Tag Archives: Kevin Conroy

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NYCC 2015 Friday Panels – Our Picks!

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Written by David Henehan.

Welcome to Day 2 of NYCC. You made it through Thursday, the day of NYCC that is least packed, in terms of both attendance and what creators are there, but now it’s Friday! More people at the Javits Center! More panels! That said, there seem to be less MUST ATTEND panels than Thursday. BUT the good Friday panels are AWESOME Friday panels, which is going to make for some hard choices when it comes to time conflicts.

DC Comics – The Dark Knight 30th Anniversary – 11:00-12:00 Main Stage 1-D

Wow, talk about a star-studded panel. Jim Lee, Klaus Jansen, Andy Kubert, Brian Azzarello and surprise guests. Could the surprise guests possibly be Scott Snyder and Frank Miller?! What do you think? (Wristband required)

Dark Horse: CLASSIFIED – 11:00-12:00 1A21

Dark Horse lost the Star Wars license at the end of 2014. What would have been a mortal blow to another company inspired this company to really go all out in producing new quality product. Dark Horse has long been a home of great independent work and licensed comics. With the loss of their biggest license, they doubled down on the creator owned titles, giving us such gems as Brian Wood’s Rebels. Wood will be at this panel, as will Matt Kindt, Mike Richardson and more. Come here to see what Dark Horse has planned for 2016.

Dan Parent Drawing Workshop – 11:00-12:00 Family HQ 1C01

Here’s a fun one to bring the kids. Dan Parent of Archie Comics will be hosting a drawing workshop. Learn how to draw your Archie faves.

YogaQuest: Narrated Yogic Adventures – 1:15-2:15 Family HQ 1C04

“A mix of yoga and fan-fiction storytelling.” Okay, you’ve piqued my interest. Hmm, maybe this is the day I’ll wear my Spider-Man costume to NYCC.

Star Wars Collectibles Update with Lucasfilm’s Anita Castellar – 1:30-2:30 1A21   CANCELLED

If you missed yesterday’s Hasbro Star Wars panel, make up for it by attending the Lucasfilm Star Wars Collectibles panel, which will cover the gamut of upcoming Star Wars merchandise.

In Conversation With Seth Meyers – 1:45-2:45 1A10

Late night host, former SNL head writer, and published comic book writer (it’s true!) Seth Meyers will be interviewed by Vulture’s Jesse David Fox. I’m surprised this is in one of the smaller A-line panel rooms, and not on either the Main Stage or Empire Stage.

The Adventure Continues: A Justice League Reunion Event – 2:00-3:00 Empire Stage 1E

This is the first time that the Justice League cartoon cast is reuniting in over 10 years! Kevin Conroy (Batman), Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman), George Newbern (Superman), Phil LaMaar (Green Lantern), Maria Canals-Barrera (Hawkgirl), Carl Lumbly (Martian Manhunter) and Voice Director Andrea Romano all in the same room! The cast will also be autographing in the autographing area at different points during NYCC. Be sure to check the timetable in the autographing area for that info.

[adult swim] Panel Block – 2:30-5:15 Main Stage 1-D

The people behind Venture Bros, Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter, and Robot Chicken will all be here and will have preview footage of their new seasons. (Wristband required)

Archie Comics Forever – 4:15-5:15 1A05

Are you reading Archie by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples? If not, you need to. It’s one of the best new comics of 2015. Mark Waid will be at this panel, as will Roberto Aguirre-Sacassa (Afterlife with Archie), Chip Zdarsky and more.

Dorkly Presents Today in Nerd Trivia – 6:30-7:30 1A21

As a member of Trivia NYC’s reigning Trivia Champions of New York City (seriously, look it up), I’m all about this. I really, really, really hope I get picked to join the Dorkly staff to compete on stage.

Batman: Bad Blood Exclusive First Look 8:00-9:00 Main Stage 1-D

See exclusive footage of the latest from Warner Animated’s DC Superhero movies, Batman: Bad Blood. Batwoman and Batwing are finally appearing in an animated movie! This one is directed by Jay Oliva, which means it’s bound to have awesome fight scenes!

 

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Andrea Romano Talks Justice League: War

justice league war box art

Justice League: War is the next release in Warner Bros Home Video’s line of direct-to-DVD animated movies featuring DC superheroes. The official release date is February 4, 2014. I expect that Best Buy will once again have an exclusive version of the DVD that comes packaged with a mini-action figure. There has been no word yet as to what that figure will be. My guess is on Cyborg, since his origin story makes up a large portion of Justice League: War. If not him, then Darkseid, the main villain of Justice League: War.

At New York Comic Con this year, I had the chance to sit down with casting director Andrea Romano about Justice League: War. Andrea and DC animated projects go back. She’s the woman who originally cast Kevin Conroy as Batman in Batman: The Animated Series. Since then, she’s cast Batman enough times to lose count as to what the actual number is. “I’m looking for someone to tell me how many times I cast Batman. I think it’s somewhere around 17.” said Romano.

Justice League: War is the first of DC’s animated movies set in the New 52 universe. For those unfamiliar with the New 52, in 2011, DC rebooted their entire line of comic books, calling the new universe and continuity the New 52, which was the number of titles DC put out that month. Origins and costumes have been modified and modernized. When asked if she approached casting for Justice League: War differently than how she cast prior movies, Andrea said “(It was) pretty much the same process. We all looked for the best possible voices.”

I asked Andrea if there was a mandate from on high this time about not repeating voices. Andrea said there was, but that it changes every film. Andrea elaborated, “My first question on every job is can I use people I’ve used before? May I use Kevin Conroy? May I use Mark Hamil?” Sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes they want her to have an all-new cast. According to Andrea, sometimes a change in visual style or the use of a different color palette from a previous project will lead to the decision to work with a new cast of actors.

Bruce Timm handed the reins of the DC animated movies to James Tucker in order for Bruce to focus on other projects. When asked how working with James Tucker compared to working with Bruce Timm, Andrea said, “I love working with both of them. I worked with James on Brave and the Bold and many other projects in the past, so I knew him. Bruce and James have very much the same mindset on the way they think things need to be depicted, and the way they want it to look and sound. It’s kind of a seamless transition. James is great. I love both of them.”

Andrea walked me through the production time line for a project. She explained, “There’s lots of time limits. The script is written. Then I do casting and voice directing. Everything then takes its cue from there, so if I’m late, everyone else is late, and that’s not good. We have to deliver by a certain date. Even though we might deliver this now to Warner Home Video, it may not release for another six months, but we still have to deliver it. And if we don’t deliver it, we’re fined, because they have plans for it. They have to promote it. They have to get footage out there.  If I’m late, the next step gets late, then the next step. I’m at the end doing the ADR, so I’m impacting my own schedule, because I have less time. And when I use celebrities, trying to get them in to their ADR, I’m working on Saturdays, I’m working on Sundays, I’m working on holidays just trying to get it done so that I can get it in to the mix, so I that I can deliver on time. Production takes about a year and a half to make, start to finish, and then it may sit another six months before it’s actually released.”

In regards to specific casting, Andrea was very high on casting Shemar Moore, from Criminal Minds, to play the part of Cyborg. “There are always actors I watch on television shows or films that I keep a list of, that I want to find a role for.” said Andrea. Shemar was one of them. Andrea went on to say “It’s his first time ever doing voice animation. You would never know it how good he was. Really good.” She shared a funny anecdote about Shemar’s recording session. “It took a lot of screaming in that particular role, because he’s almost killed. If you watched the Emmys…he was doing a couple of interviews; he had worked for me that day. I was like, “Shemar, I hope I haven’t destroyed your voice for the night.” Because he just did all the ADR for him. I was like, “Oh lord, I hope I didn’t wreck you for the night.” But he was good.”

jl war cyborg

Andrea also shared a story of voice direction gone bad. “We do so many of these projects simultaneously where we are doing post production on something, casting the next one and recording for one. When I directed this piece, I had forgotten that it’s really the Justice League origin story. When I was directing Alan Tudyk as Superman, I was directing him incorrectly.” How? “I was directing him as playing it kind of the hands on the hips, arms akimbo, secure. But he wasn’t that yet. The character hadn’t grown to that yet. After we animated it and I got the track back, I went, “Oh, I screwed up.” I had to go back in and ADR his first lines of the piece, making him sound more innocent…It was very interesting to make that change because to me, they’ve always existed forever. But it was the origin story. I forgot.”

jl war superman

When asked if she wonders why Warner won’t release DC animated movies on the big screen, Andrea replied, “I wonder that often.” She said she was happy with the way Batman: Mask of the Phantasm turned out. Andrea elaborated, “When you make something intended for the small screen, if there are flaws, no one is ever going to see it. Of course, when we made that (Phantasm), people didn’t have 56″ flat screen TVs to watch. But you put that on a big, huge feature film screen and (you) see all those flaws. That film did really well in that there were no many flaws that showed up.”

Possibly the greatest thing about talking to Andrea is that you get a real sense of her high energy and enthusiasm for every project. I expect her to be casting Batman, and the other heroes of the DC Universe, long into the future.

Justice League: War will be released on February 14, 2014.

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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 – Review

After months of waiting, it’s finally here, the conclusion to the animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s epic, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.  Like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, the folks at DC’s animated division have once again created a movie worthy of the source material.

When I first heard that DC was dividing The Dark Knight Returns into two movies, the cynic in me saw this as a cash grab. But now that I’ve seen both movies, I’m glad the decision was made to divide the story into two movies. Nothing feels rushed, nothing feels left out.

Michael Emerson did a great job voicing the Joker. His Joker is not Mark Hamill’s Joker, but it is terrific in its own way. While I love Batman: The Animated Series, and hear Mark Hamill’s Joker and Kevin Conroy’s Batman when I read those characters, I like that Andrea Romano was tasked with finding all-new voice talent for the two Dark Knight Returns movies.

The climatic fight scene between Superman and Batman was awesome, as was the scene where Superman is hit by the nuclear bomb. Both scenes were like seeing what my mind’s eye sees in the gutters of the comic brought to life. The producers did an amazing job with both.

My only complaints about the movie are minor. The lighting seemed too bright for some of the street level action. I would have expected more shadows and murkier colors. The comic is full of a lot of blacks and  grays, but the animated movie has a more colorful overall palette.

There were two character designs that stood out for me that seemed very off from their comic book counterparts. In The Dark Knight Returns comic, Bruno, the Joker’s swastika-adorned, Neo-Nazi goon always looked like a post-op tranny to me. She’s more obviously a woman here in the movie. Batman’s bag lady disguise is the other design that was jarring to me. In the comic, this is a scary looking disguise. The bag lady looks like disease and death in an overweight bag. But her gruesome features are gone in the movie. Sure, she’s not winning any beauty contests, but they definitely gave her an upgrade in the looks department.

Bruno from the Dark Knight Returns comic

Having recently watched Batman: Year One, it was nice to see a couple of Easter eggs for that movie in this one. On the Gordan’s apartment wall, you can see photos of Gordan’s first wife, Barbara and their infant son James Jr.

I bought the limited edition version of the movie at Best Buy, which comes with a small Joker figure. Was this  figure worth the extra five bucks? I’m going to say no. The Joker’s face looks more like David Bowie by way of Gene Simmons and there is virtually no articulation.

Not the best Joker figure.

I definitely recommend watching Batman: Year One and then both parts of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. All three movies are very faithful and very well done adaptations of what I think are the two greatest Batman stories ever told.

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Andrea Romano Interview at NYCC 2012

I was able to sit down with both Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano at New York Comic Con this year to talk about Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Parts 1 and 2 and Batman: The Animated Series. You can read my Bruce Timm interview here.

Andrea Romano has been casting Batman for the past 20 years. “Somebody told me that I’ve cast Batman 13 or 14 times over the various different projects,” said Romano. She is one of the people responsible for the incredibly good casting of  Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman for Batman: The Animated Series.
When Kevin Conroy came in for this audition int he early 90s, Andrea had already listened to 500 auditions for the role of Batman, and had auditioned 150 people in person herself. After Kevin’s audition,  Bruce Timm and Andrea looked at each other and said “We have found Batman.” In the two decades since Kevin Conroy began being the voice of Batman, people have come up to Andrea and told her that “For my entire life, I’ve heard Kevin Conroy as Batman.” Andrea knows the feeling. According to Andrea, “When I prep a script, regardless of what incarnation of Batman it is, when I’m preparing for recording, I hear Kevin’s voice. Even though it may be somebody else I’ve cast to play Batman, I hear Kevin’s voice. That sets the bar.”
Andrea described the casting of Batman as “incredibly hard.” But the benefit, according to her, is that “it’s a character you don’t have to pitch. You don’t have to go, “There’s a guy named Bruce Wayne, and he’s got this problem because his parents were murdered.” Everyone knows who he is.” She also pointed out that these actors may never get the chance to play him on camera and this could be their one opportunity to play him.
When asked about how Mark Hamill was cast as the Joker, Andrea said that Mark Hamill approached her. Mark had his agent call her saying that Mark wanted to be a part of the Batman series. Andrea first cast him as a guest. “He did a terrific job and was very much embraced by the crew. He was very generous with his Star Wars stories.” When they finished recording, he came over to Andrea and said, “I had a great time, but you don’t understand. I want to be a part of this series,” Andrea let on. At the time, Tim Curry had been cast as the Joker and had recorded a handful of episodes. Andrea was asked by her higher ups to recast him. On a side note, she mentioned that she is probably the only person who has an existing version of a Batman show that has Tim Curry in it playing the Joker. She decided to give Mark Hamill a shot. “He auditioned and was stunning,” Andrea said about Mark.
In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2, Michael Emerson, from Lost and Person of Interest, will be the one playing the Joker. When asked how she found him, Andrea said that she approached Michael at San Diego Comic Con and asked him if he would ever be interested in doing an animated project if the right role came up. “Then this came up and I said, “Would you like to be the Joker?” and he jumped on it.” said Andrea. According to her, Michael said this was the hardest work he’d ever done. “I think because it’s out of his wheelhouse.” Andrea commented. When they recorded Michael as the Joker, Andrea was in LA and Michael was in NY. It was the first time Andrea recorded via Skype, so she could watch him. “Because working with an actor when you can see them, as opposed to only hearing their voice is very helpful. And having them be able to see me so that I can direct them.” Andrea explained.
Regarding Peter Weller being cast as Batman in The Dark Knight Returns, Andrea said “If I can’t use Kevin Conroy, because I do love using Kevin Conroy whenever I can, Mark Hamill as well, this was a really good bit of casting.” She explained, “The thing is, Peter is a good actor in and of himself. I didn’t know he was a major comic book fan. He was really familiar with the source material.”
At New York Comic Con, publicist Gary Miereanu revealed that Conan O’Brien would be voicing talk show host Dave Endocrine in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2. When asked how it was working with Conan, Andrea said, “He was excellent. He was a pleasure to work with. There’s something that he has to do in this piece, which is when he gets hit with Joker gas, that laughing gas that hits people. It starts with a building laugh and then a big, big laugh and then it gets to that painful, I’m dying laugh. He did it in one take. It’s a long, long laugh. Both Bruce Timm and I were like, “You’re really good.” You have no idea how hard that is. Laughing on cue is one of the hardest things to do in voice over. It’s just really, really hard, and he just nailed it.”
When asked who’d she like to work with in the future, Andrea’s answer was Jon Hamm. “I think he’s a wonderful actor. He can do comedy, he can do drama and everything in-between. She also said she wants to work with Kyle Chandler, saying “I think he’s a terrific actor too.” And she would love to work with Glenn Close. “[Glenn Close] began her career in voice over. She was in The Legend of Greystoke, the Tarzan story. She completely dubbed Andie MacDowell’s voice. That’s not Andie MacDowell. That’s Glenn Close’s voice. She’s a terrific voice over actress, so I want to work with her.” explained Andrea.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD on January 29, 2013.
Interview by Billy Henehan
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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 Review

Around the time that the first Tim Burton Batman movie was released, I had a case of full-on Batmania. I had enough Batman t-shirts to last over a week. I had multiple Batman buttons pinned to my jackets. I even had a giant Batman movie poster from the NYC subway hanging in my bedroom.

It was around this time that I was given a copy of The Dark Knight Returns. It immediately became one of my favorite comics. It’s one of those comics that I read almost every year.

When it was announced that Dark Knight Returns would be adapted into an animated movie, I couldn’t help but feel hesitant about it. I’m not a fan of the Death of Superman animated film and I worried that they would use the wrong art style or water down the story on DKR. The box art scared me; this wasn’t the Batman from The Dark Knight Returns on the box art.

I shouldn’t have worried. The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 is a very faithful adaption of the first half of The Dark Knight Returns. The art style is very reminiscent of Frank Miller’s art from the comic, but updated to not look dated, less rough, and more streamlined. It’s a very subtle shift in style and it works well. The story has barely been changed. It’s not a shot-for-shot, line-for-line remake of the comic, but while watching it, I couldn’t pick out any scene that was missed. Batman’s inner monologue is gone, but that may be for the better. I don’t know if I’d have enjoyed the movie if every scene was narrated by The God Damn Batman.

Yessssss!

The story in Part 1 deals with Batman coming out of retirement to deal with the Mutant Gang, who have been terrorizing Gotham City. The leader of the Mutants is a ‘roided up, razor teethed psycho. It’s a cool story that works both on its own and as a set-up for Part 2, which is being released on January 29, 2013. The climatic battle between Batman and the leader of the Mutants is simply awesome.

The Mutant Gang have a similar eye-wear fashion sense as Cyclops from the X-Men.

The hardest part of enjoying any animated Batman movie for me is dealing with Kevin Conroy not voicing Batman. To me, and many others, Kevin Conroy is Batman, so hearing someone else’s voice come out of the character’s mouth can be jarring. But Peter Weller is great as Batman.

I highly recommend checking out Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1. It has replaced Batman: Under the Red Hood as my favorite DC animated feature. If you enjoyed the recent The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight rises movies, it’s worth checking out the story that helped inspire those two films.

I can’t wait for Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 to be released. In the meantime, I think I’ll check out the DC animated movie of my other favorite Batman tale: Year One.

You can also read my interviews with Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano about the making of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.