Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

Mark Hamill (left) with Kevin Conroy (right)

For as long as humans have huddled together around camp fires at night, we’ve told stories. Some tales like The Last Son of Krypton or The Dark Knight Detective are so primal and mythic that they transcend time and space. They’re immortal. So as long as people exist to tell them, their will be Batman stories. We’ve seen a lot of great Batman performances over the years, but when it comes to the best on screen portrayal of The Caped Crusader, it’s not even close: Kevin Conroy IS Batman.

Yet, It almost feels as if Batman himself has died. For over 30 years, one man has been synonymous with Batman. Since the character’s inception, no other performer has personified The Dark Knight more than Kevin Conroy. Sadly, Kevin passed away at the still relatively young age of 66, from throat cancer.

Over the years, Kevin Conroy showcased his incredible talent and versatility in projects like Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, JLU, many DC Animated Movies, the mega-popular Arkham video game series, Justice League Action, and more. Conroy’s unmistakable voice managed to convey all of the anger, pain, sadness, compassion, humor, and vulnerability of Batman. When I read Batman in a comic book or graphic novel, it’s Kevin Conroy’s voice I hear in my head.

He even got to play the character in the live action, in The CW Arrowverse Crossover Event, Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the crossover miniseries (which is a hell of a lot of fun if you haven’t seen it), Conroy played a much older version of Bruce Wayne from an alternate universe, very similar to the character’s portrayal in the classic Kingdom Come comic book miniseries. Like his Kingdom Come counterpart, Conroy‘s Bruce Wayne is physically battered and broken. As a result of countless injuries sustained over his decades as Batman, Bruce has to wear an exoskeleton at almost all times, to help him get around.

In The Batcave, with his old Bat-suit in the background, Bruce has a somewhat confrontational encounter with his cousin Kate Kane AKA Batwoman

While it may feel like he still had a lot of good years to come playing Batman, he leaves behind a truly legendary body of work and a legacy beyond comparison. He had a reputation for always showing love, kindness, and appreciation to his fans. He truly loved playing Batman and would often speak about how he felt honored to plat the character.

Kevin Conroy was an absolute ICON. We will never see his like again. This post by @TheBatstan on Twitter said it best: “30 years. 3 entire decades where one man became the definitive voice of a legend, to a point where he also became a legend. Wherever Kevin Conroy was, Batman was also there.
Goodbye Kevin. No matter what you’ll always be Vengeance, the Night, THE Batman.”

Batman from *Arkham Knight,* one of the classic, mega-hit *Arkham* video games series, featuring Kevin Conroy as Batman

A FEW OF KEVIN CONROY’S BEST PERORMANCES

Conroy has given countless spectacular, nuanced performances as The Dark Knight over the years. To include every moment in a project, where his performance as Batman elevates the material into something truly special, would require literally thousands of videos. While this is by no means a comprehensive collection of his best work, here are some of my favorite moments of Kevin Conroy performing as Batman/Bruce Wayne:

Kevin’s Most Iconic Batman Line…

One of Kevin’s Favorite Performance As Bruce Wayne/Batman

The Birth of Two-Face

“I Didn’t Mean To…”

World’s Finest: Batman and Superman Meet For The First Time, In A Tense Confrontation

On An Alternate World Ruled By An Tyrannical Justice League Called The Justice Lords. Batman & His Alternate Universe Counterpart Debate The Merits & Weeknesses Of Democracy & Authoritarianism

Batman Sings “A I Blue” At A Nightclub As Part Of Deal To Break A Spell Put on Wonder Woman

Batman Save Superman & An Island Of Evacuating Civilians, From Doomsday & A Nuclear Missile With A Kryptonite Warhead

In The Aftermath Of Doomsday And The Failed Nuclear Weapon Attack On The League, Batman Warns Superman & Wonder Woman, That The Justice League Is Heading Into Some Very Morally Dangerous Territory

Batman Stays With Ace Until She Passes Away

After A Trip An Alternate Timeline, where Bruce’s Father Thomas Wayne Became Batman, After Young Bruce Was Killed instead of His Parents, Barry Allen AKA The Flash, Gives Bruce A letter From His Father

You’ll always be my Batman, Kevin. RIP Batman…

I’d love to hear about your favorite episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League, The Arkham video gamess, or any of the other projects Kevin Conroy worked on. Let us know in the common section!

(L) Terry McGinnis and (R) Old Man Bruce Wayne in *Batman Beyond*

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM, Instagram @worldsbestmedia2017, and our Facebook Page, Worlds Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews for the podcast, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!

-Paul

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

It’s a good time to be a fan of Batman: The Animated Series. With the new comic book series Batman: The Adventure Continues, an in canon continuation of the series. Written by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini, 2 of the biggest creative players behind the original Animated Series, this new comic continues the classic story of the original show, while introducing new and iconic elements from Batman’s rich mythology. Besides the new comic book series, there’s some fantastic art I found online by an incredible artist.

I’ve been an artist my whole life. Even as kid I was always drawing. Though I would experiment with painting, watercolor, and other material, Sketching has always been my favorite. I love finding cool art online. Specially art featuring the kind of stuff we cover here at World’s Best Media. Cool paintings of classic scenes from movies, aspiring comic book artists displaying their version of iconic characters, hand drawn movie posters, that sort of thing. A quick word on film posters: they used to so cool. Works of art in their own right. A few movies will still put out cool posters, but most are photoshopped crap. The work of men like Drew Struzan who’s worked on some of the most iconic films of all time! I’ll post some his work below so you can see what I’m talking about.

Whether it’s movies, comics, or TV, there are a lot of fantastic artists (amateur and professional) that put their stamp on great genre work with their art. The Batman: The Animated Series pics below definitely fall into the category of fucking amazing.

All of these incredibly beautiful pieces of art based on the characters from Batman: The Animated Series, were done by rafagrassetti . You can see more of his spectacular artwork on his Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/rafagrassetti/?hl=en right here. It’s amazing how he takes the unmistakable design of BTAS, yet still makes it his own with his slightly more realistic take on the characters. As you can see he based all of his work in the original BTAS character designs, not any of the redesigns done in Season 4 or the hour long block that was referred to as “The New Adventure of Batman/Superman”. My personal favorite is Killer Croc. He’s drawn with slightly more animalistic attributes without turning him into a full blow crocodile monster like we’ve seen in recent years. I think some of these may even be sculptures, which just shows what a monumentally talented artist Rafa Grassetti is.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again! Stay healthy and stay safe!

-Paul

Tag: Alan Burnett

SAYING GOODBYE TO AN ICON: Kevin Conroy (1955 – 2022)

A FEW OF KEVIN CONROY’S BEST PERORMANCES

Awesome Batman: The Animated Series Art!