7. ...But Equally, Don't Go Too Camp
Camp has almost killed Batman on at least two separate occasions: firstly, in the wake of the initial success of the 1960s super-camp TV show, pressure was put on comic book writers to adopt a similarly colourful approach, leading to a significant drop in circulation, and the eventual return to a far grittier tone. And then decades later, proving that nobody picks up a history book in Hollywood, unless it's to pilfer material for a movie, Joel Schumacher took Tim Burton's gothic vision for Batman, added lots of luminous paint and some irredeemably sub-pantomime villains and an over-riding camp factor that horrifically derailed the property's association with the big screen. There has to be balance in camp, or at least the acknowledgement that there is no longevity in that sort of approach - the lessons are there from the past - and while Nolan's gritty take on Batman did little to suggest that camp was coming back, the established trend, in both screen and comic book worlds is for camp to follow grit, and for the cycle to repeat once again. If DC misread fans' desire to see comic book movies retaining their essential comic-ness, they will end up with a Batman & Robin style situation on their hands, which could set them back a lot further than any poor Green Lantern adaptation ever did. The lesson is really that DC can't be too extreme in their tonal reactions either way: too grim and you lose the essence of what makes a comic book and a comic book movie (a legitimate genre now) and too camp and over-blown and you lose a relatable element and the hardcore comic book fans who will inevitably see it as a betrayal of the source.