With Batman turning 75 years old this year (this past Wednesday being Batman Day), DC’s has been focusing plenty of attention on the history and legacy of the Caped Crusader at various comic conventions. That was certainly true at Comic-Con. Their final Batman-themed panel of the show featured an eclectic mix of DC creators and producers – voice actor Kevin Conroy, Batman: The Animated Series producers Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, DC Co-Publisher Jim Lee, Hollywood Babble-On co-host/Batman ’66 Meets the Green Hornet co-writer Ralph Garman, and DC Animation Senior Vice President Peter Girardi.

As with many of the 75th Anniversary panels this year, the panelists were grilled on their favorite Batman villains. Dini went with Riddler, calling the villain a “perfect counterpart” to Batman and citing Frank Gorshin’s performance in the 1960’s TV show as one of his favorites. Girardi also brought up the ’60s show, though he gravitated towards campier villains like Egghead. Johns said that he has an attachment to Killer Croc, as he was the villain in the first Batman comic Johns ever bought (Croc will also be appearing in Johns’ upcoming Batman: Earth One Vol. 2 graphic novel). Jim Lee, a man who drew nearly every major Bat-villain in Batman: Hush, picked Catwoman because of her more sympathetic nature. Conroy picked Joker, in large part because of the performance of BTAS co-star Mark Hamill but also because of Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight.

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