Hunting the Dark Knight

Publishing alongside the world premiere of Christopher Nolan's third Batman film The Dark Knight Rises Will Brooker's new book explores Batman's twenty-first century incarnations. Brooker's close analysis of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight offers a rigorous accessible account of the complex relationship between popular films audiences and producers in our age of media convergence. By exploring themes of authorship adaptation and intertextuality he addresses a myriad of questions raised by these films: did Batman Begins end when The Dark Knight began? Does its story include the Gotham Knight DVD or the 'Why So Serious' viral marketing campaign? Is it separate from the parallel narratives of the Arkham Asylum videogame the monthly comic books the animated series and the graphic novels? Can the brightly campy incarnations of the Batman ever be fully repressed by The Dark Knight or are they an intrinsic part of the character? Do all of these various manifestations feed into a single Batman metanarrative? This will be a vital text for film students and academics as well as legions of Batman fans.