Hero, Superhero, Antihero, Villain: The Top 10 Most Interesting Comic Book Characters

He's also one of the most realistic superheroes. If such people really existed, the likelihood is they would be considered urban legends, rumours perhaps, and that's what the Batman is, a half glimpsed terror, a bed time story, a legend.

Alternate versions, mass media and pop culture: The modern incarnation of Batman is one that lends himself to retellings, re-imaginings and alternate versions, so in a way I'm cheating by putting him at number one in this list, since he's really so many different characters in one. Most famous of these is Frank Miller's “The Dark Knight Returns”, in which an aging Batman is forced out of retirement to save Gotham city from a gang of thugs calling themselves the mutants. The graphic novel was highly influential in creating the tone and mood of the modern Batman. The creation of “retelling” series such as “Year One”, “Batman Confidential” and numerous others add further variant continuities.

Then there's the 52 parallel universes, populated mostly by Elseworlds versions (such as a vampire Batman, a Russian anarchist Batman, an evil Batman, a Dr Frankenstein-like Batman, a tyrannical Batman, a silent movie Batman and so on). Batman lends himself to such variations for a number of reasons; there's a gothic slant to Batman that fits nicely with the supernatural versions, a film noir aspect, a gritty realism, and yet a stylised element, and so on. As a member of the Justice League of America, he's also prone to cross-overs (allowing him to meet characters as diverse as Judge Dredd, Spiderman, the Xenomorph aliens, and the Mask). But he's also something of a pop culture phenomenon thanks to the numerous mass media adaptations, especially the television series. Whether you like it or not, the campy fun of the series was many people's first encounter with the Dark Knight, and even today if you shout “holy (whatever) Batman!” people know the reference. Plus, the “Batusi” dance (involving making V-signs with your fingers and drawing them in front of your eyes like a mask) has become one of the standard “sixties dances” mimicked in everything from “Austin Powers” to “Pulp Fiction”. Early cartoons including “the Super Friends” and a “Scooby Doo” cross-over continued in this endearingly silly vein. In 1989, Tim Burton cast Micheal Keaton in an impressively dark and strange version, the first of the film franchise. Keaton plays Batman as a slightly awkward billionaire but a very effective crime fighter, he reprised the role in the even darker “Batman Returns” three years later.

The wake of these two films allowed for the production of the very effective cartoon series “Batman: the Animated Series” and “The New Adventures” with Kevin Conroy voicing a more sensible, thoughtful Batman. Alas, despite the best efforts of the cartoon creators, the film franchise went a bit wrong, 1995's “Batman Forever” allowing Val Kilmer's forgettable Batman be dwarfed by the villains, whilst 1997's dreadful “Batman and Robin” has proved something of an embarrassment for all involved. The film franchise was at last revived with the darker, grittier and more believable “Batman Begins”, featuring Christian Bale as a truly remarkable Batman. Hopes are high for the sequel “The Dark Knight” due out this year. The new child-friendly “The Batman” cartoon series is also going strong, playing up the urban legend side of the character, whilst numerous videogames, theme park rides, novelizations, toys and lord know's what else, are still in circulation.

Why I like him: I love Batman, he's the first superhero character I ever came across. I used to sit and watch the “Batman: The Animated Series” cartoons on a Saturday morning before swimming lessons, before one episode frightened me so much I couldn't watch it anymore. I only really rediscovered him when I started reading comics again, about five or six years ago, and oh thank god I did. To me, Batman is the thinking man's superhero, with so much room in his world and his mythology for innovation and experimentation. Granted, not all Batman stories are brilliant, a series running for over 70 years can't be expected to be, but those stories which are good are very very good.