Kevin Conroy, R.I.P.

As you've no doubt heard, Kevin Conroy — best known as the voice of the animated Batman — passed away recently at the age of 66. I did not know the man. Met him once. I was with Paul Dini, who worked extensively on the Batman cartoons, and we ran into him in a restaurant. Paul introduced us and the encounter was so brief that I didn't have time to tell Kevin that I admired the courage he'd shown in his writings and candid comments about being gay and struggling with all that could mean, mostly due to the cluelessness and insensitivity of others.

It is rare but not wholly unprecedented to see genuine courage displayed by an actor who gets paid for pretending to be courageous as someone else. One of many admirable things Kevin Conroy did was to author an autobiographical comic book story which I'm sure made many people more aware of what some people face to just be considered worthy of basic human respect by some. DC Comics has put that story online for free reading. It's a little tricky to navigate your way to it but if you haven't read this story, it's well worth the effort. And you probably know someone who should read it.