Sigh...
What I keep trying to point out, and I want some of you to pay close attention here, is there have been MANY versions of Batman throughout the years. Different generations are familar with different ones. For instance, some fans of the 70's version can't seem to stand this uber-brooding, superBatman we have in the current comics. I don't see how one version is any more valid than the other. Bob Kane's Batman had it's strengths and its weaknessess. So did the later versions. So did the 60's version. So did the Neal Adams, Dennis O'Neil version. So did the late 80's Batman, the movie version, the mid 90's, and the current Batman. There are hundreds of versions of Batman, including Elseworlds. Yes, Batman was born in the comics. He has transcended them as a medium. This may surprise some of you, but the Batman as he exists today in the comics wasn't around back in the late 70's, or even the mid-eighties when Sam Hamm and Burton and WB were working on Batman. Rather than choose one direction for their film (camp or dark), or try to somehow satisfy fans who all wanted THEIR Batman, they did the smart thing. They did what Richard Donner did, in a way. They took elements from MANY versions and REINVENTED the character in an interesting, realistic manner that would appeal to general audiences. I do not understand this bias against the Batman movies, in other words, calling them crap simply because they weren't what YOU wanted to see. Quite honestly, I grew up with the Adam West Batman, and graduated to the late 70's version. So to me, Batman wore blue and gray and made jokes. The Tim Burton movies wowed me. They were cool, dark, and showed me a side of Batman I'd never seen before. This led to me checking out Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, and basically getting into comics. I've said it before. Burton's Batman, for all his faults, also had his good elements. Elements which, like it or not, HAVE influenced the animated series and the comic books almost immediately.
Michael Keaton WAS the best choice for the role, because Tim Burton wanted a man who wasn't a musclebound He-Man. He wanted an "everyman" who could play some tough emotions. He got him.
This wasn't Batman - this was a movie about somebody called Batman. There is a difference.
I see. Was the 1966 BATMAN film not Batman? It certainly wasn't the current Batman, does that somehow make it less valid an interpretation or "not Batman"?
As you say, and I totally agree, Batman was born in the comics and that is the only true Batman.
Which one? Seriously. Which one is the "true Batman", and why aren't the others?
The comics sustained the character when no other media would have him.
I'm not sure what you mean. Batman has been in several mediums almost since his beginning in 1939, including film, TV, radio, toys, comics, playing cards, etc. Seems to me that the only time Batman was in danger of dying out was when superhero comics went out of style and sci fi become the "in thing". And the only reason Batman even survived when other characters didn't is all the weird stuff he was forced to go through. The alien invasions, the shrinking, the alternate dimensions, etc, etc, etc. It's the same reason Superman comics survived.
Then comes Burton who turns him into another of his warped characters in an unreal landscape and suddenly people think they know the character.
I see. How is Batman warped in the movie anymore so than what we've seen of him elsewhere in the comics? And how is the landscape "unreal"? And frankly, we do know the character. And I can point out where he IS Batman, where things are pulled directly from the comics and dropped into BATMAN, and have before.
I've waited long enough for a faithful interpretation of the character.
Again, Keaton did a fine job of acting but he wasn't playing Bruce Wayne/Batman. He was playing Burton as Batman. There is a difference.
Huh?