A lot of sites are probably putting together several lists right about now in honor of this Friday’s release of The Dark Knight Rises that would name most of these as “must-reads if you’re wanting to get into Batman comics,” or something to that effect. But how I’d like to phrase this entry is in more of an academic sense. These books that I’m about to suggest to you are being referred to as “Read these first” because a lot of the more “higher learning” readings require a sophisticated palette that must be developed by learning the different takes on the character of Batman prior to jumping shoulders’ deep into the complex and clever stories of these more advanced works.

Now, that’s not to say that any of the comics listed are bad. Sure I may not like some of them as much as others, but based on my research and personal experiences, the comics listed here in Batman 101 are some of the books that have gotten most hardcore Batman fans to start loving the character in the same way I do. Keep in mind that this is a list of comic books, so you’ll look elsewhere to see things like Batman ’66 and Batman: The Animated Series. So, if you’re ready, let’s get started with something I like to call Batman 101: A Beginner’s Guide To The Dark Knight.

With less than two weeks to go before the long-awaited release of The Dark Knight Rises, the epic final chapter in Christopher Nolan‘s Batman trilogy, the film’s Hans Zimmer-composed score – due to be released by WaterTower Music next Tuesday – is now streaming in full online for free thanks to the good folks over at the UK movie magazine and site Empire.

You can listen to the soundtrack here below.

Sounds like Zimmer is bringing the sonic thunder once again with a fantastic score that features many callbacks to his collaborations with James Newton Howard on the scores for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight as well as his score for Nolan’s previous film Inception. The most prevalent motif in the score is Zimmer’s theme for the character of Bane (Tom Hardy), a symphony of brooding and ominous tones building to a climax of complete chaos. The track “The Fire Rises” at times recalls the “Mombaasa” cue from Inception and it’s good to hear Zimmer and Newton’s Batman Begins theme about 2.5 minutes into “Despair.”

Christopher Nolan has said that The Dark Knight Rises was his third and final entry in his Batman franchise. If that is indeed true, then he intends to end it on one epic high note. A new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises has popped up online, and it features bits of footage never seen before. We also get to hear a bit more dialogue from Bane (Tom Hardy), and the whole thing ends with a scene that provides some of the lighter moments of the film. Check out the trailer below.

Unlike previous trailers that set up the story, the newest trailer for The Dark Knight Rises puts an emphasis on the action sequences. Much of trailer consists of the opening scene that was revealed back in December, the one-on-on brawl between Batman and Bane, and Bane’s followers vs the Gotham City police, . But that hasn’t changed the fact that fans (especially myself) are eagerly awaiting the film’s release.

A few weeks ago Warner Bros. and DC Comics Premiere Movies formerly announced the voice cast for their upcoming two-part direct-to-video animated adaptation of the classic 1986 DC miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, one of the most popular and influential Batman stories ever created and a cornerstone of the revisionist superhero comic movement that took shape in the late 1980s.

Warner and DC have included a special 13-minute preview of The Dark Knight Returns in the supplementary features on their latest DTV animated offering Superman Vs. The Elite. You can check out the preview here below.

A few days ago we got our first look at the cover art and track listing for the forthcoming release of Hans Zimmer‘s orchestral soundtrack to The Dark Knight Rises was released.

Today we have for you a selection of 30-second samples from each of the album’s fifteen tracks. You can listen to them here below.

The chilling chant that serves as the theme for the film’s villain Bane (Tom Hardy) is quite prevalent in several of these tracks, but in the final track “Rise” there is a subtle callback to a piece used to underscore the death of Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) parents in the early moments of Batman Begins. A hint of rumors to come true, perhaps?