On Thursday, November 10, legendary Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy sadly passed away at the age of 66. News didn’t begin to circulate until the next day, and I remember first hearing about it, but then anxiously searching and refreshing Twitter looking for confirmation. Confirmation that it wasn’t true. But unfortunately it was.
As a kid growing up in the 90’s, the Batman animated series was an essential part of my childhood. My family and I had recorded the animated movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm on VHS when it was on Cartoon Network and I vividly remember watching that movie over and over again. Along with the rest of the live action Batman movies starring Keaton, Kilmer, and Clooney, Conroy was the Batman of my childhood. But unlike those other actors, Conroy continued to play the character long after the 90’s. He was featured in the Justice League animated series of the early 2000’s, voiced the character in the Arkham trilogy games in the 2010’s, and made countless other appearances as the voice of Batman. Many people say that when they read Batman comics, they hear his voice in their head when reading the character. Conroy’s impact on Batman will long be felt after his passing.
It was kind of hard for me to process this news too. Celebrity deaths rarely impact me. The only other one I can remember that really hurt me was when Chester Bennington of Linkin Park passed away (another staple of my childhood). I kind of took Conroy for granted, not thinking that there’d be a time that Conroy wouldn’t be around to voice Batman at least one more time. News of his passing left me in a bit of a funk. I couldn’t shake that feeling that Batman himself died. But luckily I had a few Batman comics from a few different eras in a short box I have filled of unread back issues just waiting to be picked up and read. Now was the time for these issues of Batman. Something to remind me of all that Batman has been through, and will continue to endure.
Like the time Batman was literally turned into Bat-Baby in Batman #147. This issue, from May of 1962, is the oldest book I own and maybe have ever read. It’s a Silver Age classic. Featuring three seperate short stories staring Batman and the Boy Wonder, drawn by Sheldon Moldoff and written by original creator Bill Finger, this issue sees an evil scientist use his ray beam to transform Batman into a four-year old child. But luckily for our Caped Crusader, while his body has reverted to this infantile form, he still retains all the strength of his true-to-age self (a critical flaw in design if you ask me).
This was such a weird, wacky, and fun issue to read. Batman literally becomes Bat-baby! By the end, Batman and Robin are able to reverse the transformation using the same ray beam and stop the criminals, with all being right in Gotham again. It was so cool to realize this was a Bill Finger issue also, although you wouldn’t have known that by just reading the issue; there are no creator credits in this book. Just Bob Kane’s signature on the splash pages before each new story… a different time indeed.
But as we flash forward ten years to the Bronze Age to September 1972, we see one of the most influential creative teams in Batman’s history, writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams take Batman across the globe in a shirtless (but still cowled) confrontation with the head of the demon himself, Ra’s al Ghul. Outside of the classic cover, there are two other reasons that make this a critical issue: it features the first kiss between Batman and Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra’s (a moment that proves more significant with the introduction of Damian Wayne some 39 years later),
And this iconic panel of Batman “returning from the dead” after his confrontation with Ra’s in the desert. O’Neil and Adams began blazing the path for generations of Batman stories to follow in this issue, Batman #244.
Staying in the Bronze Age, only 9 years later in 1979, I jumped to issue #313 and many more influential moments in Batman’s history are still happening. The price stickers from Carol and John’s Comic Shop indicates that this is the first appearance of Tim “Jace” Fox, who will later become Batman in his own right 41 years later during the Future State event (and who now currently lives and works out of New York City in the uneven, but still engrossing pages of John Ridley’s I Am Batman series).
But something that isn’t mentioned on the stickers and is arguably more important is that this issue is also the first date and kiss between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, Catwoman. Written by Len Wein and illustrated by Irv Novick, this moment between the two set the stage for Frank Miller’s Batman run with events in Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, the romance in 1992’s Batman Returns, the entire basis of Tom King’s epic Batman run, and countless other moments in these two characters’ lives. At this critical moment in time however, Selina has seemingly given up her life of crime, while as always, Bruce is keeping secrets about his identity and trying to play it cool whenever the Bat-Signal shines in the sky.
And lastly from my pile of Batman issues, we finally move to the series that started it all, Detective Comics for issue #683 from March of 1995.
At this point, there’s been a shift in the storytelling of comic books. The Bronze Age has come and gone, and with industry-shaking books the likes of Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, and more of the late 80’s, now in the 90’s we’ve reached the Dark Age of comics. This issue is for the most part, nothing incredible. It’s only priced at about $6 now. But why even that much? That’s because this issue features the first appearance of The Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge, the infamous criminal underworld establishment that was at the center of 2022’s The Batman. Written by Chuck Dixon and drawn by Graham Nolan, this little nugget of Bat-history is a fun piece to add to the collection (especially since that movie STILL kicks ass).
And finally, to wrap up this emotional journey across the ages for Batman, I ended with something different. Not a landmark issue in the history of Batman. Not a widely celebrated and popular Batman graphic novel. Not even a story set in Gotham City or the DC Universe. I ended with Paul Dini’s Dark Night: A True Batman Story.
This original graphic novel is a heartfelt, raw, emotional, and poignant true story by writer Paul Dini, writer behind the Batman animated series and friend and colleague of Kevin Conroy. Along with masterclass artist Eduardo Risso, this book illustrates the struggle of coping with anger, fear, and doubt in a brutal world where heroes like Batman simply don’t exist. Our world. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend you do. It’s unlike any other Batman book I can think of, a realistic look at the impact these fictional characters have on our real world, and what makes these fictional characters more real than we think. Something I needed after trying to make sense of my own feelings after the death of Conroy.
Batman has been through a lot. He’s gone to places far beyond Crime Alley and the streets of Gotham. Far beyond worlds we’ve imagined. Far beyond the pages of comic books and TV screens. While some fans mourn the loss of such an iconic actor and part of the Bat-mythos, remember that Batman always gets back up and continues on. To Kevin Conroy; you weren’t the voice actor we needed, but the one we deserved.
::RC