Surprisingly, the success of Superman in Action Comics was a key factor in the birth of Batman. Batman was originally created after a call by National Publication's comic division (eventually DC Comics) for more superheroes. In 1938 Bob Kane and Bill Finger sat down and laid out the design for The Bat-Man.

"One day I called Bill and said, 'I have a new character called the Bat-Man and I've made some crude, elementary sketches I'd like you to look at'. He came over and I showed him the drawings. At the time, I only had a small domino mask, like the one Robin later wore, on Batman's face. Bill said, 'Why not make him look more like a bat and put a hood on him, and take the eyeballs out and just put slits for eyes to make him look more mysterious?' At this point, the Bat-Man wore a red union suit; the wings, trunks, and mask were black. I thought that red and black would be a good combination. Bill said that the costume was too bright: 'Color it dark gray to make it look more ominous'. The cape looked like two stiff bat wings attached to his arms. As Bill and I talked, we realized that these wings would get cumbersome when Bat-Man was in action, and changed them into a cape, scalloped to look like bat wings when he was fighting or swinging down on a rope. Also, he didn't have any gloves on, and we added them so that he wouldn't leave fingerprints." - Kane

The Bat-Man first appeared in "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate," in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939).

Batman's original style was "of the pulps". The character seemed to show little remorse over killing and maiming criminals, and wasn't above using firearms. Due to his success, Batman received his own title in 1940. In Detective Comics #38 (April 1940) Robin was introduced as the kid sidekick. This inclusion doubled the sales even though Kane preferred a solo Batman. Regardless, the popularity grew and the two most famously persistent criminals of Batman's history are introduced; Joker and Catwoman. Also at this time Batman shoots "monstrous giants" to death. The current editor Whitney Ellsworth decided the character was no longer allowed to kill or use a gun. During the time after WWII Batman's style was changed so his environment was less bleak and instead appeared more respectable and bright.

June 1952 marks the first official time Superman and Batman team up in a comic. Due to the success of "The Mightiest Team in the World" (Superman #76), Batman and Superman were co-stars of World's Finest Comics instead of being featured separately. This team continued until its cancellation in 1986.

In 1954 a psychologist named Fredric Wertham published a book saying children imitated crimes committed in comics and it was corrupting the morals of children who read them. He also criticized the comics for having homosexual overtones citing Batman and Robin as lovers instead of partners. A public outcry ensued which lead to the Comics Code Authority. This is where the campier, sillier version of Batman is born. Scholars have also suggested that Batwoman (1956) and Batgirl (1961) were introduced to refute allegations of homosexuality.

Towards the end of the 50's science fiction was playing a larger role in the comics. Other DC comics from the time had been experimenting with aliens or scientific transformations. This lead to characters like Ace the Bat-Hound and Bat-Mite.

By 1960 Batman was officially a member of the Justice League of America.

Once 1964 came around, Bob Kane stated that DC was ready to kill Batman off forever. Julius Schwartz was brought into the picture to re-vamp our hero. His major changes included more detective-like stories to return to Batman's roots. He also developed the yellow background behind the bat symbol that is synonymous with Batman today. Finally, characters from the 50's were retired and Alfred was killed off to make room for Aunt Harriet and Dick Grayson.

1966 marks the first live-action television series about Batman. This pushed comic circulation up to 900,000 copies. Alfred was returned to his rightful place in the mansion, and things were looking up.

Until the campy nature of the show and comic ran out of steam and the show was cancelled in 1968. Greatly affected, comic sales also went way down.

By 1969 Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams make a conscious effort to return Batman to his darker and more mysterious roots. Afterall, Batman was designed to be a "grim avenger of the night". O'Neil went to the DC library and read the earlier stories to get a feel for Kane and Finger's original intentions with the Caped Crusader.

Over the next nine years O'Neil, Adams, Schwartz, artist Dick Giordano and many others mixed and matched with various creators to revamp Batman as a grimmer, darker hero. Even though the newest Batman was a huge hit with fans, circulation was still declining. Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers also make valiant attempts to increase circulation. Although circulation was still going down, Englehart and Rogers' efforts influenced Tim Burton's 1989 movie Batman and Batman: The Animated Series in 1992.

The comics received a breath of life in 1988 when DC Comics created a phone number for readers to call and vote on the fate of Jason Todd, the second Robin. His fate was sealed by a narrow margin of 28 votes. The readers deicded that he should die. (Batman: A Death in the Family).

These combined events got the public's attention back on the Batman, grossing millions of dollars at the box office and selling almost a million copies of the first solo Batman comic in almost 50 years.

In 1993 the villain Bane is created. He manages to break Bruce Wayne's back. During the time he needs to recover, the batsuit is worn by a character named Azrael. Azrael fights and defeats Bane, but he also lets a mass murderer fall to his death. Because of this a living victim is lost. Azrael also refuses to recognize Robin as his partner and continues to spin out of control. Eventually Wayne finds out about these events, which prompts him to get back to on his feet. Wayne defeats Azrael in a fight, and becomes Batman once again.

Ten years later, Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee began a 12 issue run on Batman that introduced a new villain named Hush. They guest-starred every major supporting character and villain, and laid the foundation for the return of Jason Todd.

The rest of the 1990s were spent crossing over different older issues for new storylines.

1998 marks a devastating earthquake in Gotham City that deprives Batman of many of his resources. In 1999 Bruce Wayne is framed for murder by Lex Luthor, but eventually is acquitted.

In 2005, Batman finds out a Justice League member named Zatanna has edited his memories which leads to a deep distrust with the rest of the superhero community. After more crime fighting, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake retrace Bruce's steps from when he left to regain his strength and become Batman again. Batman and Robin are away from Gotham City for a year.

At the end of Wayne's absence, he adopts Tim Drake as his son. Damian Wayne is also introduced as Batman's son with Talia ah Ghul. The Justice League is reformed, and all seems well with Bruce Wayne and Batman.

Or so we thought.

Grant Morrison (writer) stated about his 2008 storyline "Batman R.I.P", "This is the end of Bruce Wayne as Batman. But, like I say, it's so much better than death."

Despite being reported as dead, The Times said "in the superhero universe, a resurrection is never too far away."

DC Comics executive editor Dan DiDio told the New York Daily News that Bruce Wayne is alive, "though he'll definitely be gone for a while". However, The Metro states an insider from DC Comics said Wayne "doesn't want to be a superhero any more."

Although Batman has overcome many hairy situations, a troubled childhood, countless brushes with death, friends, lovers and acquaintances being killed or taken by the dark side, injury, sadness, one thing has remained constant. Bruce Wayne was always there.

So what does this say for the fate of Batman? The fate of Bruce Wayne?