AG Monday
Back to the Bat.
Our first real episode discussed how Batman in the 60s and 70s played a big role in our early geek lives. Now, we jump ahead to the 80s and 90s, a golden age of Batman in the comics and on the screen. In now-classic series like The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, A Death In The Family, Batman: The Cult, the writers and artists pulled out all the stops. Batman in a dystopian future! Robin dies! Batman loses his mind, repeatedly! This was an extraordinary period for both writing and art featuring the world’s greatest detective.
We also discuss Tim Burton’s Batman movie in the 1980s. To absolutely no one’s surprise, we both loved it. What made this movie so very good? And how did it shape the future of the character?
The Batman we know today emerged during this Bat-Renaissance. Hear what it was like to read and watch all this Bat-goodness for the first time, and hear why it had an impact on not just future incarnations of Batman, but also superheroes in general.
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
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Again, will listen on the way home. I did catch it before setting out, but Revolutions dropped, too.
I did like the first Tim Burton movie, but not as much as the hype had it at the time. I don’t read comic books. So, to me, Batman is Kevin Conroy in the 90s animated series, plus the two Justice League series as well.
@Kathy: Conroy is perhaps the best Batman of them all.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Agreed. Also Mask of the Phantasm was perhaps the best Batman movie from a pure comics perspective.
Just before his death, Conroy explored his personal relationship to the character of Batman in a comic for the DC Pride special. You can read a copy of it here on reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DCAU/comments/17e22bj/kevin_conroys_finding_batman_autobiography_from/
It’s a great reminder that even within an industry where being gay is seemingly accepted, well into the 90’s a lot of people still lived double lives for the sake of their careers.
@Matt Bernius:
In that move, which BTW I regard as the best Batman movie, would you say Bruce is in conflict with himself as Batman? And Batman ultimately wins?
@Matt Bernius: I’ll second the recommendation for Mask Of The Phantasm. Also for Batman: Year Two, the comics series on which it was based.