Batman 1989 Continues, in a Brand New Novel
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This week, John Jackson Miller returned to the world of Star Wars novels for the first time in years with The Living Force, an excellent look at the state of the Jedi and Republic in the year before The Phantom Menace. His next book is a little more earthbound... but no less wild.
io9 can exclusively reveal that Miller is penning a continuation of the legendary Tim Burton Batman movie in Batman: Resurrection, a new novel from Penguin Random House. “There are dream projects, and then there are projects you never dreamt were possible. This is the latter,” Miller said in a statement provided to io9 over email. “People always ask what world I wanted to get the chance to write in; I never named Burton’s take on Batman because I never imagined it could happen. But [PRH] editor Tom Hoeler found a way.”
Resurrection will directly follow the events after the 1989 movie, in a similar manner to DC Comics’ own Batman ‘89 miniseries, as Batman’s fight to protect Gotham in the wake of the Joker’s death continues. Ever vigilant, Batman battles the remnants of the Joker’s gang, but between criminal turmoil, the lingering damage the Joker’s gas attacks had on the city, and trying to imagine a future for himself beyond crime fighting, he realizes that it will take both of his masks to try and pull Gotham back into the light: the cowl of the caped crusader and the wealthy pocket book of Bruce Wayne. But as he finds his desire to save Gotham becoming an obsession, and the forces of the criminal underworld growing more powerful by the day, Batman begins to wonder... could his greatest foe have survived their fateful encounter?
“Whereas the DC Batman ‘89 comics are set after the Tim Burton films, I chose to make Batman: Resurrection a direct sequel novel to [the 1989 movie],” Miller added, “meaning characters ranging from Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox to Max Shreck and Selina Kyle from Batman Returns can appear in the book.”
“Batman shaped the writer I am. I saw it in the theater 12 times. I reviewed it for my college paper and wrote about it often in comics magazines, including an essay on Prince’s Warner Bros. Records soundtrack,” Miller concluded. “Writing Batman: Resurrection has been like reuniting with old friends.”
Batman: Resurrection will hit shelves October 15—and is available to pre-order now from Amazon, Penguin Random House and Bookshop.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
