kevin conroy | the m0vie blog

New Escapist Video! On Kevin Conroy as the Definitive Batman…

Posted on November 28, 2022 by Darren

We’re thrilled to be launching a fortnightly video companion piece to In the Frame at The Escapist. The video will typically launch every second Monday, and be released on the magazine’s YouTube channel. And the video will typically be separate from the written content. This is kinda cool, because we’re helping relaunch the magazine’s film content – so if you can throw a subscription our way, it would mean a lot.

This week, with the recent passing of Kevin Conroy, it seemed like a good opportunity to take a look back at his work with the character of Batman, from Batman: The Animated Series through Justice League and beyond. What was it that made Conroy such a definitive and iconic take on the character? Why has he endured? What is that makes him unique?

Filed under: Television | Tagged: batman, batman: the animated series, bruce wayne, cartoon, dcau, in the frame, justice league, kevin conroy, the escapist, Voice Actors, voice performance | Leave a comment »

Justice League Unlimited – Epilogue (Review)

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Darren

At the time Epilogue was written, the creators didn’t know that Justice League Unlimited would get another season. The show ultimately got another year on television, but Dwayne McDuffie and Bruce Timm constructed Epilogue so that it would serve as something of a coda to the entire animated DC universe, stemming as far back as On Leather Wings. It actually works almost perfectly, bringing everything a full circle. Justice League and Justice League Unlimited consciously pushed Batman to the periphery, which made a bit of sense. After all, the character had anchored two shows already. However, Epilogue moves Batman back to the centre, re-establishing Bruce as the core of the animated DC universe and giving him a (mostly) happy ending a few years before The Dark Knight Rises would do the same thing.

One final spotlight on Batman…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Barbara, barbara gordon, batman, batman animated series, Bob Haney, Bruce, bruce wayne, Brucetimm, Characters of Friends, Christopher Nolan, Counties and Districts, Dark Knight Rises, DarkKnight Rises, dc animated universe, Dwayne McDuffie, gotham city, joker, justice league unlimited, kevin conroy, Ontario, robin, Royal Flush Gang, Selina, Terry, Tim, Tim Drake | 4 Comments »

Batman: The Animated Series – Nothing to Fear (Review)

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Darren

This September marks the twentieth anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series, and the birth of the shared DC animated universe that would eventually expand to present one of the most comprehensive and thorough explorations of a comic book mythology in any medium. To celebrate, we’re going back into the past and looking at some classic episodes.

In many respects, Nothing to Fear feels like more of a proper pilot and introduction to the world of Batman: The Animated Series than the first episode, On Leather Wings, actually did. It feels like something of a mission statement for the series, offering a very rough outline of what the show would learn to do very well, illustrating the approach that the series would take in handling the lead character and his world. While the finer details aren’t necessarily present, and there are more than a few missteps along the way, Nothing to Fear serves as a fitting welcome to this definitive animated Batman.

Bruce’s insecurity is cause for grave concern…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: adam west, alfred pennyworth, art, batman, batman animated series, Bruce, Brucetimm, ChristopherNolan, comic book, dc animated universe, justice league unlimited, kevin conroy, Leather Wings, List of Batman animated episodes, scarecrow | 6 Comments »

Batman: The Animated Series – Beware the Grey Ghost (Review)

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Darren

Adam West’s Batman! occasionally gets a bit of a hard time. Opinion has softened somewhat in the past decade or so, as pop culture has seemed increasingly willing to embrace camp, but there was a time when the sixties television show was unfairly dismissed and mocked for its bright and cheerful portrayal of the Caped Crusader. I’ve always found that a bit unfair, as Batman owes a considerable amount of his pop culture cache to that show, as an entire generation grew up with Adam West’s ham-tastic take on the Dark Knight. Evidently, Bruce Timm and the producers of Batman: The Animated Series understood that, and Beware the Grey Ghost is an affectionate shout-out to that earlier iteration, effectively allowing Kevin Conroy’s grizzled Caped Crusader to recognise Adam West as one of his defining influences.

Shades of Grey…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: adam west, art, batman, batman animated series, Bruce, bruce timm, ChristopherNolan, comic book, Comics, dc animated universe, justice league unlimited, kevin conroy | 4 Comments »

Batman: The Animated Series – Feat of Clay, Parts I & II (Review)

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of The Dark Knight Rises, July is “Batman month” here at the m0vie blog. Check back daily for comics, movies and television reviews and discussion of the Caped Crusader.

One thing that always impressed me about Batman: The Animated Series was the way that it didn’t just restrict itself to the truly iconic members of Batman’s impressive pool of villains. Batman’s first-stringers are all iconic and brilliant characters in their own right. It would be easy enough to build a television how around characters like the Joker, Two-Face, the Penguin, Catwoman, Ra’s Al Ghul, the Scarecrow, Poison and the Riddler. However, the show didn’t do that. It didn’t restrict its airtime to those major-league bad guys. In fact, many second-tier villains actually received more compelling origins and development. Heart of Ice is regarded as one the show’s best episodes, despite featuring an almost forgotten nobody villain by the name of Mr. Freeze. So it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that the creative crew were able to build a tragic and moving back story for Clayface.

It’s Clayface’s time to shine!

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Andrea Romano, batman, batman: the animated series, Bruce, Clayface, Dark Knight Rises, detective comics, Freeze, joker, kevin conroy, Roland Daggett | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Batman – Mask of the Phantasm

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Darren

There is a legitimate argument to be made that Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is the best Batman movie produced prior to Christopher Nolan taking over the film franchise. While I narrowly prefer Batman Returns, it’s hard to deny that this animated take on the character from the creator behind Batman: The Animated Series isn’t a superb exploration of the Caped Crusader and his world. Kevin Conroy is still, after all these years, my favourite actor to play Batman, and I can’t help but feel like the movie deserves a lavish re-release to celebrate the pending release of The Dark Knight Rises.

You’d have to finally go batty to do this in the long-term…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alfred pennyworth, Andrea, batman, Bruce, bruce wayne, Christopher Nolan, danny elfman, Dark Knight Rises, Dick Sprang, film, frank miller, gotham, gotham city, Harley Quinn, joker, kevin conroy, Movie, non-review review, Phantasm, review, Shirley Walker, tim burton | 2 Comments »

Batman Beyond: Out of the Past (Review)

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. I’ll be looking at movies and episodes and even some of the related comic books. This is the last post of the week, and so I thought I should focus on where it all started, with the animated Bruce Wayne.

I don’t think Batman Beyond gets the credit that it so sorely deserves. It was really the first time that it was explicitly acknowledged that Bruce Wayne couldn’t be Batman forever – that, unlike so many other members of the DC pantheon, the character was a mere mortal who would pass away and that he couldn’t wear the cowl forever. The animated television show was the first to wonder what would happen to the concept of Batman, if Bruce couldn’t do it anymore. Would the hero die out and fade from memory? Or would he live on, somehow, enduring forever?

Batman always was a showman…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: arts, batman, Batman Beyond, bruce wayne, dc animated universe, dc comics, dc universe, dcau, dcu, grant morrison, Grantmorrison, kevin conroy, out of the past, paul dini, Talia Al Ghul, Terry McGinnis | 4 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Batman – Gotham Knight

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. I’ll be looking at movies and episodes and even some of the related comic books. This is one of the animated feature films involving the characters from the creators of the original animated shows.

Batman: Gotham Knight was somewhat misleadingly advertised as a “missing link” between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Released in the run-up to Christopher Nolan’s superhero sequel, the film was clearly intended to call to mind the Animatrix, with a strong sense of anime flavouring the variety of shorts on display here. Each was produced by a different studio in a different style from a different author. The result is, as you’d expect, a mixed bag. Some stories are good, some stories are bad – there are interesting stories let down by poor animation and strong stories featuring weak animation. It’s a very mixed bag, which never really seems necessary or exceptional.

Yes, that is a batarang in his hand. And yes, he is happy to see you...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: animation, anime, anthology, arts, batman, batman begins, batman: gotham knight, cartoon, Christopher Nolan, Crispus Allen, film, gotham knight, gothic, kevin conroy, Lucius Fox, Movie, Movies, non-review review, review, Sal Maroni, The Dark Knight, tim burton | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Superman/Batman – Apocalypse

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. This is one of the “stand-alone” animated movies produced by the creative team that gave us the television shows.

Prompted by the massive success of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is the first direct sequel in this line of animated films. It adapts the second arc of Jeph Loeb’s Superman/Batman run, and contains several direct references to the first film (including a news report covering “President Luthor’s impeachment”). While the first film worked on the sheer fun of a super-powered buddy cop film, there’s admittedly less to endear this particular movie to an audience – most notably because this same production team had already animated it as Little Girl Lost, an episode of Superman: The Animated Series.

Some looks CAN kill…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: andre braugher, animated, batman, Batman in film, clancy brown, darkseid, dc animated universe, dc universe, dcau, dcu, Ed McGuinness, film, kevin conroy, Movie, new gods, non-review review, review, summer glaue, superman, superman/batman, superman/batman: apocalypse, Susan Eisenberg, Warner Brothers, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Superman/Batman – Public Enemies

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Darren

Explain our guy love, that’s all it is.
Guy love; he’s mine, I’m his.
There’s nothing gay about it in our eyes.

You ask me ’bout this thing we share…
…and he tenderly replies:
It’s guy love…
…between two guys.

– Turk & JD explain “guy love”

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is essentially a superhero bromance. It’s part buddy cop movie, part long-term married couple, but all action. It’s not really anything more, but would you want it to be?