The B.D. Fox ad agency created hundreds of unused logos and posters for promotion, many by John Alvin. In the end Burton and producers decided on only using a gold and black logo designed by Anton Furst and airbrushed by Bill Garland, with no other key art variation, to keep an air of mystery about the film.[73] The logo is also an ambiguous image, which can be read either as Batman's symbol or as a gaping mouth.[74] Earlier designs "had the word 'Batman' spelled in RoboCop or Conan the Barbarian-type font".[5] Jon Peters unified all the film's tie-ins, even turning down $6 million from General Motors to build the Batmobile because the car company would not relinquish creative control.[5]
During production, Peters read in The Wall Street Journal that comic book fans were unsatisfied with the casting of Michael Keaton. In response, Peters rushed the first film trailer that played in thousands of theaters during Christmas. It was simply an assemblage of scenes without music, but created enormous anticipation for the film, with audiences clapping and cheering.[5][27] DC Comics allowed screenwriter Sam Hamm to write his own comic book miniseries. Hamm's stories were collected in the graphic novel Batman: Blind Justice (ISBN 978-1563890475). Denys Cowan and Dick Giordano illustrated the artwork.[19] Blind Justice tells the story of Bruce Wayne trying to solve a series of murders connected to Wayne Enterprises. It also marks the first appearance of Henri Ducard, who was later used in the rebooted Batman Begins, albeit as an alias for the more notable Ra's al Ghul.[19]
In the months before Batman's release in June 1989, a popular culture phenomenon known as "Batmania" began. Over $750 million worth of merchandise was sold.[31] Cult filmmaker and comic book writer Kevin Smith remembered: "That summer was huge. You couldn't turn around without seeing the Bat-Signal somewhere. People were cutting it into their fucking heads. It was just the summer of Batman and if you were a comic book fan it was pretty hot."[75] Hachette Book Group USA published a novelization, Batman, written by Craig Shaw Gardner.[76] It remained on The New York Times Best Seller list throughout June 1989.[77] Burton admitted he was annoyed by the publicity. David Handelman of The New York Observer categorized Batman as a high concept film. He believed "it is less movie than a corporate behemoth".[72]
