13 COVERS: A KEVIN CONROY Birthday Celebration

Wow, Batman is 60!

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For a certain generation of Batman fans, The Animated Series — and its later iteration, The New Batman Adventures — is the definitive Batman. It’s not the case for me personally because the cartoons came along too late in my own Bat-development, but they are wonderful nonetheless.

So much of that is not just down to the brilliant Bruce Timm designs or the emotionally resonant stories by writers like Paul Dini but to the performance of Andrea Romano’s stable of talented voice actors.

At the head of that pack, naturally, is Batman himself, Kevin Conroy. His mark on the Dark Knight is so indelible that any time an animation project or video game is announced, fans speculate on whether Conroy will be voicing him — and then complain loudly when he’s not.

Like Adam West and Michael Keaton before him and Christian Bale after him, Kevin Conroy is Batman.

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He was born Nov. 30, 1955, which makes the ultimate voice of the Masked Manhunter a full 60 years old.

Here are 13 COVERS to celebrate his version of Batman — featuring artwork from talents such as Timm, Darwyn Cooke, Ty Templeton and the late Mike Parobeck.

(My standard caveat: This is a subjective list and not a ranking of any kind. This is pretty much what I dig and you may feel very differently. So, rather than beef about a cover you don’t see, instead join in the fun and share your own choices in the comments section or in whatever social-media thread you saw this.)

Ty Templeton

Ty Templeton

Ty Templeton and Rick Burchett

Ty Templeton and Rick Burchett

Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett

Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett

Bruce Timm

Bruce Timm

Ty Templeton

Ty Templeton

Ty Templeton

Ty Templeton

Mike Parobeck and Rock Burchett

Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett

Darwyn Cooke

Darwyn Cooke

Bob Smith and Terry Beatty

Bob Smith and Terry Beatty

Kelsey Shannon

Kelsey Shannon

Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett

Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett

Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett

Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett

Ty Templeton

Ty Templeton

Cover images and credits from the fantastic Grand Comics Database.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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