Robert Garcia of Woodstock takes readers to the Batcave, the Batmobile and everywhere else on the set of the classic “Batman” television series with a new coffee table book.

Wonder how that carnival look of the 1960s show was created? Among other things, they color coordinated the lights to bring out the color in the costumes. It was green and lavender for The Joker. The Riddler? “His green was much more prominent,” Garcia said.

Garcia’s research spans years, with his knowledge – in the words of Robin – just calling for a “holy” in front of it.

He co-authored “Batman: A Celebration of the Classic TV Series” with Joe Desris of Kenosha, Wisconsin, known as having had one of the largest Batman collections ever amassed.

Many of his never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes photographs – depicting everything from the creation of the show in 1966 through its production of 120 episodes in three seasons – along with information garnered from Garcia’s interviews with most of those involved with the series create an in-depth overview of the show.

It’s one for the true fans, said Garcia, who was asked to create the book – released in November – by Titan Books based on work he’d done with Desris in the 1990s for “Cinefantastique,” a horror, fantasy and science fiction film magazine.

The two collaborated on an extensive “Cinefantastique” cover story about the “Batman” TV show and have become known as experts on the subject, with Desris also writing about Batman for numerous books and magazines and his now-sold collection – “somebody eventually gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse” – featured on radio and television and in newspapers and magazines worldwide.

“We generated so much material, we thought, ‘This isn’t all going to fit [in an article]. We should do a book,’ ” said Desris, who remembers collecting comic books and Batman bubble gum cards and clipping out the Batman comic strip in The Chicago Tribune as a kid, clips he still has today.

“We have the equivalent of a three-volume set,” he said of the material he and Garcia have gathered. “I think people will see things they haven’t seen before and maybe be able to read stories they haven’t heard before [in the new book].”

The two have followed Batman since those campy television years through his darker days in a trilogy starring Christian Bale to today’s box office-leading “Lego Batman.” (Garcia, by the way, didn’t expect to appreciate the latest Batman rendition. He was wrong. Seeing it with his wife this week, he said, “We laughed so much we couldn’t hear all the rapid-fire dialogue.”)

The depictions, for the most part, all reflect the Batmans before them, Garcia said, with the darker Batman growing out of fans’ aversion to the more light-hearted depiction in the series.

Still, it all began with Adam West’s portrayal of Batman in that original television series.

“Before the TV show, no one knew who Batman was,” Garcia said. “There was even talk of canceling the ‘Batman’ comic strip. … The television show, like the TV show for ‘Superman’ 10 years before, made these characters name brands, made them household names.”

As his book and Garcia tell it, television networks were looking for “stunt shows,” as they called them, pulling from pop culture and creating shows around them. It also was a time when color television was taking off.

“The idea was they were going to put the most garish, wow, attention-grabbing colors on the screen to blow everyone away,” Garcia said. “People today still look at it ... It’s a beautiful television show to watch.”

Promoted heavily at the time, even in Super Bowl ads, the show attracted the young, while its humor drew in college students “right at the end of that bobby sock, drag-racing era.”

The villains looked like they stepped out of the comic strip, Garcia said. Each villain even had his or her own theme music.

It was a time when the television studio was desperate for hit programming, Garcia said. “It was like tumbleweeds were going across the lots,” he said. Those behind “Batman” had access to all sorts of props and talent, both on screen and off.

The book talks about the four Batmobiles used for the television show, including drag-racer versions, as well as the “Batclimb,” in which the characters walked on a floor angled to look like they were walking up a wall.

“Even the Batcave was revolutionary,” Garcia said, adding it was the first use of polystyrene to give an effect of the cave being underground. In the show, entry was gained by flipping a switch hidden inside a bust of William Shakespeare.

“We got a ton of material, and we put a small fraction of it inside this book when we actually look at what we’ve gathered as far as information,” said Garcia, who hasn’t ruled out future books on the topic.

As far as today’s Batman, including the one voiced by Will Arnett in “Lego Batman” – perhaps an attempt to once again lighten up the character after years of a dark Batman – the authors say they’re just pleased to see Batman still getting his time in the spotlight.

“They’re all interesting, and they all have their, I suppose, more interesting aspects,” Desris said of the various Batmans. “Some Batmans don’t work as well… It’s all still Batman.”

“BATMAN: A CELEBRATION OF THE CLASSIC TV SERIES” BOOK SIGNING AND Q&A

WHEN: 3 p.m. March 11

WHERE: Barnes & Noble, 5380 Route 14, Crystal Lake

INFO: Book authors Robert Garcia of Woodstock and Joe Desis of Kenosha, Wisconsin, are part of "Lego Batman Movie Days" at the book store. At 2 p.m. Feb. 25 as part of a LEGO Batman Movie Event at the store, children are invited to enjoy giveaways of trading cards, make-and-play-themed moments with Lego bricks and blocks and more. At 2 p.m. March 11, children will be able to help Batman protect Gotham from the Joker by making their own LEGO Batman Speedwagon. Kids also can collect limited edition trading cards featuring characters from the movie. Information: 815-444-0824 or find Barnes & Noble (Crystal Lake) on Facebook.