When you think about Batman -- or any character, really -- how do you see them in your mind's eye? How do you render that character in memory and what type of imagery and symbolism do you associate with that character?  
   

Over the years Batman has gone through numerous different looks. From Bruce's build and stature, to the material and fit of the Bat-suit and the shape of the ears on his cowl, every artist seems to have a different vision for what the Dark Knight should look like. The same can be said for other characters like Superman, but it's much more common to see variations on the Bat-suit than it is to see in Superman's. Perhaps this is because of all the creative freedom that having Bruce be a billionaire with nearly unlimited resources provides; or perhaps it's Bruce's greatest trait -- his intelligence and ingenuity -- that allows creators to feel free enough to continually change the costume and tech that he employs. Whatever the case may be, we've seen a ton of variation through the years, and undoubtedly, we as fans have our favorites. 
 
Many people cite the leaner Batman from the Neil Adams era as their favorite look, and it's certainly iconic. This tall, lean, detailed depiction is the one most often emblazoned on t-shirts and other merchandise. On the opposite side of things, we  have Frank Miller's iteration of the Dark Knight, seen in the beloved The Dark Knight Returns and The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Miller's stylized art is perfect for the types of stories he so often tells, but it's a bit too disproportioned for my liking.  

For me, it needs to be a Batman I would be afraid of. I want him to be big and imposing so he gives the impression that if he hit you, you'd feel like you got hit by a truck; like if he rammed you with his body, it's a slab of meat pounding into you. But I also want him to appear sharp, as if to cut you. So the cape is very sharp and he's got the blades on his gauntlets and he's got the pointy ears. But I smooth him out... I don't have the shredded, razor-sharp abdominal muscles on mine. He's more of a slab who'd be hitting you. That's my interpretation of Batman and sort of where I'm going with it: a big, monolithic, imposing, character who can just plow you over and cut you to ribbons.

I personally like a leaner, acrobatic Batman, but he should still be big enough to look like he can and will break you into pieces.  The problem I have with the overly bulky renditions of Batman is that I can't really imagine hulking brutes agilely flipping over enemies and leaping off rooftops.  That's just me, though. 
 
I agree that his costume should be of a thick, armored fabric with visible seams and piping, though not necessarily armor plating like what The Dark Knight movie costume has or the new Jim Lee redesign appears to have.   It has to be thick enough to protect him, but light enough to not restrict movement because, again, he needs be able to flip around like a gymnast.  As for the coloring, I prefer the gray and black scheme, as the black makes more sense in order to blend in with the shadows.  I'm fine with either the yellow oval emblem or the standard black bat, though I have to admit that I thought the glowing oval on the "Batman, Inc." was pretty neat and am slightly disappointed that it didn't get carried over into the redesign.  Also, I've always been fine with the trunks. 
 
I'm excited for Capullo's take on Batman, and I'll be picking up that series when September rolls around.  However, while I like how he draws Batman (even if he is leaning toward the bulky side), I'm a little more apprehensive toward his takes on some of the other characters.  His Joker looks a little weird to me, and I think that question mark mohawk on The Riddler looks pretty stupid.  I'm a big fan of the John Glover suit-and-bowler version of The Riddler from The Animated Series, so I tend to prefer a more sophisticated version of that character.  Capullo still seems to have retained that "edgy," 90s Image style from his Spawn days, and while I'm personally not a big fan of that style of comic book artwork, I'm still looking forward to reading Snyder and Capullo's new series. 
 

I've never been a big fan of the Neal Adams lean and acrobatic Batman. I prefer Batman to have some weight to him. Not hulking but broad shouldered and powerful. You can probably blame Batman: tAS for that.

 
@Blurred View: I think it's interesting that you brought up TAS influencing your preference. It's very likely that people from certain generations prefer certain depictions that were more common during their growing up with the character.

I think Earth one is a good depiction of how I see Batman, big but still lean and I always liked the colour around the bat it just gives the symbol more weight imo. 
How do you guys like Batman characterised? I like my Batman really dark and brutal, doing things like sticking guys heads down toilets and electrocuting them with cables, dropping them off buildings and braking limbs. He shouldn't be a talker more of scary silent type. Gruff logical and cold.

I usually imagine him like this.

@spiderbat87: Characterization is fun to talk about, because it's so subtle and just as diverse as the costume. I prefer Batman cold and totally logical. A cerebral, scientific detective type with an overt intellectual edge to him. When dealing with criminals, I like it best when he's depicted as being totally efficient. A guy as smart as Bruce would never waste time and never do anything without calculating an elaborate plan and its repercussions. I do like to think that he'd be willing to do anything at all to further his own ends, so yes, I too like a more brutal Batman, but the brutality to me is just another means to his end.  How about fighting style? I know a lot of people like to believe that Bruce is a master of virtually all martial arts or something ridiculous like that, but I never saw that being very likely and don't like it. In reality, he's can be one of the best hand to hand combatants in the world without knowing every martial art. I prefer to think of his fighting style as playing to his strengths and using his size and speed to overwhelm opponents. I see him as a man of many joint locks and take downs, but also someone who doesn't mind a fist fight. He'd use his strength to throw power hits like knees, elbows and punches in an out and out fight, but could take down guys silently and skillfully inf necessary.  To contrast, I picture Dick being hard to hit and very fast and flittery -- like Ali. And if Dick's style is more akin to Ali, then Bruce's, in my mind, would be more akin to Tyson's.

When I was little before I read the comics I used to picture him as a dark silent protector of the world that only comes out at night when everything is silent yet deadly.

I envision Batman the way that Scott Snyder or Paul Dini would write him.

Personality: I imagine that Bruce Wayne would be incredibly charismatic, he'd have to be, no one would suspect him as Batman if he was. He could still be dumb, but he could also have charisma like Bill Clinton, which would explain his constant harem of women. As Batman, he's cold, logical, and virtually stoic. He has a very precise and efficient way of doing things and meeting his goal, he's not out to unleash carnage, but he'll still take pleasure in beating down a rapist. He wouldn't shy away from extreme violence, for example, if he's forced to, he'll water-board a thug, will break limbs, and even resort to shock therapy. He'd basically do everything short of killing you, which ironically, could be worse. Is it just me? Psychological warfare would be a must as well. In short, when operating as Batman, Bruce would be a very pragmatic individual. His real persona in my eyes, is not Bruce Wayne or Batman, but just Bruce the man. He'd act very much like a normal person would, though it'd be easy to tell that he's damaged. He'd be the perfect balance between the Batman and his public persona.

Fighting Style: Batman seems like a guy who would use Krav Maga. It'd take advantage of his own physical strength and allow him to decimate his enemies, plus he'd have access to various techniques from different martial arts as well. On top of that, he's a detective, he'd just spot weaknesses in his opponent's form anyhow.

Build: Like any other two hundred pound man, who's six two. Lean but strong. Physical features wise, I feel like Greg Capullo's design of Bruce is how I imagined he'd look in real life, since he's supposed to be a pretty boy anyway.

Costume: New 52's fine.

Capullo draws my Batman.

No, I prefer Batman looking like Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) in his suit. I've always envisioned him with the Batsuit being some kinda (unrealistic) mix between leather & kevlar-armour, not quite like the Arkham series but not like TAS neither. If his suit is not gray I'm not gonna f*** with it. Its not quite the militaristic armor from Nolan but its definitely not a 100% circus-spandex suit.

@slayerofevil: I agree, in my eyes Krav Maga has always been Batman's #1 fighting style, it's the one that makes the most sense considering what situations he usually ends up in. Of course he has to know all martial arts, like he is supposed to, but Krav Maga is easily the techniques I see him use the most.

I envision him as a dark, brooding and calculated. He always has a plan in his head and can change it on the fly. Hes the strong silent type and only talks it up when he has a reason to. As Bruce Wayne he's a ladies man, a brilliant business man and irresponsible. When Bruce is alone or with Alfred he act just like he would if he were in the cowl. He'd go to great lengths to make sure when you think of Bruce you won't ever make the connection to Batman or vice-versa. He not only pretends to be with super models he sleeps with them if he has too. He betters Gotham by day as well, like funding numerous charities and projects to better the city.

When he's fighting crime he's very brutal. Like Chris Nolan said "if you can knock out someone behind you why not just do it" In a fight he wont shy away from breaking a few bones, he'd beat you senseless but he wont kill you. He can intimidate even the hardest thug. He can practically read a persons mind through body language and other deductive skills. He gives crime no second chance unless in his mind hes certain you can change (like in the new Batman Adventures "Old Wounds"). Hes a master of numerous martial arts but only uses the ones that prove most efficient to the opponent hes fighting. Hes also a brilliant genius that can compete with the best of them (Luthor, Mr Terrific, and Superman). When I think of his genius I think of Grant Morrison's Batman.

New 52 Jim Lee is actually the perfect appearance of Batman to me. He has the perfect light armored look. Its bullet proof (Based on New 52 feats) yet he can move around as freely as if he were in a track suit. Perfect example of the Wayne genius I envision. If only Lee was as good as his Hush days.

This is pretty much the Batman I see every time I pick up a comic that's not written by Johns. Lol

Really Batmany.

But more broody.

With Batman's personality, it all comes down to his philosophy that no amount of life is more valuable than any other amount of life. He will not kill to save lives, and he will not choose between lives. If you give him a sadistic choice, he will either save everyone or will fail.

He may maim, he may torture, he may terrify, but he will never stop people from living their life. He will not fail to pay for any help criminals need. He knows how much each criminal can take and he won't go further. He believes that anyone can change, and so he doesn't keep them from changing.

He is calm, collected, and very stoic. The Joker is the only one who can get him to drop this act, which leads me to my next point:

The Joker is Batman's only friend. Batman is in denial about it, and he hates that hundreds die, but he kind of sickly enjoys their playtime. He enjoys it that he doesn't know if he'll kill the Joker. He enjoys the uncertainty. He enjoys the feeling of insanity.

Furthermore, the Batman is so very tempted to give in. I interpenetrate the Killing Joke's ending as Batman giving insanity a brief try. He loved it, but he can't bring himself to stay crazy past those few seconds. He knows that, either through obsession or will, he can't bring himself to break his code, and he feels terrible. He feels like he's failed Jason and Barbra and so many others that died. He knows that if he just goes insane, it will be over.

But he can't. The way I see it, when his parents died, Batman realized what the Joker did: life is meaningless, people die randomly, and there is no meaning. However, instead of seeing it as funny, he took it as a challenge, as if life said "I took your parents. Whatcha gonna do about it?" Batman just will not (cannot?) let that go.

I said earlier that Joker is Batman's only friend. Alfred is Bruce's. He helps Bruce stay on the sane side. He helps keep the balance.

On fighting style:

Think Yuri Boyka's strength and Bruce Lee's speed. To quote Batman Begins's special feature, "I want him to run through them like a raging bull." Batman is a genius, always doing Sherlock Holmes level evaluation. However, this is instinctual. He does this during fights. Unless fighting higher level enemies, he will fight on the fly, noticing weakness and strength. In a fight, he KNOWS what you are gonna do. It's like he's on auto-pilot.

He often uses groups to cover him. You can't get an inkling on where he is. You see SOMETHING in the crowd, but he is moving through them so fast, he could be anywhere by the time you get over to him!

On physique:

I prefer my Batman to be like a slightly larger Earth One Batman; big, muscular, but maneuverable.

On Costume:

I like a armor look. Somewhere between Arkham City and the Dark Knight. Black utility belt. Retractable blades. Very dark grey suit.

It should be almost like you can't tell where the suit ends and the cape begins. Like shadow.