Kevin Conroy is the voice I use to read Batman's voice of any comic from the 70's to now. But what about the comics that just don't quite fit his voice? In the comics, his voice has been described very few times:
Hoarse & and Grating
Calm
Described as Calm and Masterful. And holy crap that's cool.
Cold and Whispery
Clint Eastwood is probably the closest description to Conroy's there is.
Chilled, Frosted and like razor blades.
Out of those, you can pick out that his voice is cold, hoarse, grating, and sometimes even a whisper. Oddly, this is nothing like Conroy's other than it being calm and cold. Here's what bugs me:
This almost perfectly describes Christian Bale's Batman voice.
So what does he sound like in the comics? As you can see there's a lot of inconsistency in what voice to use. Why not a whole bunch! Here's the best way to read Batman's voice depending on Era:
From Detective Comics #27 to #38, I read Batman in Jeremy Sisto's voice:
Detective Comics #38 and Batman #1 is about when Batman went "camp". So then for any comics in the 40's and 50's, I switch to Lewis Wilson from the Batman Serials:
This is the entire first chapter of the serial. I was too lazy to find a clip. Watch the whole thing if you want, or just to get an idea of what Lewis Wilson's voice was like.
Also the Robin in the Serials is good for 40's and 50's Comic Robin voice.
But how can you have camp without good ol' Adam West, which is the voice I like to use for the Batman of the 60's comics:
You don't even have to watch to know his voice.
Then comes the 70's where eventually camp began falling apart and the art changed. Around this time, I think the voice should Switch to Kevin Conroy. The same is true for the 80's, 90's and Noughties.
EXCEPT I like to use some voices for specific storylines. Such as Peter Weller whenever I read DKR:
Despite this generation absolutely hating anything Frank Miller for no specific reason, Frank Weller did terrific in this movie. His casting was genius.
It's too bad he doesn't care much about the role of Batman though, he and Jeremy Sisto are underrated. But at the same time, Weller's voice wouldn't fit well in any other stories. It would just be too dark and with the wrong edge.
For Death In The Family and Under The Red Hood, I use Bruce Greenwood's voice, because he seems like he could easily take over the reigns from Conroy one day:
There's a tint of country in his voice. Usually that would be out of place, but I like it.
For Year One, I like to use Ben Mackenzie's Batman Voice:
Not to be mistaken with his awesome portrayal of A younger Jim Gordon:
But Bruce Wayne isn't the only Batman there's been, is he? No. In Knightfall, Jean Paul Valley (Azrael) took over as Batman (or Azbats). For Jean, I use Azrael's voice from Arkham City:
And for Dick Grayson as Batman, I use the voice they keep pushing on us in the New 52 movies, Jason O'Mara:
But lets be honest. there's only one true Batman Voice.
Mr. Kevin Conroy.
So that's that. About half way through this post I got bored, so i'm just gonna post it and be done. I also like Roger Craig Smith from Arkham Origins, but couldn't find a way to fit him in.
Also: There's a really good forum from a while ago about this subject on Batman-Online, where I got my pictures:
http://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=1738.0
Well, my ride's here:
See you whenever I feel like posting next!
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