Long before the elaborate blockbuster movies with a variety of superstar actors playing the part, Batman was a hit on the small screen in the 1960’s , thanks to Adam West.

West died Friday in Los Angeles after a brief battle with leukemia.   He was 88.

West’s deadpan delivery made the Caped Crusader’s dialogue unique, especially when it was with his lively and chatty sidekick Robin.

Batman was the first network show to punctuate action scenes with colourful one-word, on-screen exclamations like “Pow,” “Bam” or “Zap.”

The series ran for just three seasons, but was repeated in syndication for decades.

West once said that when he read the pilot script for the show he “found the mix of absurdity and action impossible to resist.”

While he never achieved A-List stardom, West had a legion of fans who love his Batman above all others, and many who watch an animated version of him that he voices in the Fox Television comedy “Family Guy.”