Tag: Paul Dini

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

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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
Kingdom Come Bruce Wayne

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

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Batman: The Animated Series (Short Film) – “The Chase”

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

  I came across this video today as I was looking through YouTube today, and I realized that many of you may not have ever seen this cool animated short (or even knew it existed). Back in 2013 the amazing folks behind Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited, released this short animated film called “Chase Me”. It’s a fun, quick little story about Batman trying to catch Catwoman after a minor heist she’s pulled off. But the whole chase is really a metaphor for the romance and attraction that’s at the heart off their relationship. There’s always the folks behind Batman: The Animated Series understand what makes The Dark Knight tick, better than most. If you haven’t seen “Chase Me” before, you can check it out right here and if you have seen, any excuse to dive back into the world Batman: The Animated Series, is well worth your time. Watch it here:


What did you all think of this short film? Let me know in the comments below!

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. 

-Paul

Awesome Batman: The Animated Series Art!

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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.

Classic Drew Struzan posters

      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

NEW COLUMN SERIES: Paul’s Picks!

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Hey Everyone,

Paul here…


For a few weeks now I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a semi-regular article about some of the coolest graphic novels, Blu-rays, books, and more to come on the market that genre fans like myself and my readers would be interested in checking out. These are all products that I’ve personally purchased and can vouch for their quality. I buy stuff like this all the time and I thought it could be a fun way for me to share with my readers some of the cool stuff available (which I throw away my hard earned money for) that they might also want to check out themselves. So if you guys dig this new article, please let me know in the comments or on social media and maybe we’ll start making Paul’s Picks a semi-regular thing. So let’s get into it!

Batman Beyond: The Complete Series Special Edition Blu-Ray

  This is one I pre-ordered months ago and just recently came out. This is the 20th anniversary of Batman Beyond, the classic animated series follow up to the equally classic Batman: The Animated Series. In addition to all three seasons of the show, the excellent sequel movie, Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker is included in the set, as well. The transfer is beautiful. It has someone some great special features. It even includes an exclusive Batman Beyond Funko Pop toy. This is a MUST BUY for Superhero fans, Batman fans, and fans of great fucking shows in general. You can get it for a steal right here at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Beyond-Complete-Limited-Blu-ray/dp/B07TLPBC7J/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2E7GRAMVYFVWL&keywords=batman+beyond+complete+series&qid=1573696267&sprefix=Batman+%2Caps%2C530&sr=8-2

Each set comes with 5 lithographs



The Art of Game Of Thrones

  I absolutely love “Art of…” books. I love seeing how so much of the creative process takes shape over time. Especially in genre storytelling, you get to see different versions of how some of film and television’s most iconic characters or locations could have looked at various stages of planning. It’s like looking in at an alternate earth’s version of your favorite movies. The very best “Art of…” books really spark your imagination and make you wonder what might have been. You get to see some of your favorite stories rendered beautifully by some incredibly gifted artists.Regardless of how you felt about the show’s final season, from across The Narrow Sea to Beyond The Wall, this is a beautiful and comprehensive book. It features locations, characters, battle designs, and so much more. I was really looking forward to this one. I had high hopes for this book and I wasn’t disappointed. You can find it here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Thrones-Insight-Editions/dp/1683835336/ref=sr_1_1?crid=142XJ4INWO4NS&keywords=the+art+of+game+of+thrones&qid=1573701366&sprefix=The+Art+of+ga%2Caps%2C136&sr=8-1


Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo Omnibus Vol.1

When they began their partnership with Batman #1 during DC’s New 52 initiative, not many would’ve predicted that Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo would go on to become one of the all time great writer/artist teams in the history of comics. Least of all Snyder and Capullo themselves. In fact the duo disliked one another so much at the beginning of their partnership that Snyder demanded to DC that one of them be taken off the book. Luckily cooler heads prevailed and after working together for a few issues, they fell into a groove. Now the duo with the rough start consider one another best friends, even brothers. It shows in their work because their run on Batman is one of the best in the character’s long history. This collection includes issues #0-33, starting stories like the now famous Court of Owls and ending with the epic Zero Year. This is also where the writer/artist team also began their unsettling work on The Joker, with the chilling horror tale Death of The Family, included in this volume. Snyder and Capullo add new and exciting elements to The Caped Crusader’s mythology, while reinvigorating iconic characters and offerings a fresh and insightful look into the mind of Bruce Wayne. The volume isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s worth every penny. This volume is an example of what the very best Batman stories are all about. Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo Omnibus is The Dark Knight and his world at it’s very best. This comic book collection get my highest recommendation. You can find it on Amazon right here (*Make sure you check the alternate sellers under more buying options for cheaper prices on this product): https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Scott-Snyder-Capullo-Omnibus/dp/1401298842/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EO5JZS7JTJR2&keywords=batman+by+snyder+%26+capullo+omnibus&qid=1573698863&sprefix=Batman+by+sny%2Cmovies-tv%2C452&sr=8-1

*When you comes to shopping on Amazon, I always recommend checking out the new and used alternate sellers, listed under Amazon’s price on every product page. Often you can find new, or next to brand new, versions of the item you’re looking for, well below the listed Amazon price.