From Batman: Year One.
Setting and context: Batman is pretty new on the scene, and largely regarded as some vigilante freak who chases muggers and drug dealers. Big time criminals don’t see him as a major threat. That’s about to change…
Batman has just cut the power and used explosives to blast through the wall of a mansion, where several rich, corrupt elites were having a luxurious dinner. They are now in a dark, smoky room, being addressed by a figure in a cape:
“Ladies. Gentlemen.
You have eaten well.
You’ve eaten Gotham’s wealth. It’s spirit.
From this moment on -
none of you are safe.”
A truly outstanding moment from one of the greatest comics ever written.
Talking about Kevin Conroys masterful delivery reminded me of a very different, but equally amazing line delivery by Adam West.
“Those patriotic porpoises sacrificed their lives to save me.”
Also, after answering a phone just introduced as being only available to the president, with a voice full of shock and awe:
“Robin… It’s the President”.
I never saw the live-action TV series with Adam West.
I watched more of the animated one with Kevin Conroy.
The 1966 Batman movie is a pretty good summary of the Adam West style, if you want to experience it in 90 minutes.
There was an ongoing friendly competition between the writing team to make things as silly as possible, and Adam West to play the lead part as serious as possible.
It’s funny on the surface, and then hilarious once you realize that there’s a game of “putting words in your mouth” being played.
It reminds me of playful writing between Michael Che and Colin Jost - but much more censored as it was 60s prime time TV.
The result is that Adam West has brought an exceptional heroic gravitas… to some of the stupidest lines ever said by a Batman.
I think we can all agree that Adam West won, long term, as many of his performance styles were picked up by Conroy and others for use with more serious Batmen.
Though I’ll admit that Batman: The Brave and the Bold owes a lot to Adam West’s writers.
Oh, and watch for the Animated Series episode where Bruce has a mentor. That mentor is a voice acting cameo by Adam West, if I recall correctly.
I quite like this one“I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman!”
Chills every time with that awesome line delivery, especially with the context of that episode of Batman the Animated Series. RIP Kevin Conroy, we love you.
Yeah. There’s too many great Kevin Conroy lines for me to pick a favorite.
100% agree. Candidly after I wrote this comment, I got an itch to start replaying the Arkham games so I could feel like my favorite version of Batman voiced by Conroy. I definitely need to play them again, especially because I played all of them apart from Arkham Knight for some reason.
I’m Batman
I love this comics page so much
For anyone not in on the joke, the gold lasso is magically enforcing total honesty as they introduce themselves to each-other.
It forces Superman to admit to both of his private names given to him by each of his sets of parents.
And for the Batman, “Bruce Wayne” is just a lie he tells people in between doing Batman stuff, so he just reintroduces himself as Batman.
FIRST I WAS A BOY. NOW IM A BAT :(
