Today’s Batman 75: Legends of the Dark Knight panel featured Batman comic makers Frank Miller, Jim Lee, Geoff Johns, Neal Adams, and Denny O’Neil, who all got a huge round of applause as they took the stage with no introduction.

John Cunningham moderated the panel, starting by asking why Batman is so popular right now between comics, video games, movies, and TV.

Morrison took the question, saying that Batman is a great combination of a vampire and a detective who stops evil and kicks the teeth out of it. O’Neil had no idea that Batman would grow to be what he is today; he talked about the days when comics were thought to be a joke instead of an art form. Miller remarked that Batman became a folk legend and that he is so great because he is the culmination of years of great comics talent focused on one character, also adding that he couldn’t have done The Dark Knight Returns without reading Adams and O’Neil’s Batman when he was a kid.

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