Just testing.

To anyone who knows the band, that should be a dead giveaway.

When the singer, who'd originally only written the lyrics on the the music written by other people, had been left to his own devices, he opted to go for a more grand direction. He has expressed a penchant towards towards epics, and has collaborated with a well-known producer known for his theatrically overblown sound. The producer is well-known in the rock circles for his late 70's collaboration with one heavy rock star. You know the name, I know it.

Well, that puts a different spin into it.

It's curious that until recently, all of VR (aside Slash, who went with Howard Kaufman) were managed by Azoff's company. Azoff acquired the band from Immortal Entertainment in late 2004. At that point, at least Scott's personal manager from Immortal switched over to Azoff's team to continue with her client. Yet Kaufman's and Azoff's companies merged into Frontline Management in early 2005, which technically put all of VR under the same roof. More recently, at least the majority of VR (Duff, Dave & Matt) have moved from Frontline to Sanctuary Artist Management (of all places). I believe Scott continues with Frontline with his long-time personal manager. Don't really know whether Slash is still with Kaufman or not.

But VR changed management around the same time Axl's association to Azoff was confirmed. Not to mention Axl was supposed to move in with Azoff while he was still managed by Merck.

I believe Dark Night Returns and Killing Joke were the main inspirations for Batman '89, which is why we get the body armor (a rare commodity for Bats, considering) and the Joker born in the chemical vat. As for merging Joe Chill with Jack Napier, I remember reading an interview with Sam Hamm, the original screenwriter, and he was a bit antsy because the studio overruled him and decided Joker and The Bat should have a more clear-cut relationship, in order to make the climax a justifiable homicide, which (the line of thinking, that is) is just bullshit on its own right.

But Burton (and Hamm) got a lot from Miller and Alan Moore, no denying there. Personally, I never saw Burton as Batman revisionist, more like taking the gothic look lacing it with angst-ridden atmosphere that spread from Watchmen in the comic book circles and took it into a certain zenith with his live-action Batmans. Particularly Batman Returns is a good example, as it tells about just how damn hard it is to be a crimefighter when the girls you bed might next night be kicking your ass while wearing drop-dead outfits. While Batman Returns remains as one of my all-time favorites despite the occasional script issues, it's not exactly the sort of epic people have learned to expect from Batman, Superman, or any other comic book figure of a similar stature.

So don't diss Burton too much, as he only had Pee-Wee's Playhouse (even the name of that Reubens character gives me the creeps ) and Beetlejuice under his belt. He wasn't all that established and frankly, Hollywood hadn't yet gone the comic book route on that level before. They had Superman, but that one had a Siegel/Shuster feel written to it since Day 1 (meaning it felt and looked like a 60's serial) and became rapidly outdated by not only the looks but the behind-the-scenes megalomania. Which sounds a bit like what happened to Batman. Warner never learn, I guess. Once Batman hit the ball out of the ballpark, Burton had greater (self) confidence on the follow-up, which is why it's more distinctly a Burton film, even when I maintain he was representing a certain era of comic books through his own ideas and themes concerning social misfits.

Funny that, Sam Hamm, the original Batman '89 scribe, would go on to write the anniversary mini-series Blind Justice, which I always thought was a rather good, experimental take on Batman/Wayne. I so happy when Nolan took a lot of ideas from Hamm (an amusing turn) to Batman Begins, as Hamm wanted explore similar themes, as in how did Bruce Wayne become Batman, practically speaking. How'd he get his gear, training, etc. Have you read it?

I'm also told Hamm's original draft on Batman is something to behold, which I believe didn't include the Napier/Chill mash-up.