Batman premiered in Detective Comics No. 27 in May 1939, the brain child of Bob Kane (1915 - 1998).  Batman has appeared in many medias including countless comic books, TV Shows, and movies.  My favorites are the Batman: the animated series and the Dark Knight Batman comic lines.  For me, I lost track of Batman after growing out of the TV Series, then some friends let me read Frank Miller's Return of the Bat comic.  After that series, I revived my comic collection.  Then Warner Brothers aired Batman the Animated Series, a collection of animations with revolutionary effects.  One thing that made it incredible is the way it was produced.  Most comics and animations start on blank white paper, where the animated series started many scenes on black paper and went from there.  They created a darker look and feel that helped the success of the series.  From there, it has expanded into Batman & Robin, and Batman Beyond, not to mention bringing Superman to his own updated series (including some Batman/Superman crossovers) 

On the big screen, the Batman Movie series kicked off by Tim Burton pitting Batman vs the Joker started off great but each movie changed from the more adult dark versions to a more goodie goodie flashy show.  

Well, the next set of Batman Movies are going to reset the stage.  They are not sequels or prequels of what has been done, but instead are a new line of the story.  Batman: Year One (release 2002) is the first with Year Two on the boards already.  This movie goes back to the first years of a not so polished super hero.  Frank Miller is one of the writers.

Batman Beyond is making the jump from animated to real action movie, release summer of 2002.

( Batman Movie information can be found at Batman On Film )

Catwoman gets her own movie.  Looks like Ashley Judd will dawn the catsuit.  Check her website for updated info!

While we have the rumor mill fired up, there is also talk of a Superman movie with a cameo by Batman.  At one point, this was going to be a Burton project with Nicolas Cage as Superman and Keeton returning as Batman, but those rumors have been put to rest.  
Personally, I like the idea even though I never believed Keeton as Batman.  One reason I really like the Animated Series is that Batman is portrayed as larger than most people.  I would believe a Batman that was built like a large middle linebacker or a pro wrestlers. (Oh, pro wrestling is as real as Jerry Springer and As the World Turns.  No, it is not a true sport, but their show does include lots of skill and bad dialog.)

Ok, on to the graphics...