- Hey, believe it or not… we’re not through with WonderCon. We got one more panel to preach to you all, and it was arguably the best panel of the entire event: Batman’s 75th Anniversary. Clerks director and Comic Book Men producer Kevin Smith, and his Hollywood Babble-On podcast partner, Ralph Garman, are set to release the forthcoming comic, Batman ’66 Meets the Green Hornet. To them, not only was Adam West their first Batman, but this scenario was also the first clear-cut superhero crossover. “Holy shit, two dudes in masks — standing next to one another!” Smith even followed with a little GHG lingo: “You kind of turned your back on the [Adam West Batman] in the way that Peter denied Christ.” If nothing else, you can’t beat these “mind-bendingly good” Alex Ross covers, yo…
- For legendary comic artist Jim Lee, seeing Bruce Wayne naked in the shower was just enough to make him “tingle in a weird way.” But, no, hear him out: “[Frank Miller’s] The Dark Knight Returns changed [Lee’s inspiration] in its prestige format, sophistication in storytelling and hand coloring.” Along with the mustaches, and much headier political and mystical themes, TDKR proved Lee’s life changer. On the other hand, the Tim Burton Batman film from 1989 and Batman: The Animated Series proved to be the cherry-popping moments of Batman lore for many. Series creator Bruce Timm acknowledged how even a magazine like Entertainment Weekly reviewed it despite having never previously reviewed cartoons, and even nuttier, THE voice of Batman was the first role Kevin Conroy ever auditioned for. After alluding to the fact that Smith — like many of us — hears Conroy in his membrane when reading Batman comics, he joked that hearing the voice actor speak normal “sounds like Bruce Wayne stoned because he’s so happy.”
- Some more quick Bat-bits: The success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer — “the” WB hit before Arrow — may have paved the way for the acceptance of the futuristic teen-driven animated series Batman Beyond. “The internet comments [claimed it was] so much cooler than [they] thought it was going to be. People were polite back then,” Timm chimed. Batman: Hush opened Lee up to the “fanaticism” of Batman fans (“[The comic] opened up my eyes to the power of that mythology”), while his work with Miller on the much-maligned All-Star Batman & Robin “proved how bulletproof the character is” despite the tumultuous production, salty language and the fact many at the time didn’t like it. “The fan shape who Batman becomes.” Cue Scott Snyder‘s current, wildly epic 30-issue-plus run, the insane success of the Arkham video games, and even the fun spot or two in LEGO Gotham, and life of The Batman is clearly set for another outstanding seventy-five.
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