Which comic books were inspired by the 1989 summer blockbuster? I really like the atmosphere and some of the characters in the movie and want to know which comics incorporated these elements. Like any comics right before, right after, years later?
Which comic books were inspired by the 1989 summer blockbuster? I really like the atmosphere and some of the characters in the movie and want to know which comics incorporated these elements. Like any comics right before, right after, years later?
I suppose some of the earlier examples would include Legends of the Dark Knight and Shadow of the Bat.
The screen writer, Sam Hamm, did three issues of DETECTIVE COMICS, 598 - 600. Worth checking out. Collected in the BLIND JUSTICE TPB. The artwork by Cowyn and Giordano was quite good.
Gotham was redesigned to look like the movie Gotham, art directed by Anton Furst. This happened in 1991, in the three part arc "The Destroyer" in BATMAN 474, BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT 27 and DETECTIVE COMICS 641.
In the 90s Batman: Troika storyline that followed Knightfall, Bruce Wayne began using a new Batsuit that bore some resemblance to Keaton's Batsuit from 89 and Returns.
I believe that LOTDK started mainly to capitalize on the idea of a solo Batman. I guess the lasting legacy of Burton's film, which persists to date, is that it popularized the idea of Batman as a solo character in the popular consciousness. For most of the half-century before that, Robin was inextricably linked to Batman, in the comics, TV shows and cartoons. Sure, from the 70's onwards there were a lot of solo Batman stories without Robin, but having a Dynamic Duo was the norm - so much so that Jason Todd was originally created simply because there needed to be a Robin, once Dick Grayson left the role. In fact, I believe that early drafts of the film had Robin as well, and having Batman go solo was a pretty late development in the scripting.
But after the film, we had BTAS, the Arkham games, the Nolanverse and a bunch of other Batman franchise media, not to mention whole runs and series in the comics, that largely or wholly featured Batman as a solo character, who doesn't necessary need to have Robin in tow. It might be hard for us today to think of how groundbreaking the idea of Batman without Robin was in 1989!
Last edited by bat39; 09-29-2019 at 11:19 AM.
The thing I liked was the letter columns where there appeared letters from kids who were discovering Batman for the first time, thanks to the movie.
Well the 1989 movie was inspired by the Darker side the Batman comics were taking since the Bonze age.
The 1989 movie is also about the early days of Batman's carrier, so the early moder age comics are also in the same line.
Then I find the solo adventures after the No Man's Land to be also in the same vein.
Here is my suggestion:
Bronze Age
- Batman by Neal Adams Omnibus
- Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin
- Batman: Strange Apparitions + Batman: Dark Detective
- Tales of the Batman: Len Wein
Batman: Early Days
- Batman: Year One + Batman: The Man Who Laughs
- Batman and the Monster Men + Batman and the Mad Monk
- Batman: Prey + Batman: Terror
- Batman: Gothic
- Batman: The Long Halloween + Batman: Dark Victory
Batman: New Gotham
- Batman: New Gotham vol.1-2
- Bruce Wayne: Murderer?
- Bruce Wayne: Fugitive vol.1-3
Have fun
The original idea for the movie's script was an adaptation of Englehart/Rogers/Austin's "The Laughing Fish"/"Sign of the Joker" from DETECTIVE COMICS 475-476--however, this idea was reworked a lot before they got to the Sam Hamm script--and I believe Steve Englehart was not very happy that he got no credit (or money).
The man who produced all the Batman movies (and other DC movies) was Michael Uslan--who started out working at DC in the 1970s, as an editorial assistant and doing some scripts (including a few for Batman and the Shadow). Then he became relentless in trying to get the movies produced.