We almost got the best Batman comic ever but now nobody will ever see it

Even hardcore Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale fans have to admit that the two Batman films Tim Burton made are pretty extraordinary. After the departure of Burton and star Michael Keaton everything went pretty ridiculous, dayglo and downhill in the hands of Joel Schumacher (George Clooney's ice-skate fight being a particular low point), consigning Burton's none-more-Gothic version of Gotham to history. 

It nearly came back, though. Following the success of DC's comic series Batman '66 (which featured new adventures set in the world of the awesomely campy, onomatopoeia-filled series starring Adam West and Burt Ward), writer Kate Leth and artist Joe Quinones pitched a Batman '89 series, which for some mind-bending reason DC turned down.

As well as bringing Batman back with Michael Keaton's face, the pitch featured Michelle Pfeiffer's likeness as Catwoman and Billy Dee "Lando Calrissian" Williams as Two-Face. Williams had played Harvey Dent, the district attorney who gets hideously scarred and becomes a duality-obsessed villain, in Burton's films, and was set to play out that storyline if Burton had stayed on.

They also did some speculative casting of era-appropriate stars, including a Geena Davis-inspired Poison Ivy and a young Marlon Wayans as Robin (he's there on the cover, look). This really should have happened, both as a look at a third Burton film that might have been, and just an awesome comic. Damn it, DC!