EP 181: Retro Review: Tim Burton’s Batman, Kevin Conroy Interview

Segment 1: Tim Burton’s Batman: 30 years Later

My Take: The story evolves as a mystery. And while some of the action scenes might be seen as very “80s” the fact that the entire world is an “Elseworlds” style Gotham, with movie magic elements in it (is it in the 40s? the 80s? or just its own universe) it still holds up. Keaton and Nicholson kill it an the Basinger/Brooks/Billy D supporting cast is also top notch (could we imagine a Billy D Williams Two-Face?)

Some of the cartoon villain-y stuff is dated but overall, I feel like you COULD show this to someone today and it holds.

Do Tim Burton’s Batman Movies Hold Up?

https://www.gq.com/story/do-tim-burtons-batman- movies-hold-up/amp

30 years ago, a superhero movie was not a guaranteed blockbuster. The last time Batman had been exposed to mass audiences, he had quipped around with Robin and danced the Batusi. But the beginning of a new era of superhero movies—dark, violent, and self-serious—began in 1989, when Tim Burton’s Batman hit theaters. Now that superheroes routinely dominate the box-office—and since the whole Batman franchise is on Netflix—I thought it would be interesting to revisit these prototypical superhero blockbusters to see how they hold up today.

Spotlight: Kevin Conroy

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0175834/

Kevin Conroy is best known for his voice role as the DC Comics character Batman on the 1990s Warner Bros. television show Batman: The Animated Series, as well as various other TV series and feature films in the DC animated universe. Due to the popularity of his performance as Batman, Conroy went on to voice the character for multiple films

under the DC Universe Animated Original Movies banner; along with the acclaimed video games Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009), Batman: Arkham City (2011) and Batman: Arkham Knight (2015).

Segment 4: Spin The Racks

Every year at the ultra invite only Sunday night Dead Dog party for Comic-Con someone will say “I dunno, this was a strange Comic-Con.” It is tradition.

But this is the year it was really true.

But that leaves the elephant in the room: DC’s massively changed presence at the show. The WB/DC are undoing huge changes at every level, and DC’s booth is perhaps the most vivid and traumatic change of all. I warned you but people were still shocked when they arrived on the show floor and found Image, Scholastic, Humanoids and Comixology (and two companies that make prints) where DC used to be. Deciding to give up DC’s anchor position on the show floor is the kind of dick measuring move that new executives make in an uncertain terrain, and they’ll regret it some day. But they can never go back. The studio assimilation that former publisher Paul Levitz fought against for so many years is now completed. And irreversible. It was a little bittersweet to see him and Jenette Kahn inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame in tandem. They did so much to change comics for the better and now that legacy is being completely uprooted, even though it lives on with a thousand children.

PLUS: Shazam and Smallville’s John Glover drops by to talk about his DC Connection.