear character art continue to find buyers quickly. This copy is the most weathered card of the nine we are listing, and the honest way to sell it is as an affordable, character driven vintage piece with a lot of charm, which is exactly what a lot of casual collectors are looking for when they browse Alex Collect. the front is the weakest of the sheet, with a network of fine wrinkles covering the surface that is most concentrated in the lower half, a vertical crease through the center, a horizontal crease across the middle, a torn missing chunk at the upper right corner with frayed fibers, and damage to the upper right of the blue title banner. All four corners are worn, and the outer margins are frayed and whitened on every side. The reverse is similarly distressed, with a torn missing chunk at the upper left corner that cuts into the GASSED title, a prominent vertical crease running down the center of the red and blue art, a diagonal crease across the lower art, a white scratch on the red band, and frayed whitened edges. This is the classic story back, a Canadian printing marked T. C. G. PTD. IN CANADA, and not an O-Pee-Chee bilingual back. The card is complete and the art is strong, but the corner tears and the wrinkling require a conservative raw VG 3 grade. Grade Estimate: VG 3