A cultural icon, Batman has been licensed and adapted into a variety of media, from radio to television and film, and appears on a variety of merchandise sold all over the world. That and the success of director Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman motion picture helped reignite popular interest in the character. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, culminating in the 1986 miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, by writer-artist Frank Miller. The late 1960s Batman television series utilized a camp aesthetic associated with the character for years after the show ended. As the decades wore on, differing takes on the character emerged. Batman became a popular character soon after his introduction, and eventually gained his own title, Batman.
