Batman: Revolution John Jackson Miller novelist talks about writing in the world of the Batman ’89 movie.
Revolution is the novel sequel to Batman: Resurrection that is set in the same universe as Tim Burton’s original Batman and its follow-up Batman Returns. On top of that, the novels are also in the same continuity of the comic book expansions Batman ’89 and Batman ’89: Echoes.
Batman: Resurrection was the first novel follow-up. In that novel, Batman encounters Clayface. The latest adventure Revolution, will have Batman face the ’89 version of the Riddler.
Delving into the Riddler in ‘Batman: Revolution’
When teasing Revolution‘s plot, Miller lets fans know that the novel will really delve into the Riddler’s backstory. On top of that, Revolution will integrate a lot of puzzles- not surprising for the Riddler.
I think they’re going to get a very fun puzzle, and I’m not even referring to the literal puzzles that we have in the book. We don’t hide the notion that we have our version of a Riddler character in this book. Like the movies, the villains are almost as big of stars as Batman and Bruce Wayne.
We really dig into the inner life of this Riddler character that we already introduced in Batman: Resurrection, who considers himself to be the world’s greatest detective, and how his increasing interactions with Batman change both of their lives in a way that is going to do a lot of property damage to the city.
In all cases when we’re bringing something new or a new character from the rogues gallery in, and there are several that are going to be secret to this book as well, I’m always asking myself, does this feel right? Does this feel like it would have fit into a movie from these creators? If this book came out in 1990 or 1991, would it have felt right in there? That’s what I’m looking for.
The Differences Between ’89 vs Mainstream
Miller also talked about how is it different writing the ’89 universe version of Batman, as opposed to any other version of Batman. One difference is that he has to reconcile why he should continue being Batman when the killer has already been brought to justice. He is also more of a civic leader as Bruce Wayne.
Unique to the Tim Burton movies, we have this notion that the Joker killed Bruce Wayne’s parents. Regardless of how that came about in the narrative, it is something which in the Resurrection novel, I felt I needed to deal with. Why is he still doing what he’s doing? Why did this not resolve his story arc?
We have a Bruce Wayne who is very different from the playboy Bruce Wayne that you see in the Nolan movies. Bruce Wayne is a solid part of Gotham City’s civic life. He’s expected to be at the dinner we see for Harvey Dent in the first movie. He is there promoting the bicentennial, trying to save the bicentennial, with a party at his own house in the first movie.
Bruce Wayne has an active role. He’s certainly a somber character, but he also has a wry sense of humor. We have sort of a unique interplay between him and some of the other characters, certainly with Alfred.
And then we have the original characters like Alexander Knox. Knox has a big role in the first book. He has an even larger role in Batman: Revolution, because the newspaper is a major part of the storyline. And again, the fact that I have that character there who is so recognizable, and his voice is so recognizable, allows me to have both Batman and Bruce Wayne have interactions with the press and other characters as well, and we can kind of hear those.
Batman: Revolution is already out in bookstores and digital platforms.
Source: DC.com
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