I was re-reading "The Dark Knight Returns" and excellent Batman story from 1986 by Frank Miller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Returns).
The story is basically a telling of Batman where he ages - in the story he's in his 60's and retired from the Batman life. Gotham is being controlled by gangs and remains a pretty gritty and dark place. A pop-psychologist is working to release long-time villains Two-Face (who's also benefited from new techniques in plastic surgery) and later, the Joker.
The pop-psychology theory is that Batman had an evil influence on weaker willed folks - his very presence created the disturbed criminals he fought.
Batman is upset at the way things are going, and almost by accident, starts down the path to come out of retirement. The news media (a constant, narrating-type presence in the story) are showing the controversy surrounding his return - stopping criminal acts (though violently), and the effect on copycats in Gotham.
What is interesting, particularly give the Colorado shooting at the "Dark Knight Rises" recently, is that in "The Dark Knight Returns", one of the "effects" of Batman returning is that a psychotic teenager (with orange hair) goes into a cinema and starts shooting. This was not a major theme in the book (there were several effects of Batman returning, some pro and some con), and this particular teenager only appears in a few panels.
It is unlikely that this was the genesis of the Colorado shooting, particularly given that the real-life shooter likens himself to the Joker, who was not yet involved very much in the comic storyline. However, the presence in the story of a cinema shooting was startling.
"The Dark Knight Returns" is a masterpiece of storytelling, one of the few comic series I'd point to as approaching actual literature, with a depth beyond the typical monthly stories. Miller's capture of the effects of media (in the comic the return of the actual Batman, in real-life the fascination with movies and stars) was uncanny.
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