The show showed off the very best possible Batman and put him smack-dab in a series of uncommonly intelligent and thoughtful character plays. The world of Batman: The Animated Series was a flawed and messy one, filled with dark criminals and sometimes hopeless citizens. It was the best of all worlds, a dark and brooding Caped Crusader who nonetheless was a true hero at all times. He represented the ideal that Christian Bale prattles on endlessly about in the Chris Nolan films even as those films existed to shoot holes in his idealism.
I was a huge fan of this show when it originally aired (back when I was in junior high/high school), and I have to agree with Mendelson. Even now, two decades after the fact, I still hear Kevin Conroy’s voice whenever I think of Batman.
This article is actually the first in a series of articles celebrating Batman: The Animated Series’ 20th anniversary. You can find all of the series’ articles here.