Thursday, December 15, 2016

Mondo Batman: The Animated Series / New Batman Adventures Posters

WHOO! They've arrived!

In September, Mondo released 2 beautiful 18x24 Batman posters designed by Dave Perillo that are based on the 90s Batman: The Animated Series and the New Batman Adventures. I haven't purchased posters from Mondo since Batman's 75th anniversary, but I really loved these for the nostalgia and they're just straight up gorgeous so I thought I'd take a look.

From my understanding, Mondo poster prints are almost always limited. These particular posters were limited to 225 each. You can order their prints online, but they sell out almost immediately, as soon as they go on sale. When they first announced the prints, their blog read that they would be announcing the sale release at a random time the next day on Twitter. (Just another reason why everybody should be on Twitter!)

To increase my chances of buying the prints, I set up mobile notifications for the Mondo Twitter page. This alerts you via a push notification on your phone every single time the Twitter page posts something new. If you're interested in knowing how to do this for future reference, make sure your phone number is added to your Twitter profile, navigate to the page you want to follow, click the settings gear next to the "Follow"/"Following" button, and select "Turn on mobile notifications." You can turn them off at any time.

I didn't have the volume on all the way on my phone since I was at work, but I had my phone on vibrate and right in front of my body (in front of my keyboard) all morning waiting for the right moment. I got lucky and saw the notification on my phone as soon as Mondo posted! I had the sale window open ahead of time as well so all I had to do was refresh, add to cart, and check out as quickly as possible. ðŸ™Œ  I was in luck!

They finally arrived last week. Look at these beauties.


I thought about buying only the BTAS poster because I prefer the BTAS character design a bit more, but I'm SO glad I purchased both. I can't wait to frame and hang these... somewhere in the house. I haven't exactly figured out where yet since our decor is kind of all over the place (we need help with our interior decorating).

I love the art style and I adore the sometimes subtle variances between the 2 posters, so very in line with the different styles from Batman: The Animated Series and the New Batman Adventures. I also really enjoy that they include so many obscure characters that appeared throughout the series.

How many of the characters can you name? Which poster is your favorite? Which characters on the posters are your favorites?

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Favorite Batman Voice Actors

Most people know I love Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman from the 90s Batman: The Animated Series, but what about the many other voice actors who have voiced the Dark Knight over the years? I've written a very brief post on another blog about my general opinion on the matter, but I want to go into it a bit more here on my Batman blog.

Disclaimer that all voices mentioned below are from animated shows and movies. I don't have strong opinions on video game specific Batman voices since I don't play them often or enough. That might change once I get my hands on a used version of Batman: The Telltale video game!

Kevin Conroy
I love voice director Andrea Romano and I think, overall, she does a great job of casting voice actors for the DCAU. It's tough to top Kevin Conroy, though. He's absolutely my favorite.

I'm sure most people who share my opinion would agree that it's partially nostalgia that keeps Kevin Conroy at the top of our lists. He was/is Batman for so many years, so consistently, that it's difficult to imagine any other voice behind the man.

On top of nostalgia, though, I do think he does a great job at differentiating Batman and Bruce Wayne's voice (and I don't mean in the way Christian Bale does it). It's very subtle, but very effective.

Here he is as Bruce Wayne. He sounds kind and much more innocent and naive than you might be used to Batman being. Start at 3:10.


In The New Adventures of Batman, they made Bruce a bit more rugged and "mean" in my opinion, but I still feel like Kevin Conroy's voice acting does it so much justice. It's different but it still works.

Let it be known that I was 100% NOT okay with Bruce moving in on Lois Lane, though. You knew Superman liked her! That is so uncool, Bats. Granted, as a feminist, I also say Lois is her own lady so she does what she wants and she doesn't belong to anybody.

Check out the below video starting at 5:56 (the last minute) to see how his voice acting changes in this iteration.


Then, of course, his Batman is perfectly intimidating and awesome. The animation and writing help.


Alright, you get it. I love Kevin Conroy.

Will Friedle
I also loved Will Friedle in Batman Beyond. People know him better as Eric Matthews from Boy Meets World, but fun fact, he also voiced Ron Stoppable in Kim Possible. That kind of blew my mind when I first found out because they're such different characters.

Here he is as Terry McGinnis, Batman's altar ego in Batman Beyond. I love his voice because it's equal parts dark and hilarious, a lighter counterpart to Kevin Conroy's Bruce.


His Batman has a good dark quality to it too (albeit younger).



Will Arnett
I know Will Arnett's role as Lego Batman is probably not as difficult to pull off as Kevin Conroy and Will Friedle's roles. Lego Batman is super silly so it seems easier to get away with doing everything over the top, but I LOVE IT. Will Arnett is so funny and the writing is perfect so that probably helps. I cannot wait for the movie to come out.


Looking at my favorites above, I realize it's probably unfair to compare Will Friedle and Will Arnett to Kevin Conroy since they technically aren't playing the same type of Batman. It's just so hard to love some one's Bat-voice as much I love Conroy's. I HAVE noticed some recurring voices as Bruce Wayne/Batman and they each have their good qualities.

Jason O'Mara
Lately, I've been hearing a lot more of Jason O'Mara in Justice League movies. My personal opinion is that he has SOME really great moments and I think he might be getting better with every Batman role he lands, but his Batman almost seems monotone and one dimensional. He really just changes the volume of his voice, there's nothing else that indicates feeling. All I get is that "I'm a dark person." You don't see a lot of Bruce Wayne in Justice League movies so opinions of Jason O'Mara are completely based on his ability to voice Batman. See some examples in the below video at 0:34 and 1:05.


Bruce Greenwood
Bruce Greenwood is pretty great. He did a good job in Young Justice and Batman: Under the Red Hood. I'm not sure if I'm biased because Batman: Under the Red Hood is my favorite Batman animated movie to date. It's got great voice acting, an amazing story, so many emotions!

With that said, I might like Bruce Greenwood because he had a lot of emotions to work with in the scenes he was provided, which I think gives him a leg up on Jason O'Mara. He knows how to play Batman passionately, but still staying true to the darkness. I think Kevin Conroy could still do it better, but not bad, Bruce Greenwood, not bad.

See my favorite scene from Under the Red Hood below. Check YouTube for more great scenes from this movie where Bruce Greenwood shines. If you haven't seen this movie, SPOILER ALERT!


With more time, I could really appreciate some of the other Batman voice actors out there. Still, no one has come close to Kevin Conroy for me. The same can probably be said for a lot of other Batman fans.

Let me know what you all think! Comment below with any opinions you have on Batman voice actors that are or are not listed in my post above. I would love to get your thoughts and maybe look into a few others that you all think I should consider for my list. Maybe Roger Craig Smith? Troy Baker?