EDITORIAL

As a general rule, I don’t write about my son. However, recent events make this an exception.

 

My son, Ian, lives at a whole level of nerd I don’t entirely understand. While I might be yearning for the days of a young Han Solo who actually could pass as the handsomely roguish bandit or can debate the virtue of owning a tribble or not, the closet door to my nerdom slams firmly shut at the mention of anime, Pokemon, nerdcons and “Dungeons and Dragons.”

 

Ian will quickly point out any faux pas I make in attempting to hold conversation with him about the DC or Marvel universes, which before he was born I had only a passing recognition of the stories and characters.

 

And aside from my childhood singular knowledge that the Von Erich clan were from Texas, it never occurred to me I would be learning all the ins and outs, body slams and back breakers, drama and excitement that is professional wrestling entertainment.

 

I drew that ever magical, none-shall-pass line when he became interested in anime. My nerd door shut tight at the mention of that form of entertainment so well I can’t recall the name of a single series despite its ever-present population in my Netflix queue.

 

Regardless, I take opportunities when presented for him to expand his geek repertoire like taking him to cons or Ren faires and paying too much money for costumes and merch.

 

On a side note, he had the audacity to tell me once that he isn’t expensive to keep. I broke it down for him dollar by painful dollar until he rolled his teenager eyes. I’ll remind him about it after he has his own kids. And then I’ll laugh and laugh.

 

Some of these interests have come and gone, and others he’s kept up with but keeps to himself. He also has his father to debate the who-would-win-in-a-fight based on whatever video game they happen to be playing at the time.

 

But there’s one that has stuck with my son since toddlerhood: Batman.

 

He went through multiple costumes, which he wore everywhere. Really. Everywhere.

 

When he finally outgrew his last costume, he insisted on at least wearing the mask.

 

He followed every TV series, read every comic book and watched every movie I would allow. As he got older, the canon was still growing, and there was plenty I hadn’t let him see yet because of his age.

 

In my word-nerd efforts to take an interest in his interests, I latched onto this one. The anti-hero. An archetype of the tortured protagonist. We’ve had long discussions on what this means and how Batman’s relationship with the Joker works and where Batman falls in the modern mythos of storytelling.

 

Aside from his riches, he’s not a superhero, because he has no superpowers. He has gadgets and himself. Perhaps that’s what makes him relatable.

 

Ian researched his favorite versions of Batman, and he loved Joker. That the latter is voiced by Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame (we won’t get into the argument about which episodes are actually Star Wars) was eye-opening for him (he got a double-shot latte of nerdom in one actor), and it gave him the idea that he could learn about the man who voiced Batman: Kevin Conroy.

 

For anyone who isn’t aware, Conroy died Thursday after a long battle with cancer. It showed up in my Associated Press news feed at work under “Trending Stories.” I took a screenshot of it and texted it to my son.

 

He complained that he had been having a good day, and I had ruined it. (Ah, teenagers.)

 

“Conroy continued on as the almost exclusive animated voice of Batman, including some 15 films, 400 episodes of television and two dozen video games. In the eight-decade history of Batman, no one played the Dark Knight more,” the story reads.

 

Conroy is the voice of Batman. He is the definitive sound of the rich and famous Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego, anti-hero crime fighter. I’ve seen or heard hundreds of Batman cartoons and animated movies in my home over the years, and just like with Hamill (we won’t discuss my nerdom today), I can pick Conroy’s voice out in a second and know my son is indulging in what is the hallowed halls of a lifelong mind-sanctum that is dedicated to Batman.

 

So, RIP, Kevin Conroy from all your misunderstood, geeky fans and those of us who see the impact Batman has had on the imaginations of children and what the character has brought to the literary discussions between me and my child.

 

To me, that’s priceless.

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Tag: Column

Source: The Kerrville Daily Times