Posted in: Movies, san diego comic con | Tagged: Batman, Burce Timm, dc, entertainment, film, geoff johns, jim lee, Kevin Conroy, paul dini, Peter Girardi

DC Entertainment: Batman 75th Anniversary Panel

Peter Sailer writes for Bleeding Cool:

John Cunningham opens the panel and clarifies that the "75th Anniversary" panel on Friday covered Batman's publishing history so this will be about movies, tv, etc. Cunningham introduces Geoff Johns , Peter Girardi (Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!), Bruce Timm, Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Ralph Garman (Batman '66 & The Green Hornet) and Jim Lee.

"I am vengeance. I am the night. I am Batman." Conroy exclaims.

Cunningam talks about Batman Day last Wednesday and promotes the DC booth. Cunningham

Cunningham: "Who is your favorite Batman villain and why?"

Paul Dini: The Joker
Ralph Garman: The Riddler and cites the Frank Gorshin version.
Geoff Johns: Killer Croc (Johns sure loves his b-listers)
Jim Lee: Catwoman
Peter Girardi: Egghead and King Tut from Batman '66
Bruce Timm: Doesn't like the Riddler in general, but loves the Frank Gorshin version. Also, likes Catwoman.
Kevin Conroy: The Joker because he loved working with Mark Hamill.

Conroy talks about Hamill's process channelling the Joker. "He practically eats the microphone." Cunningham transitions to talking about Batman's first pop-culture watershed moment, the 1966 ABC Batman tv show and promotes the DVD/Blu-Ray release on November 11th, the digital-first Batman '66 and the Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet comics.

"I realize I have no business being here whatsoever, but I couldn't turn it down!" Garman says. Garman goes on to say how Kevin Smith recommended him for the job and he should retire after writing his first comic because it's a dream job.

Bruce Timm tells an anecdote about how when he was a kid, Robin vs. Kato, was a huge debate in school even though as an adult, it's easy to see Bruce Lee beat Burt Ward.

We cut to discussing Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and the 25th Anniversary of Tim Burton's Batman. Jim Lee explains how the appeal of Batman is that each generation has their own Batmania – their own personal way to connect to the character. The panelists discuss the uproar when Michael Keaton was cast as Batman that was silenced when the first in-costume image was published in the LA Times.

The next seminal Batman moment was the premiere of Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. Kevin Conroy talks about how he and Mark were blown away by the first episode and how the overall quality of the series led to B:TAS recruiting some of the best actors in Los Angeles.

Timm, Conroy and Dini discuss how they recorded the B:TAS episode "The Man Who Killed Batman" during the LA Riots. Peter Girardi talks about his love for B:TAS, especially the opening sequence, and he was inspired to recruit Bruce Timm to make a 75th Anniversary short for the DC Nation shorts in the style of the animated series. However, Bruce Timm wanted to make a short as a "period piece" in the style of republic serials set in 1939. The short cartoon "Strange Days" plays.

To set up the next clip, Cunningham cuts to Batman Beyond in 1999 which gets a huge reaction from the audience. Dini talks about how Batman Beyond was created during the writing of The New Adventures of Batman and Robin. One executive, inspired by Buffy's success speculates Timm, pitched the idea of a "Teenage Batman." Timm, skeptical of the idea at first, was able to "flesh out" the idea into Batman Beyond. WB was so impressed that they greenlighted Batman Beyond which stressed Timm out as he was developing The New Adventures, Superman: TAS and Batman Beyond at the same time.

The clip "Batman 75 – Batman Beyond" plays.

You can see the clip here – http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/watch-the-new-batman-beyond-short-unveiled-at-wondercon-1201159956/

Cunningham transitions back to the publishing world and mentions The Killing Joke, Arkham Asylum (including the new Dave McKean special edition), and Hush. Jim Lee talks about the process behind All-Star Batman & Robin. Harley Quinn's mainstream success (the Arkham videogames, bestselling comic book) is brought up and Timm and Dini talk about the origins and evolution of Harley Quinn..

"She's gone beyond the character we put in the animated show."

The next important phase of Batman's life is Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Cunningham asks "Is it followable?"

"Of course it's followable." Timm says "It's not like anyone version needs to dominate the entire spectrum of Batman." Geoff Johns tells an anecdote about how a few years before The Dark Knight, one writer suggested killing the Joker because there weren't any stories left to tell. When the Dark Knight came out, everyone realized that Batman's lore and mythology could continually be reinvented.

Geoff Johns talks about Batman: Earth 1. One spoiler Johns reveals in Batman Earth 1 Volume 2 is that in their continuity Bruce's mother's maiden name was Arkham. The Arkham and Waynes built Gotham and one of the central themes of the book is the balance between the sane and the insane. Harvey Dent will also have twin sister named Jessica and Killer Croc will be heavily featured. I called it!

A trailer for Batman 3: Beyond Gotham plays and then the trailer for Gotham immediately plays immediately afterwards.

"The thing that makes Gotham really different is that the death of the Waynes is like a nuclear bomb that hits Gotham," Johns says who goes onto describe how that incident will permeate throughout the city.

The Superman/Wonder Woman/Batman image from Batman vs. Superman that premiered earlier today is shown. There were no special guests unfortunately.

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