Batman '89 (comic book)

Batman '89
Cover of Batman '89 #1 (August 2021)
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Publication date	August 2021
Main character(s)	Batman Robin Harvey Dent Barbara Gordon Catwoman
Creative team
Written by	Sam Hamm
Penciller(s)	Joe Quinones
Letterer(s)	Clayton Cowles
Colorist(s)	Leonardo Ito
Editor(s)	Andrew Marino Andy Khouri

Batman '89 is a superhero comic book limited series published by DC Comics that serves as an alternative continuation of Tim Burton's first two Batman films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), which starred Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman, while ignoring the subsequent films Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997) that starred Val Kilmer and George Clooney as the character.^[1] The series is written by the first two films' screenwriter, Sam Hamm, and illustrated by Joe Quinones. It was launched in August 2021, and is set to run for six issues.^[2]

Plot summary[]

Following the events of Batman Returns, Gotham City is in chaos as a result of a war between a gang of Joker-inspired criminals and a group of vigilantes dressed up as Batman. Determined to clean up the streets, district attorney Harvey Dent vows to take down the real Batman, whom he holds responsible for inspiring these copycats, as well as police commissioner, Jim Gordon, who has been keeping in close contact with Batman and poses a possible obstacle in Dent's path to become state attorney general. Dent is aided by his fiancée, Barbara Gordon, a GCPD sergeant, who also sees Batman as a threat and has a strained relationship with her father. Dent also tries to gain Bruce Wayne's support and financial backing, but is unsuccessful due to the latter sympathizing with Gordon. Later, Dent calls the National Guard to Gotham to help restore order, and tries to lure Batman into a trap using the Bat-Signal with Lieutenant Harvey Bullock. Batman decides to end communications with Gordon until the crisis is over. While patrolling in Harvey's childhood neighborhood, Burnside, he encounters another masked vigilante while confronting a young thief who was trying to help his younger sister. The thief is killed by a stray bullet when Batman attempts to escape the National Guard, leaving Bruce racked with guilt.

The vigilante is a young man from Burnside, named Drake Winston, who works as a mechanic at an auto shop owned by Dent's childhood mentor, Jerome Otis. After being criticized by the Burnside neighborhood council for the National Guard's actions, Dent makes a powerful speech at Burnside Park denouncing the violence. During the speech, Drake stops the Batman impersonators from robbing a store and earns the moniker "Robin" when one of the impersonators claimed he was "robbin' the store". Inspired by Dent's speech and the thief's death, Bruce meets with the Burnside neighborhood council and Dent at Otis' auto shop and offers to stake every school-age child in the Burnside district to four years at Gotham University at his expense. Shortly after the meeting, the auto shop is attacked by the Batman impersonators, who tracked Drake to the garage. When Bruce arrives, he finds that the impersonators have already been defeated by Catwoman. Dent goes inside the burning auto shop to find Drake and is knocked out when an explosion takes out the stairs.

While unconscious, Dent has a dream where he rescues Drake and runs for governor after becoming a hero in the eyes of the public. In reality, Bruce and Drake work together to rescue Harvey just before the auto shop blows up. Dent survives but is rushed to the hospital after suffering from severe burns on the left side of his face and sulfuric acid poisoning. Much to his dismay, Bruce is hailed as a hero by the press and finds out that Drake saw him confront the arsonists. At the hospital, Dent's subconscious tells him to think of the power in the choices he makes, inspiring him to make marks on one side of his two-headed coin. Later that night, Batman finds Catwoman on the rooftops. She tells Bruce she's back in Gotham to track down rich criminals and put them behind bars, and criticizes him for not making more of an effort to stop them. The two then work together to stop the fires from the arsonists, who were released early on bail.

The residents of Burnside participate in a march to protest the arsonists not facing punishment. Bullock disobeys Gordon's orders and attempts to engage them with riot cops, but Drake helps the protestors fight back with spray cans and smoke grenades. During the night of the protest, Barbara notices Dent displaying increasingly erratic behavior and relying on his coin to make most of his decisions. Hours later, he escapes his hospital room and takes off the bandages that were covering the burnt half of his face. Barbara hears what happened to Dent the next day while talking to Selina Kyle, who takes the opportunity to scan Barbara's hard drive under the guise of helping her with a virus. Dent steals a computer and multiple files from the GCPD before retreating into the subway, and sets up the abandoned Burnside station as his new base of operations.

Meanwhile, Bruce invites Drake to meet him at Wayne Manor. Prior to their meeting, Bruce learns that his great-grandfather acquired an automotive company owned by Drake's ancestors in a forced buyout. Drake tries to convince Bruce to identify the arsonists to the police, but Bruce denies seeing them as Catwoman had already taken them down. He then goads Bruce into fighting him by pretending to threaten him with the same battery acid that burned Dent's face. Drake deduces that Bruce is Batman from his fighting style and reveals himself to be the masked vigilante he encountered in Burnside. He proposes they begin a partnership to minimize the chaos slowly brewing in the city.^[3]

Development[]

After the success of the Batman '66 comic book series, comic book artist Joe Quinones revealed in March 2016 that he and Kate Leth had pitched a Batman comic book series set in the world of Tim Burton's Batman universe to DC Comics in 2015. He also revealed the concept art they had submitted. The book would have picked up after the events of 1992's Batman Returns.^[4] Quinones said about the inclusion of the characters in the comic: "We would have seen the return of Selina Kyle/Catwoman as well as introductions to 'Burton-verse' versions of Robin (designed to be portrayed by Marlon Wayans), Barbara Gordon (designed to be portrayed by Christina Ricci), Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy (the latter designed to be portrayed by Geena Davis). It also would have showcased the turn of Billy Dee Williams' Harvey Dent into Two-Face".^[5] The pitch was initially rejected by DC. In 2019, DC's Chief Creative Officer and publisher at DC, Jim Lee, acknowledged that many artists and writers had proposed a comic book series set in the Burton-verse over the years and that the book being made in the future wasn't out of the realm of possibility.^[6]

In February 2021, DC announced to release a comic book continuation of Batman Returns entitled Batman '89, ignoring the subsequent films Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), in which actor Michael Keaton did not appear following Burton's departure from the franchise. DC further revealed that the series would be written by Sam Hamm and illustrated by Quinones, and would include the return of Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) while also introducing a new version of Robin named Drake Winston (whose appearance is inspired by Marlon Wayans, who was originally attached to play the role in the Burton films)^[7] and showing the transformation of Billy Dee Williams' Harvey Dent into Two-Face.^[8]

In response to a question as to whether the Joel Schumacher Batman films are canon to the world of Batman '89, Hamm responded that the Schumacher films take place on the alternate universe of "Earth-97" as opposed to Batman '89's "Earth-89".^[9] On Twitter, Joe Quinones revealed that the story "loosely takes place in the mid-nineties."^[10]

Publications[]

• Batman '89 #1 (2021-08-10^[11]): Debut of Harvey Dent.
• Batman '89 #2 (2021-09-14^[12])
• Batman '89 #3 (2021-10-12^[13])
• Batman '89 #4 (2021-12-07^[14])

Critical reception[]

The book's first issue garnered generally positive reviews from critics. Syfy Wire's Matthew Jackson wrote: "This is more than a tribute. It's a bold reimagining and a killer exercise in worldbuilding on Hamm's part, bolstered by Quinones' pitch perfect art."^[15] Toussaint Egan of Polygon praised the book's "multifaceted depiction of people of color".^[16] John Saavedra of Den of Geek stated: "[I]ssue one is a promising start for a modern reinvention of the Burtonverse."^[17] Bleeding Cool dubbed the book "pitch perfect", rating it 8.5 out of 10; it also topped the site's Bestseller List.^[18][19] Screen Rant stated that Batman '89 proves that casting actor Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face (in 1995's Batman Forever) was "a mistake".^[20]

References[]

External links[]

• DC Comics page