Hey folks, Valkor here. I have adoration for just about anything Batman. I’m not what you would say an Uber-Geek about him, I don’t know every Batman detail, but compared to most heroes, to me, Batman beats them all. I have a slew of comics, a stuffed Bats hanging from the ceiling, yea even a batman wallpaper on the Val-cave’s main PC. Oh ya and leave us not forget Walt Davis’s Val-Bat, WonderCon drawing. When it comes to the movies, I liked the first two Burton films, which were uber-dark, but also a lot of fun. I hated the fact that it focused more on the villains, but still it has it moments. Batman Forever was entertaining at best, I wasn’t crazy about it, but then it was watchable. As for Batman and Robin… well thankfully we never have to see a Joel “Bat suit nipples” Schumacher film again.

But Batman Begins, now that’s the cream of the crop. Not only was it a great film which brought back the focus to Batman/ Bruce Wayne, but it also gave us, the fans, exactly who we wanted to fill that role: Christian “Fucking” Bales!! If you ever watched American psycho or Equilibrium, you can see why that role was made for him and why he pulls it off with greatness. Bale was Batman before he knew it. And thanks to the addition of such a great cast such as Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, and Gary Oldman (Among other choice actors chosen for this movie), Batman Begins turned out to be one damn good film. I freakin watch it almost daily and never get tired of it. The one thing that sucks about it and this goes for the previous films as well, is that no one ever seems to capture his “detective” side. Oh well.

But next year we get “The Dark Knight” (which I am sure will be renamed to Batman: The Dark Knight) and I’m so lookin forward to it. So far most of the cast are returning, save for Katie Holmes, but she’s expendable. Adding to the cast is “Heath “I got some man poon on BrokeBack Mountain” Ledger as the “The Joker”, I have to say things are looking up for the caped crusader’s next film outing..

Pics are starting to trickle out as filming proceeds, first the Joker. Heath Ledger is looking damn creepy thus far. I’m actually scared out of my Bat Boxers each time I see this pic. But I can’t wait to see him in action. I wouldn’t want to see the comical, zany side as seen in the animated series or Jack Nicholson’s version, but something along those lines, also showing his homicidal side. The Joker has to start taking lives. He’s not just some dude with a make-up fetish, he’s sick, twisted, I’m talkin totally fucked up in the membrane. We need to see that and if we gotta go R-rated to see it then so be it.

Next is the Batpod, which right away you can tell it’s an offshoot of the “Tumbler” aka the Batmobile. It’s already been leaked that the Tumbler gets destroyed, so this looks like some sort of escape pod type vehicle as I don’t see Bats driving around Gotham City on this thing nightly. But as an escape pod, that’s pretty damn sweet!

Lastly, it’s Batman himself or I should say his costume. It’s lookin mighty fine and very armor-like, plus it looks like he can finally move his head around, so that’s a plus compared to the suits in the first four films. The first film got the cape right as it was long and flowing, it has to encompass Bats. It looks shorter here, but I wanna see it flowing in action before I say anything more.

As for the story, well I just finished reading again “Batman: The Long Halloween” and things are shaping up to follow along this storyline. It has Harvey Dent and even a line that says “I Believe in Harvey Dent” and if you visit the Dark Knight Website and click on the exploding bat symbol, you will find a Harvey Dent page with that line. I wonder if they started testing Two-Face make up.

What I’m expecting to see in TDK is 1) I already mention the detective aspects 2) no more bringing anyone into the Batcave, if we have one more film where Batman brings peeps into his secret hidey hole, I’m gonna be pissed royally! Finally can we keep Batman’s secret, a secret this film? The first four films and Begins, people seem to find out who he is (hell in Spider-Man 2 a whole trainload of people saw who Spidey was.) So let’s cut the bullsky on the secrets huh and let the heroes keep their identities “secret”? Please?

Overall I’m very excited for TDK and the future Bat films. What I’m hoping for, is the often talked about World’s Finest where Batman and Superman team up. Come on Warner that will be the easiest Billion dollars you will ever make.

Valkor Out!