Over 400 people participated in this years event and helped The Dark Knight narrowly edge out the Top Cow web site for Comic Site O' The Year Honors. Early on it looked as though the X-Page Hotlist would be the victor, but the last two weeks saw a lot of support for our 1st and 2nd place winners.

The Batman mythos has survived the blitzkrieg of conventional marketing madness: mutant powers, radiation experiment foul-ups, intergalactic appointments and any other symptom of the "bigger, better, more" hedonism found in most comics. While the Batman in movies and television fetishizes his uniform, his weapons, his girlfriend, his enemies, and his car (Batman himself is practically an afterthought), the comic functions primarily on the merits of the main character. Similarly, the Dark Knight home page cuts through the franchise forest and focuses only on Batman in the comics. You'll find well-written bios on the major players in and around Gotham as well as helpful description and explanation of the numerous Bat-titles to help newbies navigate. There's even a forum for fans of the Dark Knight to engage one another in real-time. This Web site wonderful for starters and old timers alike. Big warning: Be sure to type the suffix "ca" and not "com" or you will bet an exegesis on chipmunks.

By now we all know that Batman has a dark side, but this site shows the man behind the bat mask, and he's no George Clooney. You could say he's no Adam West or Michael Keaton either - yet as we learn here, Batman is all of those people and more. In fact, the Caped Crusader - also known as Bruce Wayne - emerges as comics' (and maybe even pop culture's) most complex and intriguing character. Dark Knight is easily the definitive Batman site, filled with news of the latest Bat-flick, TV productions, and of course, comic book releases. What hooked us, however, were the "deep dark thoughts," ruminations on the nature and meaning of Batman. Few characters resonate through pop culture the way Batman does. This site, while low on graphics, is well-organized and filled with goodies for Batfans.

The amount of Batman sites on the internet are beginning to rival the amount of X-Men sites out there now. There are a virtual plethora of Batman sites and only few are worthy of mentioning. We've highlight one Batman site already, the second is The Dark Knight. Beginning with the domain name for this site you know that it's owner means business. Patrick Furlong, the sites designer, has an obvious love for all that is Batman. The sites layout is consistent all the way through. I spent about an hour going through this site and believe I saw very little. There's a LOT of stuff here. The site has many of the usual things you'd expect to find on a fan site. Reviews, Profiles, Storyline Synopses, etc., but these are all very detailed and well thought out. I liked the shipping schedule information for all the Bat books. One of the coolest things on this site is the "Design A Scene" section, based on the "Colorforms" games we all played as kids. Check it out! The Dark Knight is a very well designed and stimulating web site. It's certainly worth your time, especially if you're a Batman fan.

No animated series, TV, or movie Batmen at this page, and not much insight into Batman as a cultural phenom either. What the site is concerned with is are the current Batman comic books, so you'll find release dates and data on Gotham's heroes and villains. The Gotham News and Gotham Gossip sections let younger fans debate costume changes and relationships (Catwoman pairing up with Robin? Fans say it's unlikely). They can also send in their reviews of the latest Batman-related comics, from Azrael to Nightwing.

Holy ultrasite, Batman! This austre, frames-enhanced page focuses on the hero's most menacing incarnation - The Dark Knight. Come here for images, sounds, plot descriptions, and Dark Knight mailing list subscriptions.

This outstanding fan site explores Batman as a cultural icon and provides an extensive history of the Gotham hero and his nemeses. You can even create your own Batman scene!

A virtual Batman encyclopedia, this exhaustive, unofficial site is an intelligent, entertaining resource devoted to one of the world's most well-known comic book characters. Loaded with graphics, the site also contains character biographies, reviews, summaries of key storylines, and descriptions of the various Bat-titles published by DC Comics. There's a bulletin board, Gotham News, a chat room, Gotham Gossip, and a helpful site search engine. Looking for Bat-fun? Visit the whimsical "gallery," where you can design cartoon scenes a la Colorforms.

The Dark Knight is Batman's incarnation before he became the clad-in-tights pop superhero of 1960s television. The adventures of this more gothic detective hero were chronicled in a series of comic books. Meet the heroes and villains of Gotham, and rate storylines and new comic releases. Dark Knight has several impressive interactive features--one that even allows you to place characters in a scene. Discuss Batman forever with both a real-time chat and a message board. Check out the large gallery of Batman images, featuring some excellent original artwork.

Superman may be older and nicer, but Batman is sneakier and scarier. Who wants ro fly when you can hang off the ends of lam posts and terrify the crap out of people? Exactly - and I like to think that the creator of this well-designed home page understands that. He couldn't give a toss about the TV series (only funny when you're drunk) or the rotten movies (Tim Burton makes shitty films and Val Kilmer is a plank). In fact, this place could well become the Web equivalent of Batman Central. The approach is probably more suited to kids, though - those rating sections are a bit too fanboyish for my taste.

There's good, there's evil... and there's Batman. If that quote sends tingles down your spine, visit this fan-created site honoring the Dark Knight detective. Strictly for professional comic readers, this site only discusses the Batman in the comics, not the animated series, TV Series, or movies. Both the site and comic book database are searchable. A gallery of professional art and art by fans is available. If you think Dick Grayson is Robin, stay away.

A straightforward but attractive site devoted to the cartoon incarnation of Batman. FAQs, a Comic Database, details of villains, a Gotham News message board, Gotham Gossip chat rooms, images: its all here.

This World Wide Web site isn't concerned with Batman the TV series or Batman the film, it's really just concerned with Batman the comic book hero. It's the most in-depth comic site I've come across, going into the background of the comic and talking about the characters, story lines and place with so much knowledge and insight it's unreal. It really provides a riveting visit, so top marks to the site's author. There are also links to other related Batman site but with this being so good I don't think you're going to need them. All you Robins out there, this is the place to come.

Reviewed by Gareth Lancaster in issue seven. The Dark Knight site has expanded and improved with even more facts and pics for caped crusader fans to drool over. As stated before, the emphasis here is purely on the comic book adventures of Batman and Robin, yet there are useful links to the other sites that offer information on the 'Batman' movies and camp '60s TV show. Even if you're not that interested in the whole Batman mythos, this Web site delves into its subject matter with real enthusiasm and provides readers with character biographies, storyline synopsis, mini reviews and more. With the bonus of plenty of images (updated on a regular basis) The Dark Knight is a riveting read.