And so begins my Dark Knight media blackout …

… and I might even mean it this time!

On March 22, 2007, I made this ridiculous claim that I wasn’t going to blog about The Dark Knight anymore because I didn’t want to read anything online that would ruin anything in the movie for me.

Obviously, I lied.

(But I was only lying to myself, and never to you, my Loyal Readers.)

I’ll still be blogging about everything else, but it’s time to stop the Bat-presses and stop reading every little tidbit I can find about this movie.

Because I’m reading every little tidbit.

And I read some things this morning that I should not have read.

However, I will say that everything I did read put a HUGE, ridiculous grin on my face.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I find John Bierly guilty of being the boy of my dreams. And we’re going to get married! And have a baby!”

With press screenings happening soon and some very big plot points already lurking around on message boards (which I have been strong enough to avoid), I have to stop now or I’ll ruin the whole thing for myself.

I did that for Batman Begins. I knew going in what Gordon showed Batman on the roof at the end, and I knew the truth about Ra’s Al Ghul. I can’t imagine how much more I would have enjoyed the film had I not known about those surprises going into it.

I’d like to thank each and every one of you who came to this blog because of my Batman coverage. Especially those of you who decided to keep hanging around for all the other stuff, too.

And!

We’ll be talking about the movie a LOT once we’ve all seen it.

And!

Just because I won’t be blogging about The Dark Knight until after I’ve seen its glorious glory, I am going to do something that I somehow never did before: a comprehensive review of Batman Begins that focuses on how the character of Bruce Wayne is portrayed in the film. I’ll be working on that and I’ll get it up before The Dark Knight comes out. I’m really excited about it.

In the meantime, let me recommend some great places to get Dark Knight news.

Our very good friend Bill “Jett” Ramey is THE hardest-working Batman fan on the planet and one of the nicest, most down-to-earth guys I’ve ever known. He’s also one of the best bosses I’ve ever had; I’m very grateful to Bill for hiring me on to write reviews of Detective Comics and Batman Confidential for his long-running Batman movie news website, Batman on Film. There is no better place to find quality Batman news, and when Jett states something as fact you can take it to the bank. Just don’t take it to a bank in Gotham City, or The Joker might, well, you know.

And then our dear friend Stephanie has really been knocking them out of the park with her very comprehensive Dark Knight coverage; she has a real talent for tracking down all the amazing stuff that’s out there and presenting it in a fun, comprehensive way with plenty of her own whiz-bang commentary. You can find all of her coverage of the movie at this dedicated link.

And I’ll be working on that Bruce Wayne essay.

And I’ll be preparing to see The Dark Knight with my buddy Kareem at 12:01 a.m. on July 18 on an IMAX screen in Los Angeles.

It’s going to be huge.

In the meantime, enjoy these! And please click them for the larger versions: