RIP Kevin Conroy

[The Laughing Fish]

Here is this beautiful clip of Kevin Conroy remembering the time he got recognised as Batman while doing voluntary work after 9/11.

[The Joker]

Well, this is a gut punch if there ever was one.

Rest In Peace.

[The Laughing Fish]

This is the best tribute to Kevin Conroy I've seen so far.

[Travesty]

Great tribute, but so sad 

[The Laughing Fish]

I found these scans of Kevin Conroy's interview with Comics Scene magazine published in 1994. The way he praised the material as mature really endeared him as a theater actor, going so far as treating each script like he's reading Hamlet. With that approach, it's no wonder his performances were exceptional.

[The Joker]

Nice read.

Thanks for posting these, TLF!

[The Laughing Fish]

You're welcome, J.

To honour what would've been Kevin's 67th birthday last Wednesday, I found a short autobiography he wrote for the DC Pride anthology comic series called Finding Batman, which was only published earlier this year. Kevin tells about his life as a gay man who tried to live a double life to avoid getting stigmatised in his personal and professional life with little success and feeling hopeless seeing beloved family relatives and friends die due to mental illness and AIDS. The anguish he had experienced enabled him to connect with Batman as a character and gave him extra motivation to portray him as best as he could in BTAS.

***Warning***: some language is NSFW.

https://twitter.com/dcauwatchtower/status/1571160315743842306

As sad as it was for Kevin to experience such torment throughout his life, it's comforting to know he found inner peace when playing Batman.

As far as performances go, there are many. But all I can think of at the moment is the entire I Am the Night episode and him singing Am I Blue? in JL, besides his outpouring over his parents' graves in MOTP of course.

[The Dark Knight]

Rocksteady revealed that Kevin's last vocal performance as Batman was for their new Suicide Squad game coming out next year. It's also exciting due to the fact the game takes place after Arkham Knight, thus confirming what I suspected all along: the Knightfall Protocol was about going underground for a period of time and later re-emerging. In the short trailer Rocksteady released Harley calls him Bruce. So that's confirmation of the time period. Kevin would want us to enjoy the game, and I'll be looking to do that. I'm imagining we'll get predator maps from the viewpoint of the villains/goons.

[The Laughing Fish]

[The Laughing Fish]

Mark Hamill doesn't think he will play the Joker again, following Kevin Conroy's death.

They would call and say, 'They want you to do The Joker,' and my only question was, 'Is Kevin [Conroy] Batman?' If they said yes, I would say, 'I'm in.'

We were like partners.

We were like Laurel and Hardy. Without Kevin there, there doesn't seem to be a Batman for me.

While I'm at it, here is Hamill paying tribute to his fellow co-star and friend.

For several generations, he has been the definitive Batman. It was one of those perfect scenarios where they got the exact right guy for the exact right part, and the world was better for it.

His rhythms and subtleties, tones and delivery — that all also helped inform my performance. He was the ideal partner — it was such a complementary, creative experience.

I couldn't have done it without him. He will always be my Batman.

https://virginradio.co.uk/entertainment/91138/mark-hamill-reveals-the-reason-hes-retiring-from-voicing-the-joker