What Kevin Conroy Meant to Me

-

 


So yesterday it was reported that voice actor Kevin Conroy had passed away on Thursday November 10th. He is most known for voicing Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman the Animated Series. Batman the Animated Series, abbreviated to BTAS by the fans, ran from September 1992 - September 1995. The show won an Emmy for the "Heart of Ice" episode and won over many children's hearts in the 90s. It was my first experience with Batman after Tim Burton's Batman. BTAS was my favorite cartoon of the 90s. BTAS despite being made Kids WB! was mature and surprisingly depth. Though it was not very action-oriented like a DBZ or a straight up comedy like Looney Tunes, it was still able to keep my young mind engaged and offered something more that other cartoons at the time didn't.

Batman in Batman the Animated Series

This was my real introduction into Batman Kevin Conroy's legendary performance along with Mark Hamill's Joker were a major part of it. Batman the Animated Series and X-Men the Animated Series were my gateway into comics, but it was more so BTAS that lead me to it. As of right now I've only read one X-Men comic while most of the comics I've read have been Batman ones with Year One being my second comic ever and every Batman comic I read I hear Kevin Conroy's voice in my head when Batman's on page. His portrayal is embedded in my skull along with Mark Hamill's Joker.

Batman sits with Ace of the Royal Flush Gang in "Epilogue"

Kevin Conroy did not just voice Batman in the animated series either. The show also had three films, Mask of the Phantasm, Subzero, and Mystery of the Batwoman. He was also in the outstanding, phenomenal Justice League and Justice League Unlimited which equally got me into DC comics. He was old Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond, the crossover episodes in Superman the Animated Series, and Static Shock. I stopped watching the Arrow verse a long time ago, but I saw clips that he finally got to play Bruce Wayne in live action. Gaming is my number one geek passion and the moment when Arkham Asylum came out and it brought back Conroy, Hamill, and Paul Dini. It was like it brought back the animated series in video game form and it grew up with me.

Kevin's Batman in Arkham City

Those Arkham games were iconic and it showed after decades of mediocre licensed superhero titles that these games can be good, great actually. I also got pretty heavy into playing fighting games competitively and Conroy was also the voice of Batman in Netherrealm's Injustice games in which Batman was one of my mains. If you watched my YouTube video on ranking every piece of Batman media you would see I had almost every form of media that Conroy voiced in among the top of my rankings. Batman Mask of the Phantasm is still arguably the best Batman film of all time. In the news of his passing I also learned that he is the only openly gay actor to play Batman so he also provided representation on that front. I heard he wrote a piece in DC's Pride comic in which he talks about creating the voice of Batman and what the role meant to him so I'm looking forward to getting that.

Kevin Conroy was THE Batman for me and so many others that grew up in the 90s. I recall talking on online forums and people wanting a live-action Batman Beyond and The Dark Knight Returns movie and saying they should cast Kevin Conroy and Mark Hammill as Batman and the Joker. Whenever I heard his voice I knew I was going to have a good time. His work on Batman got into Batman, DC, and comic books in general and it came to a shock for me especially after so many celebrities have been dying back to back this year starting with Bob Sagat that I couldn't believe it at first. So many people from my childhood have gone away this year like the Yu-Gi-Oh! creator, but this one, this one hits me the most. Kevin Conroy you left your impression on a generation of geeks across the globe. May you forever rest in peace.

"I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman!"




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Fashion of Persona

-
Image
    The Persona games have some surprisingly stylish outfits in a genre that's known for terrible outfits. In this entry I want to explore the inspirations in the clothing of characters in the Persona series and how it relates to their character. I never got the chance to finish Persona 3 and after looking for a while I can't quite tell if Persona 3's cast has casual outfits like in 4 and 5 and also a part of me wants to wait until I actually get to properly play 3 so I'll pass on discussing Persona 3, but in Persona 4 Arena the cast gets all new outfits. They are definitely more costumes than traditional clothes for the most part: Yukiko has a superhero look going on with her, which after playing Persona 5 makes me think maybe in this universe she's an actor for that Featherman TV show and is the pink ranger. Junpei is a professional baseball player I guess. I'm not sure what's going on with Akihiko, that robot is still a robot, and Mitsuru... Mitsuru. I lo...
Read more

4C Pixels: A Look at Black Hair in Video Games

-
Image
  I've been playing video games for a very very long time now and one of the things that has been bugging me in my adulthood is the lack of afro-centric hairstyles in video games. I play a lot of RPGs and these games often have character creation and customization. As a creative I love any game that gives me freedom to express myself. I love designing the look and the playstyle of my characters. It's just frustrating that my options are so limited when it comes to making a character that looks black and the most egregious part is the lack of hair options. If the title does possess any black hairstyles it's going to be a Party City looking-ass afro, cornrows with no hangtime, and maybe some locs. I would count the low cut, but it's really just a buzz cut. The Grand Theft Auto games is one of the few games I recall that had a good amount, specifically San Andreas since most of Franklin's options in V were just variations of fades and Cesars, but it really shouldn...
Read more

Catwoman: Hunted Review

-
Image
       DC in the animated realm is just about as good as it is in its original medium of comics. The new Batman film starring Robert Pattison is coming out in less than a month and we have one other Batman related film to watch before then, Catwoman: Hunted . Catwoman: Hunted stars Elizabeth Gillies, Stephanie Beatriz, Lauren Cohan, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste. This film takes a new animation direction with anime veteran Shinsuske Terasawa at the helm. This isn't the first time a DC property has gotten the anime treatment.  In 2009 Gotham Knights came out and featured anime styles in the film and I think that is the most recent in memory. The anime influence is apparent as soon as the opening credits with music and visuals reminiscent of the lauded Cowboy Bebop which Terasawa had a hand in making. The animation in Hunted is also pretty cool. It does a great job at instilling motion and emotion. The fight scene at the beginning of the film and at the end are part...
Read more