There he is, folks. I’m fairly certain that Batman: The Animated Series is
the best cartoon there’s ever been.
Will told me yesterday that the celebrities he knew about as a child seem, still, much more important and terrifying than celebrities he learned of later. He’s right, and for me, Batman is most important celebrity there will ever be. He is Darkness, The Night, etc, and has been since I was very small.
I met him once, I think in Chicago, at what must have been just before the release of one of Tim Burton’s Batman films. There, on the street in broad daylight, was Batman, looking like he’d stepped right off the screen. I could hardly breathe. It occurred to me much later that this was a guy in costume hired in a publicity push, but at the time I bought it completely. The guy, to his credit, played the part with conviction.
I approached him. I was so nervous, I don’t remember how the conversation started. But I will never forget how it ended. He looked me sternly in the eye and said this:
“Remember, Son. Fight crime wherever you see it.”
This was the moment I learned what awe felt like.
“I will,” I managed. What else was there to say? “No, thanks”? To Batman?