With last week’s release of the official trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, it appears the hyperdrive is beginning to rev it’s engine for next summer’s big blockbuster.

Me, am I looking forward to it? If I’m brutally honest, I can take it or leave it. Personally, the last two movies, whilst both being refreshing, visual spectacles, haven’t done a great deal for me. And the reason why is because I’m too much of a Batman comic book fan.

As someone who has been reading and collecting Batman comics since the mid-eighties, with, at the last count, a collection comprising over 180 Batman related graphic novels and almost 1,000 Batman related comics, I actually have quite a deep rooted preference to how I want my Batman Universe to be portrayed. Out of the three directors that have taken a recent stab at Batman (Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Christopher Nolan), Tim Burton’s portrayals are by far my favourite. But hey, don’t worry, I’m not completely barking mad, I do rate Nolan’s films above Schumacher’s ‘fluorescent camp comedies.

For me, once when you’ve read a certain number of comics related to a particular character – written, pencilled, inked and coloured by a plethora of talent with their own take on that particular character’s appearance, behaviour and surroundings, you develop a filter. Whether it be Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man or in this case, Batman. In your mind, you have an image of the ‘right’ Batman, the ‘right’ Bruce Wayne, the ‘right’ Alfred, Robin, Commission Gordon, Batmobile, Gotham City, Wayne Manor etc etc etc. Different comics, created by different people throw different projections of these elements at you – and in your mind, you pick out the bits that best match the elements you hold dearest. For instance, an example of ‘my Batman’ is a combination of Neal Adam’s Batman from the late 60s, Brian Bollard’s Batman from The Killing Joke (the first Batman graphic novel I purchased incidentally) and the Paul Gulacy’s Batman from Prey. Tim Burton’s Gotham City in both Batman and Batman Returns was spot on for me. So was his Batmobile, Wayne Manor and Batcave. Michael Keaton’s acting as Bruce Wayne was close, but his appearance wasn’t. But it was still closer to my Bruce Wayne than Val Kilmer, George Clooney or Christian Bale. Christian Bale’s voice for Batman is the best. The Batman outfit is wrong in all the movies. If I was casting for the Batman movies, I’m not sure who I would cast as Bruce Wayne. Probably a unknown who had the physical appearance of Bruce Wayne, but we know Hollywood wouldn’t go with that.

Christopher Nolan actually got a lot of things right in his first two films. By that I mean a very accurate interpretation of certain comic books. In particular, Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Jim (Commissioner) Gordon is very accurate to the Gordon in Year One. But, it’s not accurate to the more consistent appearance of Gordon in the thousands of other publications. Am I being too harsh? Maybe. Is Nolan a huge Batman fan? Has he created these movies to match the Batman Universe that resides in his mind? Whatever. I can’t help having a very finite view of the characters and universe I love. The Scarecrow in Batman Begins was bang on! I thought Harvey Dent was portrayed brilliantly in The Dark Knight Returns and I was gutted that Two Face was killed off almost instantly. But as for the Joker – as memorising as Heath Ledger’s acting was, Mark Hamill’s Joker in the Batman Animated Series and recent Batman games is much closer to the mark for me, pardon the pun.

For a Batman film to work for me, it needs to closely match the universe I have in my mind and instantly transport me there, make me feel I am watching a live action representation of my imagination. Yes, I know that sounds like I want the impossible but I don’t seek perfection. I just want some key elements in the film to feel accurate to me. Make me think to myself “Yeah, that is exactly how my Bruce Wayne would behave” or “Wow! Now that IS the Batmobile!” Unfortunately, as good as the Nolan movies are, for me, Burton’s films ticked way many more boxes. And more importantly, get a lot of the key elements right. Look at the outrage that was generated when Daniel Craig was cast as James Bond. Blonde hair, blue eyes. For some devote fans, these minor miscasting details would’ve had Ian Fleming spinning in his grave.

I will watch the new Nolan film. As with reading comic books, I enjoy witnessing different people’s interpretations of the Batman Universe – if not to strengthen my vision of Batman then to introduce new elements that shape that vision. For instance, The Vengence of Bane (1993) – the first comic book appearance of Bane. In one particular series of frames, Batman and Bane are stalking eachother across the rooftops of Gotham. There is one frame where Batman touches the side of his cowl and activates his night vision – basically turning the white eyes of his cowl from white to green. I loved this!!! So simple. An awesome concept and something Batman had never done (to my knowledge before). Whenever Batman does something similar, be it in a comic or on screen, I think back to that shaping of MY Batman in Vengeance of Bane.

While I am on the subject of Bane, one final point. Have you seen the preview pictures and trailer for The Dark Knight Rises? What the hell is going on with Bane? Yes, I get it, this is Nolan’s interpretation of the man that breaks Batman, but from what I have seen, I think I actually prefer the Bane in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin!! Crikey.