Batman: Resurrection is Throwback Fun

There’s little doubt that the release of Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 was a watershed moment for both film and comic books. It combined a more faithful version of a comic book hero than previously seen on the big screen with a rising star in director Tim Burton, both obvious and bold casting (Jack Nicholson as Joker and Michael Keaton as Batman), a great score, and an ingenious marketing plan with tie-ins galore. I remember quite fondly that summer of 1989, when Batman was everywhere. In a preview of things to come during the MCU craze, everyone and their mother wore Batman t-shirts, even if the only time they’d ever seen Batman before was the 1960s TV show with Adam West. The movie spawned several sequels (only one featuring the return of Michael Keaton and Tim Burton), and while those sequels eventually disappointed and fell flat on their faces, the original ’89 Batman is considered to be one of the best of all time.

Batman: Resurrection, by John Jackson Miller, takes place just months after the first film, and finds both Gotham City and its Caped Crusader still reeling from the effects of the Joker’s rampage. The long-term effects of his Smylex Gas attack, both on the city during the climax of the movie and his poisoning of the personal products is still having a massive fallout, there’s an entire Smylex ward at the hospital, and wouldn’t you know, a crazy group of nutjobs inspired by the Joker, calling themselves the Last Laughs, is wreaking havoc across the city.

The plot, on the surface, seems kind of basic and perhaps too easy, and I wasn’t initially thrilled, but was pleasantly surprised that Miller introduces, in typical comic book franchise fashion, not one but TWO new villains for our hero to fight. Combine that with cameos from multiple characters from both the first Batman and its sequel, Batman Returns, everyone from Alexander Knox to Selina Kyle, Batman: Resurrection is good old-fashioned fun, a quick read by an accomplished genre author with an excellent grasp of the franchise.

There’s something fun about good fan fiction (and something awful when it’s bad). Some of it is as simple as the fact that the hard work, that of remembering who all the characters are and what they are supposed to look like, is done for you, and I had fun reading this, seeing and hearing Michael Keaton, Michael Gough (Alfred), Robert Wuhl (Alexander Knox), Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon), Billy Dee Williams (Harvey Dent), and others I won’t mention here, in their familiar roles. I also loved imagining the Batcave, Gotham City, the Batmobile, and Batman himself in their ’89 iterations, which are some personal favorites.

The book, like all novels such as this, has a couple of missteps. There are some bits of dialogue and things that characters do that don’t seem to jibe, and a couple of gadgets Batman tries out (some very odd flying platform comes to mind…) that don’t work, but overall, the book flows well, the action is well-written, and it was a great throwback. It’s a fun summer read harkening back to what was, at least for this writer, a simpler time, and I am looking forward to the next book. Yep. Miller is writing one.