Hello BOF’ers as well as any non-BOF’er who might’ve stumbled upon this article…WELCOME!
I have been a Batman fan for as long as I remember, so I’m talking at least a half century at this point in my life. Needless to say, I’ve witnessed a lot of Batmanning in my day.
I have seen Batman exist solely in comics, TV show reruns, and Saturday morning cartoons, to what the character is today: An American (and worldwide) cultural icon that exists in all sorts of mediums.
In honor of Batman’s 80th anniversary, I thought it would be fun (for me at least) to write about some of my personal favorite Batman “things” in different mediums — film (animated and live-action), comics, TV, and more!
These Are a Few of My Favorite (Batman) Things, Part 1
These Are a Few of My Favorite (Batman) Things, Part 2
FILM SOUNDTRACK SONG – “The End is the Beginning is the End” by The Smashing Pumpkins from BATMAN & ROBIN (1997)
This was another tough one because I dig “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” by U2 and “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal from BATMAN FOREVER quite a bit.
However, I’ve gotta go with this rocker by TSP as my fave.
Why?
Well, regardless of how I feel about B&R (which I’d watch in a 12-hour loop over 1 viewing of BATMAN RETURNS and BATMAN v SUPERMAN), I just like this one the best and it’s as simple as that.
VIDEO GAME – BATMAN: THE VIDEO GAME (1989)
Yeah ARKHAM games fan, come at me bro!
Look, I absolutely enjoyed playing all the ARKHAM games to various degrees (ORIGINS is underrated AF and KNIGHT is overrated AF), but I loved playing the NES video game tie-in to BATMAN ’89.
While I’ll readily admit that my age and nostalgia probably plays a role in this pick, it was still fun as hell to play this game and I stand by it.
And lest we forget, ZELDA, SUPER MARIO BROS. 2, TECMO BOWL.
ANIMATED FILM/HOME RELEASE – BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (2012)
Another tough choice.
While I came *this* close to going with BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD, ultimately, I had to go with the animated (and straight-up) adaptation of the Frank Miller classic graphic novel.
While I prefer that the filmmakers do the “inspired by” thing when turning a classic Batman comic/graphic novel into a film (animated and live-action), THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS is maybe the only one that was an absolute MUST that it be adapted straight-up (and BATMAN: YEAR ONE too).
For me, Peter Weller’s voice performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman not only ranks as one of the best ever (no disrespect to Kevin Conroy and Olan Soule), but it pretty much is what makes the film awesome. Weller was a perfect fit to voice the 55ish-year-old Mr. Wayne…and Batman too.
I have a limited number of live-action and animated films that I watch on a fairly regular basis. THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS is in my Batman on film rotation.
So, what are you’re favorites of these 3 categories? Post ’em in the comments section below! – Bill “Jett” Ramey
