Remembering Kevin Conroy

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I am going to begin my getting on an old man soapbox. Growing up in the 80's and 90's was a very different experience. Obviously this was over 30 years ago (checks math...yep 30
years...shit) so childhood memories are from a different world. When you grew up a comic book fan you were ostracized to say it lightly. There is a reason movies like Revenge of the Nerds were made after all, unlike now when everyone and their aunts, cousins and mild acquaintances are fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now this leads to the reason I began with that. When I would get off the bus after school I would rush home if it was close to 4:30 because that is when Batman: The Animated Series came on. Of course I wouldnt tell others that is why I was trying to get home because I was already a fat nerd and didn't want to give people another reason to say something to me.

When the show started in September 1992 I was 12 years old and had watched Batman Returns a few months earlier at the theater and was excited to have a new daily Batman outlet besides comics. The shows sweeping orchestral opening still is one of the best intros to any show, cartoon or live action. The animation style was unique and stylized and the voice acting was, even to this day, unmatched. Mark Hamill, Efram Zimbalist Jr., Richard Moll, Arleen Sorkin, John Vernon, Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Asner, and of course Kevin Conroy. So many of these voices are still engrained in my memory and even the way I hear them in my head when I read Batman stories today.

There is a reason Kevin Conroy is the top of so many fans lists for best Batmans. He embodied two different personas. It wasnt like Bruce was doing a Batman voice as it seems in movies. Both Bruce and Batman were two entities inhabiting one body and Kevin conveyed that more aptly than anyone ever had. He is the quintessential Batman. Thankfully he continued in DC animated films and the Rocksteady Arkham trilogy ensuring that multiple generations would experience his brilliance as the Caped Crusader.

Batman has been portrayed by many actors in live action and animation but one gave us three decades of perfection. Like Adam West he will forever be linked to the Dark Knight. Thank you Kevin Conroy for voicing vengeance, for voicing the night, for being Batman.

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