Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / I Am The Night Not I Am Batman That And More From Animation Historian Daniel Dockery

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I Am The Night Not I Am Batman That And More From Animation Historian Daniel Dockery · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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Speaker 1: It really is about having fun, exploring, and finding things
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Speaker 1: on Arrow.net, 21 different podcasts, A-R-R-O-E.net. One of our big
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Speaker 1: ones right now is a thing called Music's Lost History.
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Speaker 1: You know the music, you know the artists, but can
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Speaker 1: your exploration. You know, Daniel, he's up there. Michael is
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Speaker 1: up there in New York. Do you ever look at
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Speaker 1: the skyline of New York and think, this isn't New York,
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Speaker 1: this is Gotham City? Because I'm so convinced inside my
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Speaker 1: heart that that is what really is going on up there.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. Well, I lived in the first spell in New
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Speaker 2: York City between times living in North Carolina. And it's yeah,
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Speaker 2: it's really hard as a comic book fan not to
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Speaker 2: be like, I'm sure there's like a Batman could exist here.
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Speaker 2: Why wouldn't he?
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Speaker 1: So then you said you were in North Carolina. Is
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Speaker 1: that your bat cave down here in Carolina?
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Speaker 2: I my bat cave is in Durham, North Carolina. Europe.
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Speaker 1: Oh, my God. Well, go to the hurricanes. And man,
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Speaker 1: we you guys scored big time, man.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. I know. I have a lot of friends that
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Speaker 2: drag me to hurricanes whenever they can. I love hurricanes,
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Speaker 2: but I have so many fans that are ride or
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Speaker 2: die on that. They really got me into it.
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Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question about a book like
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Speaker 1: this because, I mean, you are really going into an
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Speaker 1: area that hasn't been touched that much because I love
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Speaker 1: the animation. And when I started seeing all the real
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Speaker 1: live actors and stuff like that, I'm sorry, but I
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Speaker 1: got to go back to the animation because that to
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Speaker 1: me was my childhood imagination set on fire.
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Speaker 2: You know, I think once you watch a good animated,
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Speaker 2: like Batman animated series, it's hard to ever go back
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Speaker 2: to live action in the same way again. You know,
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Speaker 2: there's such an allowance for both like, Like the noir
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Speaker 2: atmosphere for it and like the fantastical villain atmosphere or
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Speaker 2: stuff for it. And so it's hard to return to
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Speaker 2: and like getting to dive into that at a book's
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Speaker 2: length and also do like a deep dive into the
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Speaker 2: history of it and the creation of the show and
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Speaker 2: shows like it was such a treat for me. It
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Speaker 2: was like it was so worth the time and effort
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Speaker 2: put into it.
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Speaker 1: Now, I know a billion people are going to be
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Speaker 1: asking you about the title of the book, I Am
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Speaker 1: the Knight. And this is how branding really works. Because anymore,
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Speaker 1: when it comes to Batman, we always think of K-N-I-G-H-T.
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Speaker 1: What happened with the title on this one? And how
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Speaker 1: can I straighten it up here so we can get
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Speaker 1: listeners on the right trail and they don't go look
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Speaker 1: for the other knight?
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Speaker 2: So, I Am the Night, it comes from that famous
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Speaker 2: Batman speech in the episode Nothing to Fear where Scarecrow
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Speaker 2: has doused him in the fear toxin and he sees
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Speaker 2: an image of his parents taunting him and telling him
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Speaker 2: that he's a disgrace. And then he goes, I am vengeance,
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Speaker 2: I am the night, I am Batman and really rallies
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Speaker 2: and beats through the fear. So, yeah, that's... And also,
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Speaker 2: I Am the Night was supposed to be back in the.
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Speaker 2: 80s batman film apparently in the script uh that's what
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Speaker 2: michael keaton was supposed to say michael keaton was like
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Speaker 2: i'm not gonna say that i'm gonna say i'm batman
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Speaker 2: and so you know history has changed.
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Speaker 1: Yep dude i i like i am the knight so
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Speaker 1: much better now that you explain it like that because
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Speaker 1: that that to me i mean i sat here and
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Speaker 1: i got shivers in my spine.
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Speaker 2: So, yeah, it's so powerful, and it also explains the
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Speaker 2: ethos behind the show, just wanting to create this dark
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Speaker 2: Batman cartoon in comparison to all that had come before it.
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Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that I learned from
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Speaker 1: your book, and I don't know why I never made
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Speaker 1: the association, but Batman was in competition with the Teenage
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Speaker 1: Mutant Ninja Turtles. I never even put those two together.
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Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, so Batman kind of came after, you know,
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Speaker 2: there was a lot of shows that are, you know,
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Speaker 2: now we kind of think of as iconic 80s shows
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Speaker 2: like He-Man and G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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Speaker 2: came up around then. But Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was like,
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Speaker 2: by having so many seasons, was kind of like the
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Speaker 2: last man standing of the 80s action cartoon. And then
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Speaker 2: Batman really, you know, stuff like Batman and X-Men came
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Speaker 2: and kind of usurped its position. But yeah, when Batman appeared,
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Speaker 2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was like the last of the
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Speaker 2: old guard.
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Speaker 1: Now, when you got together with Eric, Alan, and Paul,
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Speaker 1: were they open in sharing the journey? Because, I mean,
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Speaker 1: sometimes we have to be tight-lipped about taking basically everybody
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Speaker 1: back behind the curtain to show off the wizard.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, no, they were, you know, I think just enough
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Speaker 2: time had passed for them to both have a really
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Speaker 2: strong grip on like, you know, like what happened and
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Speaker 2: also be able to be introspective a little bit. So,
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Speaker 2: you know, they're not coming at everything like I have a,
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Speaker 2: you know, grudge to pick or, you know, I have
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Speaker 2: a bone to pick with this or this is all great.
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Speaker 2: It was all sunshine and roses while we went there. No,
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Speaker 2: they were very level headed about all the questions I
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Speaker 2: gave them. And it just made for a book that
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Speaker 2: you could kind of like One of the aims of
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Speaker 2: the book was to, I want to put people, I
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Speaker 2: want to let them know what it feels like to
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Speaker 2: work at Warner Brothers in 1992, work at Warner Brothers Animation.
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Speaker 2: And their input and them talking on the level with
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Speaker 2: me really helped in that goal.
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Speaker 1: You know what's going to happen here because I'm with
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Speaker 1: future broadcasters as well as animators because that's what the
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Speaker 1: school teaches. And the thing is, is that you're going
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Speaker 1: to be touching people in the way of letting them
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Speaker 1: feel that they don't have such a crazy ass mind.
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Speaker 1: It is something that they can take their own inspirations
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Speaker 1: from Batman and grow their own product. And you're letting
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Speaker 1: them inside to find that confidence.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope so. You know, I hope people like
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Speaker 2: rewatch the show after they read the book. But another
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Speaker 2: thing I'd like to do is, you know, it's tough
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Speaker 2: to be an animator. It's really tough. Maybe now more
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Speaker 2: than ever. You know, the ecosystem for it is, is,
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Speaker 2: has always been tough, but right now it's really tough.
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Speaker 2: But if Batman and the Matrix is proof of anything...
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Speaker 2: It's that you can take something that nobody really quite
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Speaker 2: has the belief in. Like, you know, if you heard
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Speaker 2: like they were going to make a Batman cartoon after
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Speaker 2: the sense of a Batman movie, you'd think, well, that
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Speaker 2: Batman cartoon is not going to be very good. It's
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Speaker 2: just going to be a cash in. But they were
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Speaker 2: able to create something revolutionary out of it. And you
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Speaker 2: can take that to your idea, whether you want to
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Speaker 2: create a Batman cartoon or you want to create an
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Speaker 2: original idea. You know, you have the ability to take
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Speaker 2: a big swing and make something that people talk about
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Speaker 2: 35 years later.
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Speaker 1: I was blessed with the opportunity to spend some time
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Speaker 1: with Burt Ward. And I'll tell you what, the sunshine
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Speaker 1: that came through his eyes when we talked about the animation, because,
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Speaker 1: you know, like he said, it's all family. We're all together.
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Speaker 1: We're all sharing a story here. And I mean, it's
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Speaker 1: like there's nothing, you know, where someone would say, you
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Speaker 1: got to stay on your side of the fence and
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Speaker 1: don't take your ball and go home. No, everybody is
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Speaker 1: together on this project.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to be. Animation has to be a
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Speaker 2: labor of love. If you want to make a billion
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Speaker 2: dollars a year, go sell like cell phones. But, you know,
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Speaker 2: animation requires you to believe in animation as, you know,
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Speaker 2: as an effective storytelling medium. And the people that get
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Speaker 2: into animation, whether they're voice actors or whether they're writers
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Speaker 2: or directors, really love it. And then it's really Batman,
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Speaker 2: the animated series that love is in every frame.
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Speaker 1: The book we're talking about is I Am The Night.
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Speaker 1: When it comes to that animation and making it believable,
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Speaker 1: come on, we're talking about a fan base here that
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Speaker 1: is so loyal. I mean, what did it take to
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Speaker 1: finally turn that page where people go, I'm in, I'm in,
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Speaker 1: and you're not going to kick me out of this club.
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Speaker 2: So, you know, when they first got the two main
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Speaker 2: co-creators involved, a guy named Bruce Timm and a guy
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Speaker 2: named Eric Radomski, them and a few other guys, they
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Speaker 2: created this short film that people call The Dark Knight's
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Speaker 2: First Night. It's about two minutes long. And within about
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Speaker 2: a few months, it was not only being shown to
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Speaker 2: prospective Warner Brothers hires, but a tape of it was
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Speaker 2: getting passed around at comic conventions. And so many people
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Speaker 2: that had worked in animation and were in the trenches
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Speaker 2: of the 80s where they were working on stuff that
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Speaker 2: their heart wasn't in, they watched that and they were like,
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Speaker 2: oh my gosh, this is the coolest thing. I had
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Speaker 2: multiple people say that it was the coolest thing they'd
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Speaker 2: ever seen at the time. And so they all wanted
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Speaker 2: to be in on the show. And for a lot
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Speaker 2: of them, it remains to this day the greatest project
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Speaker 2: they ever worked on. It was something that they just
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Speaker 2: had to be a part of.
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Speaker 1: To be a part of that, you had to include
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Speaker 1: that comic book collector, man. I mean, how did we
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Speaker 1: bring those guys on board to the animation? And was
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Speaker 1: it an easy journey?
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Speaker 2: So, you know what? They didn't want to just replicate
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Speaker 2: the comics, but there was a few people involved that
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Speaker 2: were huge comic book fans. Alan Burnett, who became the
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Speaker 2: main story editor and one of the producers, was a
8:40
Speaker 2: big comic book fan. I talked to a writer named
8:42
Speaker 2: Robert or Bob Skier. Him and his partner, Marty Eisenberg,
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Speaker 2: were huge writing fans, and they wrote across Batman and
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Speaker 2: Gargoyles and X-Men and And Spider-Man, they just had the
8:53
Speaker 2: touch when it comes to an adventure cartoon that either
8:56
Speaker 2: feels like it could be a comic book or was
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Speaker 2: based on a comic book. So, you know, without necessarily
9:01
Speaker 2: replicating the comics, if you could bring the amount of
9:03
Speaker 2: truth that kind of, like, if you could bring to
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Speaker 2: an episode the amount of truth that it feels like
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Speaker 2: when you read a really good comic into this good adaptation,
9:12
Speaker 2: you tended to thrive there.
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Speaker 1: Meanwhile, in Gotham City, we had to take a commercial break.
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Speaker 1: We'll be right back with Daniel Dockery coming up next. Well,
9:23
Speaker 1: what would Batman do now? Would he jump back into
9:26
Speaker 1: a conversation with Daniel Dockery? We are back. When did
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Speaker 1: they realize that they had their hands on a franchise?
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Speaker 1: Because you know how it is, man. I mean, people
9:35
Speaker 1: either support you or they don't. And this one here,
9:38
Speaker 1: I mean, they had to have known that we made it.
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Speaker 1: This is it. It's now in franchise status.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. So there's a few different answers. A few of
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Speaker 2: them during the first test screening of the first episode
9:50
Speaker 2: that it came out basically saying, oh, that was a classic,
9:52
Speaker 2: but also, yay, we get to keep our jobs now.
9:54
Speaker 2: That was great. But there was also, I remember the director,
9:59
Speaker 2: Kevin Altieri, was telling me about a convention that he
10:01
Speaker 2: was at before the show premiered and they were watching
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Speaker 2: one of the episodes and during, he hears a kid
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Speaker 2: mumbling in front of him And the kid is saying,
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Speaker 2: they did it. They did it. Which is like, people
10:13
Speaker 2: have been waiting for a good Batman cartoon for a
10:15
Speaker 2: long time. Or even a good Batman thing on screen
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Speaker 2: that really reflected how the people felt about the best
10:22
Speaker 2: of the comics. And it was finally being given to them.
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Speaker 2: And you know, if you give the audience... Something like that.
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Speaker 2: Something they feel like they've been missing their whole lives.
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Speaker 2: They'll be appreciative of it again for decades.
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Speaker 1: Did you feel violated when Batman ended up in Legos?
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Speaker 2: You know what? I... I, as someone that, like, I
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Speaker 2: like the Lego Batman movie. I don't hold it as
10:51
Speaker 2: fondly as some of my friends do. But as a,
10:54
Speaker 2: I mostly like that movie because you can tell that
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Speaker 2: the people that animated it and wrote it are very
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Speaker 2: clear comic book fans because every single frame has like
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Speaker 2: a little Easter egg in it. There's so many comic
11:05
Speaker 2: book stuff. that it's just sitting in the background of
11:07
Speaker 2: that movie. So even if the jokes aren't necessarily landing,
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Speaker 2: you can look at it and be like, oh, that's
11:11
Speaker 2: a costume from a 1982 Batman issue. That's kind of
11:14
Speaker 2: cool they just put that back there.
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Speaker 1: Now, you being over there at Crunchyroll, first of all,
11:17
Speaker 1: congratulations to everything that you've dedicated toward anime, because my God,
11:21
Speaker 1: here in Charlotte, anime is going crazy, and I love
11:24
Speaker 1: the way that Regal has embraced it. What about an
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Speaker 1: anime Batman?
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Speaker 2: So there are a few anime Batman films. There's a
11:31
Speaker 2: handful of them. There was, um, there was Batman Gotham night,
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Speaker 2: which came out between Batman begins and the dark night,
11:37
Speaker 2: or maybe, yeah, I think it was at the big,
11:39
Speaker 2: in the between of the summer of it, which told
11:41
Speaker 2: stories set in that universe that was done by six
11:44
Speaker 2: different anime studios. Um, and then there's these Batman ninja
11:47
Speaker 2: films in which Batman faces off against kind of anime
11:51
Speaker 2: inspired variations on his different villains and like, you know,
11:55
Speaker 2: the Yakuza and stuff. Um, so there's definitely Batman anime,
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Speaker 2: but Batman, Batman and anime is one of those things
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Speaker 2: that like, you know, anime as a medium has so
12:04
Speaker 2: many opportunities. We're seeing that now with like the show,
12:06
Speaker 2: like star Wars visions, which takes, uh, anime studios and
12:10
Speaker 2: lets them play around with star Wars stories. You know,
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Speaker 2: it's just a, it's another medium and it gives a
12:14
Speaker 2: whole different realm of possibilities.
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Speaker 1: Well, to me, it brings the different generations together because
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Speaker 1: I am so fascinated when I walk into a comic
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Speaker 1: book store and you've got every generation in there with
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Speaker 1: their own stories. And I love it when the older
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Speaker 1: people will sit there and listen to the little ones
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Speaker 1: as they talk to them about like the anime and
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Speaker 1: things like that, or even just the just the little figurines,
12:35
Speaker 1: because it's like we all are in this moment of, oh,
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Speaker 1: my God, this is the greatest place on Earth. Just
12:40
Speaker 1: don't let me leave this this comic book store.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that as well. And I'm entering a
12:48
Speaker 2: thing where I could very easily say, well, everything that
12:51
Speaker 2: came after my generation was bad. But the best thing
12:58
Speaker 2: you could possibly do is try to listen and learn
13:01
Speaker 2: from people that are younger than you. Because often they
13:04
Speaker 2: have great recommendations for stuff. And it's not necessarily recommendations
13:07
Speaker 2: for stuff that are like new and trendy. It's stuff
13:10
Speaker 2: that they've explored that you've somehow missed. You can be
13:13
Speaker 2: as dedicated as you want to something and you'll miss it.
13:17
Speaker 2: And that's what that's what the great thing about creating
13:19
Speaker 2: a big community over comic books is. or superheroes or
13:22
Speaker 2: anime or that kind of thing be a part of
13:24
Speaker 2: a vibrant community like that because you're constantly recommending stuff
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Speaker 2: to other people and getting stuff recommended to you that
13:30
Speaker 2: you might have missed your whole life just because you've
13:31
Speaker 2: been so busy with so many other things i.
13:33
Speaker 1: Had no problem taking this book to those who are
13:36
Speaker 1: really honest to god hardcore batman freaks and the one
13:39
Speaker 1: quote that really touched my soul the deepest about your
13:42
Speaker 1: book is the guy says Everybody has an interpretation of Batman.
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Speaker 1: This book takes that interpretation and it makes it fact.
13:50
Speaker 1: And he was so proud of the fact that he
13:52
Speaker 1: had facts in his hands and not an interpretation.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that was really important to me to
13:59
Speaker 2: start off with, because, you know, I wanted to, my
14:01
Speaker 2: biggest goal with this, or one of my biggest goals
14:03
Speaker 2: with this, not only to get people to rewatch the
14:05
Speaker 2: show and inspire them, but, you know, was to put
14:07
Speaker 2: Batman The Unnamed Series on the pedestal of other series
14:10
Speaker 2: that have gotten books written about them. Like, you know,
14:12
Speaker 2: we've gotten great books about The Sopranos and Breaking Bad, and,
14:16
Speaker 2: you know, there's other shows about classic sitcoms like Seinfeld,
14:21
Speaker 2: and they have been, they have entered into this kind
14:23
Speaker 2: of cultural canon, like a pantheon of These are great
14:25
Speaker 2: TV shows, TV shows worth writing a book about. But
14:28
Speaker 2: Batman the Animated Series is also worth writing a deep
14:30
Speaker 2: dive book about, full of interviews and new insight and
14:33
Speaker 2: deep dive research. And I wanted to give the show
14:36
Speaker 2: that because I truly believe it has earned that. It
14:38
Speaker 2: is one of the great pieces of television.
14:40
Speaker 1: Now, they say in radio, in order to have a
14:42
Speaker 1: very successful morning show, you have to have a dick,
14:44
Speaker 1: a dork, and a deer. Now, when it comes to Batman,
14:47
Speaker 1: you can see that all over the animation. And I
14:52
Speaker 1: always wondered if the Joker really fit into that storyline.
14:55
Speaker 1: What's your gut reaction? Did we really need the Joker
14:58
Speaker 1: to be a part of this?
15:00
Speaker 2: You know what? I think I think the biggest thing
15:03
Speaker 2: about the Joker is that, you know, on one hand,
15:06
Speaker 2: he's used. But by the time I finish this sentence,
15:09
Speaker 2: there's going to be a new Joker. So it's very easy.
15:12
Speaker 2: It's very easy to get tired of the Joker. Yes.
15:14
Speaker 2: But one thing about Batman animated series is that not
15:16
Speaker 2: only found they not only had a great way to
15:19
Speaker 2: write him, in which case he wasn't like this big
15:21
Speaker 2: Gotham destroying guy. He was basically a big bully. He
15:25
Speaker 2: was a bully. He liked, as Paul Dini said, he's
15:27
Speaker 2: the guy that likes to pick wings off of insects.
15:30
Speaker 2: But he also had this stellar voice acting performance by
15:33
Speaker 2: Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. And it's the best work
15:37
Speaker 2: of Mark Hamill's career. Mark Hamill's voicing as the Joker.
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Speaker 2: He is fantastic at it. And he gets to release
15:42
Speaker 2: this kind of guttural laugh and this really playfulness and
15:46
Speaker 2: sadism that is, you know, just incredible. So I think
15:50
Speaker 2: that one, two punch of a great take on the
15:52
Speaker 2: character and a great performance make this Joker stand the
15:56
Speaker 2: test of time in a way that like, oh, great.
15:58
Speaker 2: Another Joker story probably wouldn't. All right.
16:01
Speaker 1: I'm going to be very transparent here. I mean, we
16:03
Speaker 1: all have those dreams where we all think we're superheroes
16:05
Speaker 1: and we can put up with a lot of bad
16:07
Speaker 1: people coming after us. Is that the reason why we
16:10
Speaker 1: like Bruce Wayne? Because he is an everyday guy that
16:12
Speaker 1: does get his ass kicked like you wouldn't believe, but
16:14
Speaker 1: he still gets up and keeps on walking forward.
16:18
Speaker 2: I think that's one of the reasons. I think on
16:20
Speaker 2: a visual level, one reason we like Batman is because
16:23
Speaker 2: as co-creator of the show Bruce Timm said, he's the
16:25
Speaker 2: good guy that dresses like a bad guy, which is
16:27
Speaker 2: so simple and so effective. But I also think that
16:30
Speaker 2: there's something that you can relate to there and not
16:33
Speaker 2: just with– anyone that's experienced loss and had to come
16:36
Speaker 2: back from loss can experience what– can empathize with Bruce Wayne.
16:40
Speaker 2: But there's also, especially in the case of Batman animated series,
16:43
Speaker 2: all of the villains are, if not necessarily grounded or
16:46
Speaker 2: down to earth, they all have some kind of weird
16:49
Speaker 2: pathos or weird tragedy to them that makes them not
16:52
Speaker 2: necessarily the villains of their own lives. It's always circumstances
16:56
Speaker 2: outside of their control. And I think it creates a
16:58
Speaker 2: whole world full of people where you can kind of
17:01
Speaker 2: relate to it, or at least like see eye to
17:03
Speaker 2: eye with it and understand what they're going through. And
17:05
Speaker 2: I think that's one of the great things about Batman
17:08
Speaker 2: is that, And again, if you have gone through something
17:11
Speaker 2: that has changed you, something, maybe something like terrible, you
17:15
Speaker 2: can kind of understand where Batman's coming from. Yeah. Yeah.
17:18
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what, with everything that you just
17:20
Speaker 1: shared inside my heart, I felt like this is proof
17:23
Speaker 1: why it is not a resurrection. It is a continuation
17:27
Speaker 1: of the Batman story, that animated series. So I never, ever, ever,
17:31
Speaker 1: ever thought of the other Batmans when this came on.
17:34
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, this was its own and it
17:36
Speaker 1: was a continuation.
17:38
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. It stands on its own. It is
17:42
Speaker 2: kind of the show that if you want to introduce
17:44
Speaker 2: someone to Batman, this is probably the best way to start.
17:47
Speaker 2: And then, you know, if they like it, you can
17:49
Speaker 2: show them the comics that inspired it or the comics
17:51
Speaker 2: that it inspired. And then you can go around and say,
17:54
Speaker 2: this movie is this take and this director is this take.
17:57
Speaker 2: But if you want to get Batman, you understand Batman's
18:00
Speaker 2: whole deal by the end of the iconic opening, which
18:03
Speaker 2: is a mini movie on its own. But yeah, I
18:05
Speaker 2: think if somebody... wants to kind of understand like why
18:09
Speaker 2: is why is this batman dude so popular you just
18:11
Speaker 2: show them the animated series show them a few episodes
18:13
Speaker 2: of that and you get it.
18:15
Speaker 1: I'll tell you the reason why i love batman more
18:16
Speaker 1: than anything on the planet it's because when i was
18:19
Speaker 1: a kid and this group called kiss was around kiss
18:22
Speaker 1: wouldn't take off their paint but batman did i love
18:25
Speaker 1: bruce wayne because we at least got to see his
18:27
Speaker 1: face and i i felt more that i could trust
18:30
Speaker 1: him more than i could gene simmons.
18:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know what I mean?
18:35
Speaker 1: I mean, he took off his mask.
18:38
Speaker 2: Yeah. He's kind of a, you know, he's kind of a,
18:42
Speaker 2: he's a very empathetic figure. And also he's, you know,
18:46
Speaker 2: considering that he's constantly like, like Robin's parents, Dick Grayson,
18:50
Speaker 2: his parents were killed and Batman kind of took him
18:52
Speaker 2: in as a father figure. And there's, I think there's
18:54
Speaker 2: something very paternal about Batman as a character. There's something
18:58
Speaker 2: that makes you feel cared for. in a way that's personal.
19:02
Speaker 2: And you know, if you're, if you're being rescued by
19:04
Speaker 2: another hero, you wouldn't expect to develop a tie to
19:07
Speaker 2: like Superman. Superman's great. But if Superman rescues you, that's he's,
19:11
Speaker 2: he's off to rescue another cat from the tree or
19:13
Speaker 2: stop Lex Luthor or something. But if you get rescued
19:15
Speaker 2: by Batman, you're kind of like, I feel you, dude.
19:17
Speaker 2: Thank you. All right.
19:18
Speaker 1: Now just between the two of us here, there's nobody
19:20
Speaker 1: else listening. Is Audra your back? Is Audra your bad girl?
19:23
Speaker 1: Because Audra is in your dedication. I want to know
19:26
Speaker 1: who Audra is.
19:27
Speaker 2: So Audra is my lovely wife. She is fantastic. She
19:34
Speaker 2: took the photo, my author photo in the back of it.
19:36
Speaker 2: And trust me, it's hard to take a decent looking
19:40
Speaker 2: photo of me. But yeah, and she's amazing. And she
19:45
Speaker 2: listened to me talk about Batman for two years while
19:48
Speaker 2: I wrote this book, which you know would be would
19:50
Speaker 2: I think that definitely stand up in front of a
19:52
Speaker 2: judge your honor he made me talk about Batman for
19:56
Speaker 2: two years well I get it you get half but
19:59
Speaker 2: yeah she's no she's fantastic and I you know she's
20:02
Speaker 2: again as I say in the end of the book
20:04
Speaker 2: her my son they are the bat signal they when
20:07
Speaker 2: times get tough I look to the sky and there
20:09
Speaker 2: they are.
20:10
Speaker 1: I'm just so proud of you for not taking your
20:12
Speaker 1: writing and shoving it in a box under your bed
20:14
Speaker 1: or putting it up in the attic. Because you know
20:16
Speaker 1: darn good and well there's a lot of Batman fans
20:18
Speaker 1: out there that hide their journey with the storyline. And
20:22
Speaker 1: I want them to bring it out just like you
20:24
Speaker 1: have as well.
20:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope this book gives license to anyone who
20:30
Speaker 2: is super obsessed with a Batman thing and wants to
20:33
Speaker 2: talk with your chest puffed out about it. Because if anything,
20:37
Speaker 2: this book is a testament to the fact that if
20:41
Speaker 2: you watched a cartoon as a kid and your parents
20:43
Speaker 2: thought it would rot your brain, but you knew otherwise
20:46
Speaker 2: deep down, guess what? Maybe one day you can write
20:48
Speaker 2: a book about that show too. You can talk about
20:50
Speaker 2: it with authority and with a healthy amount of obsession.
20:55
Speaker 2: I love your passion.
20:57
Speaker 1: Dude, you got to come back to this show anytime
20:59
Speaker 1: in the future. The door is always going to be
21:01
Speaker 1: open for you.
21:03
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Errol.
21:03
Speaker 1: Well, you be brilliant. And when you come back to Carolina,
21:06
Speaker 1: come into Charlotte so we can have a face-to-face.
21:08
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. I'm in Charlotte every once in a while.
21:11
Speaker 1: I love it.
21:12
Speaker 2: I love it.
21:12
Speaker 1: Be brilliant today, okay, sir?
21:14
Speaker 2: All right. Thank you.