The way I see it, the earlier Batman series (Batman, B. Returns, B. Forever, B. & Robin) with Keaton/Kilmer/Clooney was just one take on the story. Tim Burton had the right feel with the first one, but Keaton sucked - Kilmer was way better but he had a lousy script - Clooney sucked HARD in a sucky storyline. I did enjoy Batgirl cause Alica S. was hot in latex. Ditto for Pfieffer in the catsuit. Oh and Jack...well when is Nicholson NOT cool?
Batman Begins (it seems to me) to be the start of series with a whole different style of retelling the comic book stories. Christian Bale rocks in the role, the whole gritty hardboiled feel is right on, even compared to Burton's gothic take, and Batman's "wonderful toys" actually make sense - I'd way rather have that bada$$ armored war machine batmobile than any of the others.
It also occurs to me that the whole martial arts training in Nepal or whereever, gives the new Batman a sort of "The Shadow" vibe which I like. Referring of course to the '30's pulp-and-radio show Shadow, not that horrid Alec Baldwin farce.
Can't wait for the new one. One storyline I'd like to see is one based on Andrew Vachss' book "Batman: the Ultimate Evil" where the Dark Knight takes on a child sex slavery ring from Gotham to Thailand.
http://vachss.com/av_novels/batman.htmlVachss is a brilliant author and did great things with Bob Kane's creation.
