Oval or no Oval

[Tomato]

In a goofy mood, thought I'd start a poll.

[bat1987]

I like both of them and both are iconic for Batman's look, but I'll go with no oval.

Its a personal preference mainly. No oval looks really good on gray body suit for a very sleek look. Looks great both in modern comics and Arkham games.

I don't mind the yellow oval though, the first thing that comes to mind is the first Burton movie, which I loved watching as a kid. The oval looked great there. And there's ofc the Neal Adams rendition which is a classic.

It's interesting that it wasn't until Miller's DKR that oval was explained as a target.

[Podmark]

I have a funny relationship with the oval. When I was a kid I liked the oval, whenever I saw just the bat it looked incomplete and dull. But once I started reading comics, which was during high school, I turned the complete opposite. I love the black bat, and am turned off by the yellow oval.
Not sure exactly why but it has to do with the silly old Adam West show (which I like) vs the modern Bat world that I love.

[hoss20]

For me, if he's wearing the classic blue cowl and cape, he has to have the oval. The costume looks incomplete without it.

If he's wearing the black cowl and cape, just the black bat looks better.

Of course, this opinion means I can't really vote.

[Cyber Burn]

For me, if he's wearing the classic blue cowl and cape, he has to have the oval. The costume looks incomplete without it.

If he's wearing the black cowl and cape, just the black bat looks better.

Of course, this opinion means I can't really vote.

I have to agree with Hoss here, I think that the inclusion of the oval really depends on the colors of the costume.

[Tomato]

My thing with the oval design is just the size of it... You can have the bat logo as this huge thing that stretches across Batman's chest, but the batsignal logo often looks small and weak by comparison. That's not always the case (it all depends on the artist/costume), but I remember that being one of the main reasons I preferred the TNBA batman design over the BTAS one. I have similar issues with the Superman Returns S-shield... there's nothing wrong with the design, but it's so small that it actually makes Brandon Routh's Superman look less impressive. That can work on characters like Flash and Green Lantern, but the logos for Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman should reflect how big a deal they are.

But like I said, it's not an absolute. I loved the Batsignal logo on the original Batman Inc design (it helped to clearly separate Bruce's design from Dick's), and I don't think anything else would have worked for the 89 film.

[John Jr.]

For me, if he's wearing the classic blue cowl and cape, he has to have the oval. The costume looks incomplete without it.

If he's wearing the black cowl and cape, just the black bat looks better.

Of course, this opinion means I can't really vote.

I have to agree with Hoss here, I think that the inclusion of the oval really depends on the colors of the costume.

Same here. I really like the Carmine Infantino and the Neal Adams Silver Age versions, but the black bat looks better with the darker version.