The Zodiac Crimes The Zodiac Crimes "The Zodiac Crimes" is the 71st episode of the "Batman" television series. It first aired on ABC January 11, 1967 in its second season and repeated June 14, 1967. The first of a three-part story, it was dubbed a ""Batman" special", simultaneously celebrating the show's one-year anniversary and helping to open ABC's "second season." It featured both Cesar Romero as The Joker and Burgess Meredith as The Penguin (dubbed as an "Extra Special Guest Villain"). The Joker pays a visit to Commissioner James Gordon's office at Police HQ and swipes a rare art map. Alerted, Batman and
Joker (character) gore, innuendo and excessive violence, stripping Batman of his menace and transforming the Joker into a goofy, thieving trickster without his original homicidal tendencies. The character appeared less frequently after 1964, when Julius Schwartz (who disliked the Joker) became editor of the Batman comics. The character risked becoming an obscure figure of the preceding era until this goofy prankster version of the character was adapted into the 1966 television series "Batman", in which he was played by Cesar Romero. The show's popularity compelled Schwartz to keep the comics in a similar vein. As the show's popularity waned, however, so did