It's a tall order, following up on a beloved piece of art. There's always the risk that the sequel won't be a patch on the original, and even if there's more story to tell you need to strike while the iron is hot so the audience doesn't lose interest.
At least, that used to be the case, considering that we're in an age of "legacy sequels" and what have you. Still, trading on nostalgia is never a surefire bet, since there's a very, very fine line between homage and pandering. I won't name names here, but I guarantee everyone has at least one movie, television series, or book that comes to mind when thinking about a sequel that's too little too late.
What makes the new novel Batman: Resurrection so unique is that it isn't just a sequel to a classic film, though it is certainly that. It also bridges the gap between 1989's Batman and the already-made movie sequel Batman Returns, and it kind of ties into another "legacy sequel" of the Batman '89 comic books. So it's a sequel, a prequel, a legacy sequel, and a companion piece.
Under the pen of author John Jackson Miller, it's first and foremost a good, quality read too, finding success in most of its aims as a follow-up to the continuity of Tim Burton's landmark superhero film.
In the best possible way, the narrative and worldbuilding of Batman is relatively simple. By the time we reach the end of the film, we're comfortable enough with this take on Gotham City that the story could go practically anywhere, which is evident in the aforementioned movie and comics that we're all familiar with. Miller does a pretty great job of building off the events of the film, taking certain story elements to their next logical step and recontextualizing others to fit in his own narrative.
As a broad overview, the story of Batman: Resurrection explores the long-lasting effects of Joker’s Smylex gas attacks, the legacy of the Clown Prince of Crime following his death, and Bruce Wayne’s mental state after confronting the man who murdered his parents. It’s a lot of story, truth be told, and thankfully it never drags. Miller’s prose is easy to read and engaging without ever feeling “dumbed down”, and he wrings a surprising amount of pathos out of one of the new characters. Some of the story elements he introduces aren’t necessarily out of place or over-stuffed, but there are several characters and scenes that feel like they could have been developed more, or even left out entirely.
Which, I’ll go ahead and get this out of the way: this works best as a direct sequel to Batman, okay as a lead-in to Batman Returns, and not really at all as a companion piece to Batman ‘89. We see Max Shreck a few times, along with his ill-fated business partner Fred Atkins. Shreck is indirectly involved with some of the crime and looting that takes place in the book, which makes sense in context, but he’s otherwise a cameo player who could have been fleshed out more. His son Chip and his secretary Selina Kyle make appearances as well, and they could have been removed entirely without affecting the story at all.
And that’s doubly so for the Batman ‘89 connections, which consist of a few paragraphs in the beginning of an otherwise unrelated chapter. I won’t fault Miller for this, as at best it was an attempt to link three separate projects together, and at worst an editorial mandate from on high. It doesn’t wreck the flow of the narrative at all, it’s so short, but it doesn’t really enhance it either.
Honestly, though, these are pretty minor complaints when all is said and done. As a whole the book is incredibly well-paced, with some strong character work and entertaining action set pieces. When you take it as “what happens after Batman” it’s at its best.
In fact, having just read it, I’d almost say that this is a better follow up to the Batman novel adaptation than the movie. Miller and Craig Shaw Gardner’s styles aren’t a perfect match, but both books go deeper into the world of the movie than the film itself could ever go, given the limitations of the visual medium. Surprisingly, Alexander Knox plays a pretty big part in Resurrection, and his voice matches Robert Wuhl’s performance to a T. Commissioner Gordon, Harvey Dent, and even Mayor Borg make a few appearances, with Gordon in particular having more depth than his onscreen counterpart, though they aren’t major players in the story. Vicki Vale is an absent specter hanging over Bruce Wayne’s head, which at first offers a nice emotional arc for Bruce before becoming a tad frustrating. It’s not a spoiler to say that she eventually pops back up in person, but for whatever reason I never really felt invested in her and Bruce’s interactions. That she keeps herself at arms length from Bruce doesn’t really help either, though she does play a pretty strong part in the final act.
Of all of the returning characters, it’s obviously Bruce who has the most focus and the clearest arc. Despite Jack Napier’s death, Bruce is still haunted by his involvement in the deaths of his parents, with a recurring nightmare serving as a pretty big plot point in the first half of the book. In it, Batman returns to the cathedral from the climax of the film, lucidly asking questions that are cheeky meta-complaints that have been brought up about these scenes in the intervening years. Namely, how did Joker’s goons know to be at the top of the cathedral tower if it was a last-minute decision on Napier’s part, and how could the Joker have possibly known who Bruce was when he said he was just a kid when he killed his parents?
If you’re like me and you never cared about either of these points, then waiting to see how the book answers them won’t exactly keep you on the edge of your seat, but I did think it was a relatively clever call-out on Miller’s part, and he wraps this B-plot up relatively satisfactorily.
Even still, Bruce isn’t quite as three-dimensional as we might want him to be, and some of the one-liners he tosses off while in costume seem a bit out of character. That honestly tracks pretty well with the Batman novel adaptation, as there are tons of lines there that were clearly excised from the final shooting script. These dream sequences help us “get to know” Bruce a bit better, but when it’s hard to imagine a sarcastic response or pithy joke made in costume sounding like anything Keaton would say, it’s not really the Bruce Wayne we really know.
It’s still a fun take on the character, though, as this Bruce is more experimental with gadgets than a late-80s movie budget would allow. One scene sees him donning a sleek, capeless Batman costume for a midday mission, while in others he tinkers with early prototypes of the remote control Batarang seen in Batman Returns, and even a new Flying Fortress vehicle called “the Roost” used for crowd control.
As we all know, Batman has the greatest Rogues Gallery in all of popular culture, and there are quite a few baddies old and new here. Good ol’ Nick and Eddie, who ran afoul of Batman in the opening scene of the film, make a brief but important appearance, and Joker’s goon Lawrence-- he who brandished a boombox and amazing mustache-- is also back in the game in a surprisingly large supporting role.
The two main players who go up against Batman are new to this world, but would be familiar to long-time readers and even casual fans. There’s Hugh Auslander, who heads up a wing at a Gotham hospital that focuses specifically on the treatment of the Joker’s Smylex victims. At first, the good Doctor appears to be a new ally of Bruce Wayne, though his true intentions are telegraphed fairly early on, and it quickly became obvious that he wasn’t who he claimed to be. Honestly, once I figured out who he really was, I wasn’t sure what would have been more aggravating: if he actually did have another identity, or if he didn’t and he was just a red herring. I won’t spoil it, of course, but I applaud Miller’s plotting because how Auslander fits into this story and even that of the Batman movie was handled perfectly and made complete sense. So, no, in the end I was not annoyed.
Then we have the surprising emotional center of the book, and who I found to be the most interesting character by a wide margin: Karlo Babić, a hapless member of a Gotham theater troupe who uses the stage name Basil Karlo.
Yes, he is Clayface, and his transformation into the well-known villain perfectly ties into Joker’s earlier crime spree and the enduring trauma that Gotham’s citizens have been working through. His transformation-- literally and figuratively-- from victim of another man’s vanity to unwitting pawn to eventual hero is fascinating all throughout. Miller wisely chooses to make what could have been a standard villainous role into the beating heart of the entire story, to the point that Karlo’s likability even helps smooth over a few of the squishier parts of Auslander’s overall plan. I’ve always had a soft spot for Clayface, and frankly, this might be one of my favorite takes in any Batman story.
Batman: Resurrection is a worthy successor and sequel to the 1989 Batman film, telling a satisfying story that feels at home in the established world. There are some dangling threads that will no doubt be tied up in next year’s Batman: Revolution, and a few passages that somewhat awkwardly attempt to bridge the gap between films and comics, but overall it naturally builds on the first film’s plot and themes while introducing new characters and ideas. It’s a good, exciting, quick read, and worthy of sitting on your shelf alongside your Batman films and prose books.
SCORE: 8/10
Batman: Resurrection will be available for purchase on 10/15/2024.
Disclaimer: Penguin Random House provided a copy of this book for review.
