From the start of my time here at the Beacon, I’ve written about several things but mainly for opinion, I’ve written articles about comic books and superhero-focused media. I started my work in the opinion section with a creative fiction story column called “The Return of the Red Raven”, which has become an even bigger project than I would’ve ever thought since I’ve expanded it for my English senior capstone.
For this last article, I want to talk about my favorite superhero of all time and my favorite character in all of fiction, Batman.
Batman debuted in Detective Comics issue 27 in May 1939 and since then, the Caped Crusader has evolved into so many different iterations of himself from across many media platforms. Batman is the first superhero that I gravitated towards growing up and this was due to my parents showing me Tim Burton’s 1989 film adaptation of Batman. Since then, I was hooked not only on Batman and the world of DC Comics, but to comic books and superheroes in general.
I think everybody has consumed their fair share of Batman media, whether it’s your grandparents watching the all-time classic groovy 1966 Batman show starring Adam West or you and your friends went out to the theaters in 2022 to go see The Batman starring Robert Pattinson, putting all of the naysayers to rest after giving an all-timer performance as the world’s greatest detective.
Now, I want to talk about my favorite iterations of Batman from across various platforms.
Let’s start with comic books since Batman is a comic book character after all. The obvious answer is to say that my favorite version of Batman in the comics is the Prime Earth or mainline continuity version of him. While this is true, to an extent, I think the Prime Earth version of Batman can be great sometimes and meh other times depending on who’s writing him. I think the current comic run by Matt Fraction is amazing and the best mainline Batman run fans have gotten since Scott Snyder’s New 52 run back in 2011.
Fraction gives Batman the perfect blend of the grounded detective and flashy fantastical superhero which I think are the two sides that Batman stories need especially for the mainline continuity. I love how the run so far has a big overarching story with increments of side plots that feature fan-favorite Batman villains like Killer Croc, the Riddler and the Joker. The plot in a nutshell is that Batman has to fight injustice on all sides, a new villain called the Minotaur is on the horizon as well as corruption brewing in the Gotham mayor’s office police force. I definitely recommend reading it.
Another favorite Batman comic run of mine is the “Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight” series from 1989. This series contained several story arcs starring the caped crusader and with each story arc came a new creative team. The first story arc titled, “Shaman” was written by one of the best comic book writers of all-time, Denny O’Neill and Ed Hannigan and John Beatty were the illustrators. “Shaman” is an early-years Batman story and from there, the series carries on in chronological order of Batman’s career. It’s an amazing series that I recommend to anyone getting into Batman comics since not only is a completed series examining Batman’s career in full, but there are so many great story arcs such as “Shaman”, “Prey” and “Faces”.
My favorite Batman comic book of all time is a graphic novel titled: “Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth” by Grant Morrison. This graphic novel is unlike any other I have read, especially from the first time I read because of its dark and horror-like storytelling. The artwork by Dave McKean is grotesque and beautiful with Batman looking more like an imposing silhouette, rarely showing his face.
The story is about Batman being asked by the Joker specifically to come into Arkham Asylum on April Fools’ Day. Once he enters the asylum, he finds out that the inmates have taken over the facility and are forcing Batman to play a part in their “game” for him. Throughout the story, the inmates Batman encounters force him to examine his own psyche and question whether or not he is just as insane as the villains he fights. If there is only one comic I could recommend to people, it would be this one because it’s simply a work of art from start to finish. This graphic novel also was a key inspiration for the 2009 video game, “Batman: Arkham Asylum”.
Thus, the next medium I’ll be talking about video games. Batman has seen various video games and there are two video game franchises starring the dark knight that I absolutely adore. The first one is the Batman Arkham video game franchise. The series starts with “Batman: Arkham Asylum” in which the Joker and the inmates take over Arkham Asylum. The boss fight has the Joker turned into a giant monster after he’s taken an extreme dosage of Titan Venom, the venom that Bane uses to make himself bigger and stronger.
This has some serious repercussions as seen in the sequel, “Batman: Arkham City” in which Batman has to stop Protocol Ten, a contingency plan made by Dr. Hugo Strange and Ra’s Al Ghul which would exterminate all of the criminal population of Gotham in a walled-off section of the city called Arkham City. However, the Joker returns and he is dying from the effects of the Titan Venom and needs the cure in order to prevent his death. The following game, “Batman: Arkham Origins” is the prequel to the series and it’s a really fun early-years Batman storyline which has Batman fight against several villains after a reward for his death is put out on him. The final game of this series is “Batman: Arkham Knight”. The graphics of this game are top-notch and even though this game came out in 2015, they still hold up today and honestly look much better than a lot of video games that have come out today.
My second favorite Batman video game series is “LEGO Batman”. These games are so much fun and give me so much nostalgia thinking about them. The story in the first one might be my favorite because it’s just about Batman and Robin fighting various villains in their rogues gallery and saving the city. The second and third game include dialogue from the characters and more characters from the DC Universe which makes for a fun world-building experience. I am over the moon for the upcoming “LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight” game because not only will it make me feel like a little kid playing LEGO Batman on the Wii again, but it also just looks like a really fun game. The game will recapture moments from Batman films, TV shows and comic books. The gameplay is even similar to that of the Arkham series with combos and explosive gel galore.
One of my favorite aspects about the “Batman: Arkham” video game series is that Kevin Conroy does the voice acting for Batman in three out of the four games in that series. Kevin Conroy is most well-known for his voice acting as the caped crusader in the 90s cartoon show, “Batman: The Animated Series”.
This perfectly segues into the television adaptations of Batman since “Batman: The Animated Series” is my favorite Batman show. I remember watching clips of the show on YouTube growing up and finally watching the series in full on my iPad.
Kevin Conroy’s vocal performance as Batman is simply perfect to the point that whenever I read Batman comics, I hear his voice reading his dialogue. His voice is deep and booming but isn’t too gruff or mangled like the voice Christian Bale puts on as Batman from the Dark Knight Trilogy.
“Batman: The Animated Series” is simply a perfect Batman adaptation from start to finish. The series works as a “villain of the week” format presenting different scenarios for Batman to go up against in every different episode. Not to mention, it gave us other iconic vocal performances such as Mark Hamill as The Joker and introduced us to beloved characters such as Harley Quinn.
Honorable mentions of other Batman shows I love are “Batman: Brave and the Bold” (2008), “The Batman” (2004) “Batman Beyond” (1999) and the Adam West “Batman” show from 1966.
Last but not least, onto the film adaptations of Batman. My favorite Batman movie of all time is “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” (1993). I wrote an article about seeing the film’s re-release in theaters back in 2024 and it was a magical experience. A quick TLDR of what I said in that article is that the film perfectly explores Batman’s psyche and showcases Conroy’s vocal range and performance as Batman. If it wasn’t obvious already, Kevin Conroy is my favorite Batman because his vocal performance holds an immense amount of emotion as the character. In terms of live action Batman actors, my favorite is easily Robert Pattinson.
Pattinson outshines the rest in my eyes because his portrayal of Batman actually felt like I was watching Batman come to life from the comic books. None of the other live action Batman films portray Batman as a detective, at least not as much as this film does and I love the gritty atmosphere that the director Matt Reeves puts into Gotham. The Kurt Cobain inspired Bruce Wayne portrayal I also quite enjoyed. It’s different from the typical billionaire playboy persona Bruce Wayne typically has, but I think it fits the tone of the film and especially helps with the “Something in the Way” by Nirvana needle drops throughout the film.
As you can see, I’m quite passionate about Batman. He is a character I will never not gravitate towards simply because of the connection I have had with the character since childhood and how relatable the character is to me in terms of his sense of justice and determination to save and help others as well as protecting his city.
Who is your favorite Batman? What’s your favorite Batman movie, comic or show?
