Tuesday, February 04, 2025

Batman ’89, Softcover Edition

Based on reports in the media, Warners made the right choice cancelling the partially completed Batgirl movie. Bringing back Michael Keaton as many fans’ preferred Batman, only to immediately kill him off would have produced enormous ill will for the DC brand. It is pretty clear Keaton and Adam West remain sentimental favorites, considering DC Comics have given them both similar treatment to the Christopher Reeves-esque Superman ’78 limited series. The first story-arc set in the world of Tim Burton’s Batman movies, Sam Hamm’s Batman ’89, illustrated by Joe Quinones, releases again today in a new tradepaper edition.

In this Gothic-styled, vaguely late-1980s-feeling Gotham, District Attorney, Harvey Dent, looks a lot like Billy Dee Williams (who played the pre-Two Face DA in burton’s Film), rather than Tommy Lee Jones in Joel Schumacher’s
Batman Forever monstrosity. He is still a handsome devil at the beginning of the story arc, but he is also a slippery one. He clearly wants to be governor, so he crusades against Batman’s vigilantism, the only thing keeping Gotham safe, to score points in the media. That means Commissioner Gordon is often in the line of his fire, which is awkward since Dent is engaged to Gordon’s daughter Barbara.

Bruce Wayne is most definitely not engaged to Selina Kyle, but he has been cat-sitting for her, during her mysterious disappearance, to Alfred Pennyworth’s sheer delight. Recently, various gangs have adopted both Batman masks and Joker makeup while committing mayhem, often under the guise of pursuing “street justice.” Consequently, they give Dent more fodder to attack Batman and Gordon.

However, the opportunistic politician seems to have a change of heart after visiting his old neighborhood—in terms of politics, not with regards to Batman. Tragically, his newfound idealism will be cut short by a serious accident that both disfigures and deranges Dent into the super-villain we all know and love: Two-Face.

It is very cool to essentially see a Billy Dee Williams version of Two-Face. In fact, the way Hamm and Quinones depict his split personality is the best thing about
Batman ‘89. It is also warmly nostalgic to see a Michael Gough-like Pennyworth. However, Batman and Cat Woman do not resemble Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer as closely as the characters in the Superman ’78 series looked like the cast of the Donner films.

Beyond outward appearances, Hamm’s storyline also clashes with the ostensive 1989 setting, in a bad way. Obsessed with themes of “two Gothams” and rich white liberal guilt, it feels like it written in 2021, which it was. As a result, it also feels embarrassingly dated in 2025.

As an unfortunate by-product, Batman gets sidelined for long periods, as Wayne deals with his privilege, or whatever. This is perversely bizarre, because the whole point of
Batman ‘89 is to see Keaton’s Batman back in action.

Nevertheless, finally getting the Billy Dee Williams Two-Face does a lot to compensate. Williams supplied Dent’s voice in
The Lego Batman movie, so if you listen to it while reading Batman ‘89 you will almost get the full experience. Regardless, the nostalgia of revisiting Burton’s Gotham outweighs the clunkily didactic writing—but it shouldn’t have to. Recommended more for the idea and the Quinones’ grandly sinister cityscapes than the words on the page, Batman ’89 releases today (2/4) in tradepaper.